Few cocktails carry a story as romantic as the mojito, and few names are tied to it as tightly as Ernest Hemingway’s. Every July, as the Nobel Prize-winning author’s birthday comes around, bars from Key West to Miami Beach shake up mojitos in his honor.
The legend traces back to Havana’s famous La Bodeguita del Medio, where a handwritten inscription attributed to Hemingway reads, “My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita.” That single line helped turn a humble Cuban highball into a global icon, a symbol of warm Havana nights, live music, and the slow, sociable art of a well-made cocktail.
But was Papa Hemingway really a mojito man? Historians have long questioned whether that signature is even authentic, and whether the writer drank mojitos at all.
What the New York Post and Our Beverage Director Found
We’re proud to share that Frank Gonzalez, Corporate Beverage Manager for VE Hospitality Group, the group behind Havana 1957, was recently featured in the New York Post alongside leading Hemingway scholars in a story digging into this very myth.
As Hemingway scholar Mark Ott told the Post, the writer’s connection to the mojito is “probably more myth than reality.” Of the thousands of photographs of Hemingway, not one shows him with a minty glass in hand. Instead, you’ll find him holding beers, martinis, and scotch.
Frank Gonzalez offered the nuance. Hemingway likely enjoyed both mojitos and daiquiris during his years in Cuba, but his habits changed over time. After becoming diabetic, he had to avoid cocktails made with sugar. The drink most tied to his name became the daiquiri, thanks to his regular visits to El Floridita and the sugar free, extra rum “Papa Doble” created there in his honor. As Gonzalez put it, “The daiquiri is Hemingway.”
Still, he’s quick to defend the mojito’s rightful place in Cuban history, calling the classic blend of white rum, fresh lime, mint, sugar, and soda water one of Cuba’s most enduring cocktails, as long as it’s built with fresh ingredients and a gentle muddle.
Find Your Mojito at Havana 1957 Miami & Las Vegas
Myth or not, one thing is certain. There’s no better way to settle the debate than with a mojito in hand. At Havana 1957, we make ours exactly the way Frank describes, fresh, gently muddled, and full of Cuban soul, and we pour them in more flavors than Hemingway ever could have imagined.
Come explore our full lineup. The Classic Mojito and the South Beach Mojito anchor the menu, joined by a rainbow of fruit forward twists including Mango, Passion, Coco, Guava, and Strawberry. Whether you find us on Ocean Drive, Española Way, Lincoln Road, Pembroke Pines or at the Flamingo Las Vegas, raise a glass to Papa Hemingway and taste a piece of Old Havana for yourself.