hemingway and mojitos

[Ken Gargett]

must say that i had not heard he never drank any but i always believed that quote was crap. and anyone who has had a mojito at bodeguita doesn't have a second, unless their tastebuds have been seared off.

The Myth Behind Hemingway's Favorite Drink

by Philip Greene Dec 9, 2015,

Photo courtesy the Betty and Toby Bruce Collection, Key West, Florida.

Hemingway enjoying a Daiquiri at the Floridita bar with friend Toby Bruce and an unknown woman, circa 1946.

Actually, the Mojito wasn't Hemingway's beverage of choice.

The greater the person, the more mythology surrounds him/her. Many grew up hearing tales of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, that emperor Nero played a mean fiddle while Rome burned, or that Newton needed to have an apple bonk him on the conk to figure out gravity. So, too, is it with the prototype of The Most Interesting Man in the World, Ernest Hemingway. In my book, To Have and Have Another—A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, I set out to debunk common myths associated with him.

According to myth, Ernest Hemingway’s favorite drink was the Mojito, which he drank often at one of his favorite bars, La Bodeguita del Medio, in Havana, Cuba. Yet, aside from a handwritten quote on the wall at La Bodeguita, there exists no evidence that Hemingway ever drank Mojitos, or that he ever set foot in the joint. As for that inscription, it looks a lot like Hemingway’s handwriting, and it plainly says "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita." So this is proof, right?

"... This was merely a private joke among friends. But the little joke grew into a big lie.

Wrong. It’s a forgery. Indeed, back in the late 1950s, the owners of the bodega, a Mr. and Mrs. Martinez, were brainstorming with a Cuban journalist (and Hemingway friend), Fernando Campoamor, about how to gin up more business. Per Campoamor, in Trading With the Enemy by Tom Miller, "We were trying to figure out how to help his business, and someone said, 'Mi mojito en La Bodeguita, mi daiquiri en El Floridita.' It was a funny joke, nothing more ... Well, I had these things at home in Papa’s handwriting, so they hired a graphic artist to imitate it. I protested this even though I enjoyed the humor at the beginning. This was merely a private joke among friends. But the little joke grew into a big lie."

To say that it worked would be the understatement of the year—thousands flock to La Bodeguita each year to get their "Hemingway Mojito." Hell, even Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping have made that phony pilgrimage in recent years.

Souvenir photo from the Floridita, one of Hemingway’s favorite bars in Havana, circa 1932. Also shown are Hemingway’s friends Charles Thompson (front left), Joseph "Sloppy Joe" Russell (front right), and Hemingway’s second wife Pauline (behind Russell). [Photo courtesy of the Betty and Toby Bruce Collection, Key West, Florida.]

As further evidence, you never see either La Bodeguita or the Mojito mentioned in any of Hemingway's prose, letters, or in his various biographies. The premise behind 'To Have and Have Another' is that Hemingway tended to write about what, and where he drank. Harry’s Bar in Venice? You’ll find it his novel Across the River and into the Trees. The Daiquiri and the Floridita are in countless letters, as well as in his novel Islands in the Stream. The Gin & Tonic at Museo Chicote in Madrid? See "The Denunciation," one of his short stories from the Spanish Civil War.

Gregorio's Rx

1 1/2 ounces Papa's Pilar Blonde Rum
1 ounce honey syrup (made from a ratio of 1:1 water to honey)
1 ounce lime juice
4 mint leaves

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a glass filled with ice. Add sparkling water to shaker. Swirl and pour into drink. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Indeed, if he drank it, he generally wrote about it, somewhere. Not so with the Mojito. In fact, I’ve not yet encountered a single reference to either the drink, or the Bodeguita, in all of my research, which spans about 20 years. Let me qualify that I did find one. Indeed, jai alai player Jose Andres Garate, a close friend during the ‘40s and ‘50s, said that he "drank with Papa at the Floridita many times and ate oysters with him at Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana." When asked about the Mojito story, he replied, "I’ve never heard of La Bodequita (sic) del Medio."

But Hemingway did enjoy a drink like the Mojito while out on his beloved boat, Pilar. Gregorio's Rx was created by his skipper, Gregorio Fuentes, which he made for Hemingway when he was under the weather. Many believe that Fuentes and another Hemingway skipper, Carlos Gutierrez, both served as the basis for the character of the old fisherman Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea.

[Sophistic]

I always wondered why folks make such a deal about what famous people drink and eat. And Hemingway is an inspiration to avoid alcohol completely, unless you think depression, addiction and suicide are cool things.

[JohnS]

Thanks for the article, Ken. Ernest Hemingway's life has had much embellishment since his passing in 1961. Firstly, he wasn't much of a cigar smoker, he wasn't as close to Fidel Castro as everyone thinks...after all, he re-settled back in Idaho in 1959 and he didn't support Castro's seizing of (American) assets in Cuba, he wasn't that much into mojitos and his plane accidents and genetic hemochromatosis condition in the 1950's greatly factored in his depression and subsequent suicide in the early 60's.

[Ken Gargett]

john, i think he only met castro once, at the fishing competition, and that was brief.

[Ken Gargett]

but all this aside, the bloke could write.

[JohnS]

but all this aside, the bloke could write.

Right on...he certainly could!

[CanuckSARTech]

LOL.

[free85]

My significant other is quite fond of Mr. Hemingway. I sent this her way for some brownie points. Thanks, Ken!

[Ryan]

I passed by La Bodeguita last November, I've never been in there, only passed by it. In November there was a queue out the door with at least 20 tourists out on the street drinking mojitos out of what looked like plastic cups, and more arriving off a coach.

The street was partially dug up at the time to fix the sewers and it was a hot day. Not my cup of tea.

Floridita is actually not too bad. Their daiquiri is very good, if expensive at $6. For a quiet afternoon beer in Habana Vieja, go down the street to Bar Monserrate, or Cafe de Paris, or Lluvia de Oro. Plenty of places.

[Ken Gargett]

I passed by La Bodeguita last November, I've never been in there, only passed by it. In November there was a queue out the door with at least 20 tourists out on the street drinking mojitos out of what looked like plastic cups, and more arriving off a coach.

The street was partially dug up at the time to fix the sewers and it was a hot day. Not my cup of tea.

Floridita is actually not too bad. Their daiquiri is very good, if expensive at $6. For a quiet afternoon beer in Habana Vieja, go down the street to Bar Monserrate, or Cafe de Paris, or Lluvia de Oro. Plenty of places.

agree. floridita not bad. but the mojitos at bodeguita are utter crap. one of the great con jobs.