The Perfect Mojito

Alistair Marsella sees Eben Freeman, cocktail aficionado, perform the exclusive Bacardi House

As a lover of all things Latin and the pulsating Mambo beat, I couldn’t resist an invitation to attend a very special event at the exclusive Bacardi House.

This tastefully decorated building – at a secret London location – has a bar reminiscent of the most flamboyant Batista era, and is like being transported straight to the island, pre-revolution, when flamboyant excess was rife.

To celebrate the anniversary of Don Facundo Bacardi Masso’s first manufacture of rum, on 4th February 1862, I watched a demonstration of the perfect Mojito of the future. This was expertly prepared and mixed by the cocktail aficionado, New Yorker Eben Freeman. Eben, having first donned gloves and protective goggles, uses liquid nitrogen, which produces a Frankenstein-like mist pouring over the bowl. Expertly, and with the aid of the nitrogen, tiny balls of mint and lime are produced, and then added into the rum. When drunk, the balls dissolve against the roof of the mouth, releasing shot after shot of lemon and lime into the elixir: a truly refreshing and exciting Mojito.

I look forward to drinking many more, and will be putting in my order for liquid nitrogen!

Alistair Marsella.

Eben Freeman and the bar.