It's a palomojito, I guess?

After a 12 hour day at work yesterday, but before going back to work Saturday morning, I thought I'd come home and spend a pleasant night drinking and enjoying some family time. I was planning on having a few mojitos, since I could have a couple and not wake up feeling horrible on the way into work tomorrow. Unfortunately I was an ingredient short; my club soda supply was non existent.

However, I did have some grapefruit-focused soda around, and since I really wanted a (more than one) drink, I thought I'd give it a try. It wasn't half bad, and would definitely do in a pinch. I make home mojitos a little off recipe anyway, so tossing in some different soda isn't really that much of a departure for me.

Here's my usual recipe:

-One healthy scoop of sugar. Refined if we've got it, if not regular is good.
-Half a lime, halved again. If they're big limes I use whatever ratio gets me the same size.
-Handful of mint leaves. My plant looks really good right now, so it's all good.
-Two jiggers of rum. Yes, jiggers. I don't know how much this really is.

The mint looks really good right now. 

Start with the sugar, and squeeze the lime bits over it. Drop the rest of the lime in, and add the mint. Give it a good muddle, really getting the lime busted up. I use a single-drink shaker since it's tin and can stand up to it. Add the rum, and if it hasn't been in the freezer it never hurts to add an ice cube or two either. At this point, you can add extras if you're going for other flavors. This is when I typically add coconut. And yes, since I use a shaker I give everything a good couple shakes. I like it frothy.

Dump everything in your vessel of choice, and top it off with the appropriate amount of club soda. If you've got it. Which I did not. But other soda ended up working fine. B/c the kids are in bed and I'm on my third one of these tonite, so mission accomplished.

Tomorrow at work should be fun. This recipe is not perfect; it's a good mix of practical technique and short cuts, but still close enough to a mojito recipe I feel alright calling it that. It took a lot of trial and error to get it to something simple enough to replicate each time but complex enough to be close in flavor profile to solve a craving. But even with club soda it still doesn't quite capture the pure awesomeness that is well-made bar mojitos. Adding different soda took it a step further away from that but these are definitely still palatable. Maybe it I have some tequila around next time I'll toss that in too.