This delicious minty rum cooler is a basic summer cocktail you just can’t pass up.  Fresh crushed chunks of lime and bruised mint leaves infuse a mixture of ripe strawberries and rum with ultra refreshing flavors.  A perfect choice for sipping on hot and balmy summer nights.  The simple mixture of sweet, citrus, and herbaceous flavors create the perfect backdrop for splashes of nice light rum in this easy Bacardi rum mojito recipe.

An Old Rum Cocktail with a story…

With ties that run back to everything from medicinal healing tonics to the famed American novelist Ernest Hemingway himself, this classic rum cocktail comes with no shortage of great tales and good history.

It is said that this mixture, in its raw, more original form, was long used as a medicinal tonic to heal tropical illnesses.  A stronger more fiery version of the rum spirit we are familiar with today was first distilled from natural sugar cane. Oftentimes this strong, bold spirit needed a little help from ingredients like sugar water, sugar cane juice, lime, and mint to help make it more palatable.  This is how the mojito drink was born.

A Healing Tonic with Old Roots

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This cocktail mixture was often used as a healing tonic for a variety of ailments throughout tropics and Caribbean islands.  I would be remiss, however, if I failed to mention that Havana, Cuba is said to the true birthplace of the mojito cocktail.  Cuba is also known for other famous rum cocktails such as the Cuba Libre and the daiquiri.

By the 1600’s the earliest versions of distilled rum were now becoming widely available throughout Britain and the Americas.  So it seems that rum had hit the ground running and never quite looked back.

A More Refined Process Brings us Rum Today

Today, a more refined and streamlined process has converted this ever popular spirit into what we enjoy today.  Still at the heart of the operation is the use of sugar cane.

 Over at Bacardi, where they make the famed Bacardi Carta Blanca rum,  sugar cane molasses is combined with a unique in-house strand of yeast and spring water. These ingredients get passed on to fermentation tanks which will then be distilled into a final product of smooth white rum.

Now that you’ve got yourself a little backbone on the uses and history of rum, let’s get down to the real deal: the timeless classic mojito cocktail…

What You’ll Need To Make This Strawberry Bacardi Rum Mojito Recipe

To make our Bacardi rum mojito recipe, you’ll want to grab a few fresh ingredients.

• Fresh mint leaves – or what spanish-speaking locals would refer to as the aromatic plant yerba buena
• Fresh lime juice – from crushed chunks of fresh lime
• Sparkling water – also referred to as soda water or club soda (not tonic water)
• Prepared simple syrup – which is simply equal parts sugar and water. These will combine together by heating in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Be sure to cool it and transfer to an airtight container.  You can also purchase bottled simple syrup for cocktails.
• Fresh strawberries – to make a classic original mojito cocktail, leave the strawberries out
• Bacardi light rum – or your favorite good quality light rum. I used Bacardi Superior white rum

This classic cocktail comes together by crushing fresh simple ingredients to infuse their natural flavors throughout the drink, so I tend not to use a cocktail shaker.  I’ll muddle the ingredients at the bottom of a glass, build up the cocktail vertically, and finish by stirring. 

Make a Strawberry Mojito Recipe with Bacardi Rum

To make this  easy strawberry mojito recipe begin by dropping a few cubes of fresh lime wedges.

Toss these into the bottom of your cocktail glass (preferably a long tall glass).  To the fresh lime chunks add in 8 to 10 leaves of fresh mint and splash in your prepared simple syrup.  

I like to start off with a good amount of mint since the mint flavors will become further diluted later on as we add the rum, syrup, and sparkling water.  You don’t want to loose that cooling herbaceous essence of this aromatic herb as it is a highlight of this great Cuban drink.

Muddle Fresh Lime Chunks and Mint with the Simple Syrup

Using a  muddler, muddle the fresh mint, lime, and simple syrup.  Muddle until mint leaves crush in the cup and lime chunks are smashed in and have released their juices.

Add Fresh Strawberry To Make This Easy Mojito Recipe

Toss in the pieces of one large quartered strawberry with the top removed.  Muddle one more time just enough to crush the fresh berry pieces.  

Add Rum and Sparkling Water Then Stir Thoroughly

Next, splash in the Bacardi light rum and top the glass off the rest of the way with a good handful of ice.  

Splash in the sparkling water for topping off.  Gently stir entire cocktail together with a long bar spoon.  Carefully stir evenly and thoroughly until sparkling water, sweetener, mint, lime and rum are evenly distributed and chilled throughout the glass.  

This last bit of stirring meshes all those fresh flavors together inside the glass! It makes a most delightful, fresh, and cooling rum cocktail.  Be sure not to skip this step!

A refreshing and Delicious Bacardi Rum Mojito Recipe For Summer

Serve chilled and garnish with extra sprigs of mint and sliced strawberries if desired.

 This truly is the ultimate, perfect white rum cocktail that just makes the warm summer season complete…  

As I mentioned earlier, to turn this Bacardi mojito recipe into an original mojito, simply leave the fresh strawberry out.  Enjoy this cool refreshing strawberry rum cocktail on hot balmy days.  

It’s the best mojito recipe for serving all summer long as a warm weather cooler.  The fresh mint and sparkling water deliver a cool crispness. The zippy lime flavor adds balance and complements all that good rum that blends in the background.

If you love the combination of rum and fresh strawberries, try this simple sparkling strawberry rum cocktail, this vibrant blueberry summer rum cocktail, or these refreshing strawberry smash rum shots and let rum live on!

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