Friends don't let friends make bad mojitos

Life -- and summer (winter, if you're a Downunder reader) -- is short. Don't waste a moment or a calorie on a bad mojito.

Of course, homemade is the best. The recipe I use is:

Pour over ice in a highball glass:

• 1 oz minty simple syrup*
• 1 oz rum (or more) (or none -- virgin mojitos are good, too!)
• juice from 1/2 lime

Top with:

• club soda or ginger ale
• sprig of spearmint

Homemade mojitos require foresight and preparation. But sometimes (or often, if you're me) the craving for a mojito exists even though the pre-planning didn't.

So, what to do?

Enter three mixers. And my thumbs.

1. My favorite mojito mixer is by the same folks who make flavors for coffees -- the good people at Monin. This product offers the perfect type (spearmint, NOT peppermint) and intensity of mint, with just the right texture (only mildly sweet and not too syrupy). Exactly what I aim for when I make my own simple syrup.

Thumbs Up for taste and texture. You still add the soda, the rum, and the lime, so it's very close to homemade.

Thumbs Down for availability. Locally, I can find this only at a coffee wholesale warehouse in a section of town I rarely get to. So I tend to stock up twice or thrice (how often does a blogger get to use that word?) a year. However, thanks to having to write this post, I found it through the Amazon marketplace, with a better price, $9 a bottle.

2. A passable choice is Freshies, a company perhaps more famous for its Bloody Mary mix. This concoction has both the mint and the lime flavors, so you need only add rum and soda.

Thumbs Up for convenience. No need to cut and squeeze the lime. When you're making a batch of drinks, the lime step can keep you from your company for a seemingly long time.

Thumbs Even for taste. Despite it's name it just doesn't taste as fresh as Monin or as homemade. Fresh limes really DO make a difference. And if you add them to Freshies, it's just too limey.

Thumbs Down for price. Online, the price for a bottle is $10.50, but you can often find this product at your local supermarket or specialty grocer for less . However, the recipe on the bottle calls for 3 times as much mixer as the Monin, making it a more expensive option.

3. Here's where I derived the title of this post. But first, a digression.

Back in a high school genetics class, we studied traits that we'd inherited from our biological parents. I remember studying such quirks as hitchhiker's thumb, hairy knuckles (neither of which I had), and the ability to taste a certain chemical.

The teacher passed out to each student a piece of tissue paper that had been infused with a substance detectable only to people with a certain gene. The tissue paper was completely benign to some and absolutely repulsive to others.

Like me.

I had flashbacks to that experiment both times I had a mojito made with Rose's Mojito Mix.

So I can only give it a thumbs down. It's watery, it requires that you use a lot, and it tastes like science class.

Ick.

If you are lacking that gene and really LIKE mojitos made with Rose's, let me know. I'd like to check out your knuckles, as well.

Enough talk. Time to drink!

* Heat equal parts sugar and water (say, 1 cup each) in saucepan until just before boiling and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1/4 cup fresh, chopped spearmint leaves and let steep 30 minutes. Use a strainer to take out mint leaves (discard), and keep minty syrup in sealed container in fridge for your Mojito Moments.

***

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