Who Is The Mojito Master ?

 Hi, my name is Joel J. Garcia. I have been in the service industry for the better part of 16 years now. Been in customer service for 4 or 5 more . Even though I didn’t inspire Ernest Hemingway to write a book or handed him a cold one right after fighting a 1400 lb. marlin for 2 hours, in fact I’ve only read one of his books. But I know that even though Facundo Bacardi was the father of the modern day Mojito – Hemingway put it on the radar (along with anything else that contained rum, was cold, and was delivered by a young and pretty barmaid).   Well let me not get too far off track.  He is synonymous with the drink that I am most famous for.  So part of me wonders what he would have said If he saw the drink revolution that he spawned from his corner stool in that little Saloon/Catina in that beautiful Island of Cuba.  Part of me also wonders what he would think of all the different incarnations and re-inventions of one of his most beloved cocktails. I thought for many years that a Mojito was lime,”yerba buena“/spearmint, sugar (in the form of simple syrup), a splash of soda water, and of course lots of rum.  It has taken me a while to embrace all the different variations that my bartending brethren have come up with through the years and how the Mojito still inspires new libations today , and I’m sure, well into the future.   Don’t worry Mr. Hemingway, I have not sold-out to the many fads just yet.  I still think I am right in saying that a Mojito for the most part is the basic recipe that I mentioned earlier. But working in the fine dining business for so long now, I learned to bend just a little. To this day I still catch myself and bite my tongue when a patron at my bar, after a 10 minute story about some far away place they went to and drank the most amazing Mojito. And then they shoot off the ingredients and the only thing that I recognize, is the part - of what rum they used; sometimes not even rum.  So whether you want to call any of these incarnations Mojitos or Mojito inspired drinks, it’s OK, I’ve even made non-alcoholic Mojitos; (yes I know- what’s the point !)  But Remember, just like in life- there is a reason for everything. (I will go into to more detail in future logs. Along with all the different drinks that I’ve come up with or have heard of through the years).   So even I have been surprised by the staying power of such a drink.  I can remember coming to my old friend Manuel Fernandez’s bar in south beach and seeing people falling over themselves trying to get the attention of any of the bartenders to try to get the next Mojito before it was even shaken. I was not much of a drinker so I couldn’t understand the zeal with which people ordered and drank them. At that very moment I got a gleam in my eye, because I’d remember all the times that Manny would try to get me to go to bartending school, after showing me the stacks of money that he had made from night to night. I was some what of a shy person back then (I know some of you that know me are reading this and are laughing at the mere mentioning of me being shy). That was 17 years ago give or take a month or so.  Anyway, getting back to the gleam in my eyes – Manny saw it too, that night.  So I went to bartening school, and showed up one evening unannounced at his bar and showed him that Bartending School certificate. So after that chest pumping moment of pride and a shot of “Yager”( which was how Manny loved to celebrate any good or bad news), he then told me to come in that following Sunday and come and see how things run and how a certain drink (Mojito) is made cause that is how I will be judged at first. In my mind I said “ Come in on Sunday and do what”?   At that time I was working in construction with my brothers on the weekdays, and working in a game room on the weekends as a manager/guy who gives change to kids.  So I just smiled at Manny and pulled my shot glass away as he tried to give me another shot.  I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, to try to figure out what the heck I was going to do.   Well lets just say that I did the right thing. And now here I am.  I’m sad to say that I lost touch with my great friend Manny Fernandez.  He left to Hollywood in 1994 to become an actor and I’ve only seen him a couple of times since he left to go after his dreams.  But as corny as it sounds, I still pump my chest with pride everytime he wonders into my thoughts and the pride that I hope he feels in knowing that it was him who started me on this journey. And though I deservedly thank Facundo, and Hemingway,  I could and would not be here writing this, if it wasn’t for my great friend Manny fernandez.  Manny, Thank you where ever you are……