Battle of the Key West Mojitos

When I think of Key West, I think of sunsets, roosters, gingerbread-trimmed cottages, turquoise water and mojitos! I love mojitos and whenever we are in Key West, I sample three or four and end my trip reports with a mojito review. Now, thanks to two Key West rum distilleries, I can make Key West mojitos at home.

The Distilleries

Key West First Legal Rum Distillery opened in 2013, the first (legal) distillery in the Florida Keys since Prohibition. It was founded by Chef Paul Menta, whose philosophy is “chef first, distiller second.”  Menta sailed some of his rum to Havana, birthplace of the mojito, and came back with tips on making mojitos the Cuban way. Ron and I learned some of those tips when we took the distillery’s Mojito Class a few years ago.

A second distillery, Papa’s Pilar Rum Distillery, opened in 2017. Papa’s Pilar Rum was named after Ernest Hemingway’s boat, the Pilar, and was inspired by Hemingway’s life and adventurous spirit. The family of Ernest Hemingway was involved in developing the rum and contributes a portion of their proceeds to charities that promote ocean conservation. We took a tour of the distillery when we were in Key West on our cruise in February and tasted three of their rums.

So which distillery has the best rum for making mojitos? I decided to try both distilleries’ recipes and find out.

The Mojitos

Mojitos are made with just a few ingredients – rum, lime, fresh mint, sugar and soda water. We'd brought back a bottle of Papa's Pilar Blond Rum from our cruise. The Key West Legal Rum was harder to come by, but after some searching, I found it at one of our local Luekens stores.

I followed the distilleries’ recipes as closely as possible. First Legal’s recipe called for muddling the mint (including the stems) with Key lime juice and Demerara sugar, a coarse raw sugar. One of the tips we learned in our Mojito Class is that the sugar crystals pull oils from the mint, which gives the drink more flavor than using simple syrup. I didn’t have Demerara sugar so I substituted granulated sugar. For the Papa’s Pilar mojito, I muddled the mint with lime wedges and simple syrup, being careful to muddle gently so that the lime’s peel wouldn’t leave a bitter taste. Then I added the rums and club soda (I used Schweppes), topped each glass with ice and stirred.

Next came the fun part, judging the mojitos. I recruited Ron for a second opinion, and we rated the two cocktails based on their appearance, aroma and taste.

Appearance – Papa’s Pilar had the edge in this category. The lime wedges gave the drink color, and the mint leaves were evenly distributed, while the sugar-muddled mint in First Legal’s mojito clumped together.

Aroma – I preferred the light, minty smell of First Legal’s cocktail. The aged Blond Rum in the Papa’s Pilar mojito had a caramel scent that overpowered the mint and lime.  

Taste – Ron’s vote went to Papa’s Pilar. He liked the butterscotch taste of the aged rum and the sweeter flavor. Although I thought the taste of First Legal's white rum was more traditional for a mojito, the drink was a little strong and tart for me. The Papa’s Pilar mojito had a better balance of rum and club soda, sugar and lime. 

I would have been happy if I'd ordered either one of these mojitos at a bar or restaurant in Key West, but now I don't have to wait for our next trip to have one!

The Recipes

Key West First Legal “Senior Menta” Mojito
from the Mojito Class

2 tsp Demerara sugar
0.5 oz Kermit’s Key lime juice
Bunch of fresh mint with stems on
2-3 oz Key West Legal Rum (I used 2 oz)
2 oz soda water

Papa’s Pilar Mojito
from the distillery's website

1.5 oz Papa’s Pilar Blond Rum
8-10 fresh mint leaves
1 oz simple syrup
3 lime wedges
2-4 oz club soda (I used 3 oz)