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Just when you thought summer was all about shakes and fruit juices, Bacardi introduces the newest, most delicious way to cool down. Indeed, the best way to beat these hot summer nights is taking in the smooth minty flavor of the party scene’s coolest new drink of choice.

It all started at the much-talked-about VIP Bacardi Party in Boracay last Holy Week, when in the midst of dancing to the hottest tunes of DJ Owens Sun and DJ/events/advertising hotshot GP Reyes, it was noticed that Manila’s party elite were all captivated by the delicious new drink of choice: the Bacardi Mojito.  

Following that, Bacardi threw their Manila Launch party at Embassy a few weeks ago and the Mojito was once again the preferred drink of the night. It was easy to see that everyone had come to adore its fusion of a perfect alcoholic kick with refreshing taste.  

To be sure, it’s tasty, but what people don’t know is that the birth of this drink has a very interesting story that dates back to 1800s. It takes place off the coast of Cuba, when Pirate Captain Francis Drake and his band of men were pondering whether or not to seize the Aztec gold stored in Havana’s royal treasuries. However, before Captain Drake could set out on his attempt to sack the city, King Philip II was able to warn his governor in Cuba, leaving time for the city to prepare.  

As 14 more pirate ships appeared on the horizon, and Havana braced itself for the worst, Captain Drake suddenly sailed away after firing only a few minor shots, much to the amazement of the inhabitants. But as he sailed away from the richest port in the West Indies, the Captain did not leave without impacting generations and generations of the Cuban civilization. It was around this time that one of his subordinates, Richard Drake, invented the cocktail known as the Draque, Drak or Drac, a concoction that he introduced to all the Spanish ports he was able to conquer and seize.

Initially created for medicinal purposes, the Draque was made by combining aquardiente (a crude forerunner of rum), sugar, lime and mint. On one occasion, during one of the most massive cholera epidemics ever, narrator Ramon de Paula describes: “Every day at eleven 11 I consume a little Draque and I am doing very well.” 

Ironically, it was during the mid 1800s, around the same time Don Facundo Bacardi Masso established the original Bacardi Company, that the aquardiente in the Draque was replaced with rum, and the drink was unofficially called Mojito, from the African word mojo, meaning to place a little spell.   

Today, Cuba’s oldest cocktail and world-famous Bacardi rum continues to place a little spell on all those who drink it, especially in Manila, where it’s fast gaining a following among the young party set. Have a taste of this historic pirate concoction at the weekly Bacardi Parties happening every Wednesday at Embassy, as well as all the top nightspots in the metro.