Rum Bacardi Mojito

In an effort to control the riches of the American colonies, Queen Elizabeth I of England sponsored and encouraged pirates to plunder Spanish cities in the New World. One of those pirates was Francis Drake, whose plunder of Spanish treasure was valued at twice the amount of the annual income of the Queen. The unofficial date of the predecessor drink of the Mojito is 1586, when the Captain Drake and his group of pirates considered whether to plunder Havana in Cuba to find the real Aztec gold. King Felipe II of Spain warned the Cuban governor of Captain Drake’s oncoming attack, allowing time for the city to be prepared.

Havana prepared itself for the onslaught of Captain Drake, and eventually fourteen pirate ships appeared on the shore. By the astonishment of all, after various days of waiting, Captain Drake left Havana, the richest port in the West Indies, after firing only a few discharges of artillery.

The Captain Drake may have left Havana intact, but did not leave without impacting the entire Cuban civilization. His subordinate, Richard Drake, invented a cocktail after the Captain known as the Drake, Drak or Drac.

During the Captain's ventures to seize and conquer other Spanish ports, Richard Drake introduced his recipe to the different local habitants who had the bad luck to have crossed the path of the Captain Drake.

In 1953, Queen Elizabeth I granted Richard Drake the first important monopoly patent for the production of various vinegars and alcoholic drinks as a reward for the services of the Captain Drake.

The Drake, originally a combination of brandy (the raw precursor of rum), sugar, lime and mint, was served with a wooden spoon with a handle in the form of a rooster tail and consumed principally for medical means. On one occasion, during one of the worst cholera epidemics that attacked the Havana population, the story writer Ramón de Raula described: “each day at 11.00 on the dot I drink a small Drake made with brandy and it makes me feel better”.

It was during the mid-1800´s, approximately at the same time that Don Facundo Bacardi Massó established the original Bacardi Company, that the original Drake recipe was altered. It was converted into the Mojito, and the brandy was substituted by rum. In 1940, Federick Villoch, the famous Cuban writer, proclaimed: “…when the brandy was replaced by rum, the Drake was called Mojito”.