A little Interweb research tells me that the forerunner to the mojito was invented in the 1500s by the English pirate Richard Drake, one of Sir Francis Drake's cohorts. It seems Francis had a reputation for rowdiness at his various ports-of-call and had earned the nickname "the Dragon." So Richard called his drink "El Draque" in honor of his boss. The Dragon was made with aguardiente, an unrefined precursor to rum. When refined rum became available, the mojito as we know it was born. Leave it to our pirate ancestors to dream up great cocktails, and leave it to one of Monica Pope's joints to breathe some fire into an age-old... More >>>