Mojito Mocktail

This non alcoholic mojito recipe is a result of experimenting with Lyre’s White Cane Spirit in Non-Alcoholic Cuban Drinks with a Quality Rum Substitute. White Cane Spirit has a surprising likeness to light rum, making it an excellent substitute in more recipes for classic rum cocktails, especially a mojito mocktail.

non alcoholic mojito
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Mojito Mocktail Recipe

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White Cane Spirit has a surprising likeness to light rum, making this refreshing blend an excellent substitute for a classic cocktail like the Mojito.
Servings 1 mocktail

Ingredients
 

  • 2 oz Lyre's White Cane Spirit
  • 1 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)
  • .75 oz fresh lime juice
  • 8 fresh mint leaves (plus a sprig for garnish)
  • club soda or sparkling water
  • lime wedges (for garnish)

Instructions

  • Add simple syrup and mint leaves to a Collins glass and stir for about 1 minute, lightly pressing the leaves (don’t muddle or break them up a lot).
  • Then, add lime juice.
  • Fill the glass with ice, then add rum. 
  • Top up the glass with club soda.
  • Give it a light stir, and garnish with a lime wedge and mint sprig.

Notes

  • Some hotels in Havana add angostura bitters to their mojitos.
  • Optional variation: you can use granulated cane sugar or honey syrup instead of simple syrup as the sweetener in this virgin mojito mocktail.

Nutrition

Serving: 1mocktail | Calories: 58kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Sodium: 18mg | Potassium: 22mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Several tasty tropical beverages originated in Cuba, and the mojito  is one of them. Lime juice, rum, sugar, soda water, and mint blend together to make an exceptionally sweet and refreshing drink. There is much debate as to the exact origin of the mojito. 

It’s very possible that the mojito likely originated in Havana Cuba, when a group of explorers stopped in the city to obtain medicine and came back with mint, sugar cane, limes, and aguardiente de caña (a type of rum similar to moonshine). 

Since the mojito likely originated from a medicinal concoction, could a virgin mojito offer more health benefits than solely skipping the alcohol?

Health Benefits of Fresh Lime Juice

Believe it or not, fresh lime juice can be good for you. It might be sour, but it is packed with antioxidants and vitamins like vitamin C, potassium, folate, and calcium, among others. It is especially rich in vitamin C, which is responsible in many ways from the development to the repair of tissue and collagen. 

It’s a powerful antioxidant used in anti-aging products and immune boosting products. According to the US Department of Agriculture Research Service, one lime has 19.5mg of vitamin C, which is roughly 20-30% of your recommended daily intake.

Health Benefits of Fresh Mint

Mint is a good source of vitamin A, which is good for the health of your eyes, and peppermint oil has been shown to alleviate symptoms of IBS and digestive issues as well. It helps with bad breath and its bright aroma energizes and for some, helps to ease cold symptoms. 

Non Alcoholic Rum

Lyre’s is a brand of non-alcoholic spirits based in Australia. They claim to offer “crafted homages to the intensity, balance, and beauty of time-tested classics.” This is definitely true for their non-alcoholic version of light rum called White Cane Spirit. While rum is typically made from a distilled spirit, White Cane Spirit is made by carefully blending natural essences and extracts for the perfect rum-like flavor. 

Lyre’s White Cane Spirit is smooth and sweet with a light bite, and it tastes and smells a lot like light rum, especially when used in mocktails. The resemblance is impressive. A 2oz serving of White Cane Spirit has roughly 2g of sugar. Most of the mocktails that require light rum tend to be sweet, mixed with fruit or sweet mixers, so keeping the sugar content low is more difficult with these than mocktails using other non-alcoholic spirits. 

Prepare Your Virgin Mojito Mocktail Ingredients

Have you ever heard the French term mise en place? It refers to the gathering of all of your ingredients prior to cooking, or in this case, mixing. Preparing your ingredients properly prior to making your mocktail will ensure the process moves quickly and will make cleanup a lot more efficient. Not to mention, it is a lot easier to prep the right amounts if you’re making more than one mocktail. So, it may seem like a fancy chef term for making drinks, but trust me, it’s worth adding this habit in your kitchen routine, whether you are making drinks or food. 

In order to prepare your ingredients neatly, you will want to have your tools and storage vessels handy. Since this recipe is super simple, you will only need to use these tools:   

  • pour-spout measuring cup
  • Muddler
  • Bar spoon
  • Citrus squeezer
  • Highball glass

When it comes to limes, there are a couple varieties to look out for in the store:

  1. Bearss lime (also called Tahiti or Persian): This is a large fruiting variety, and it’s probably the most common lime you will find in the supermarket. The store may or may not have the name listed, but usually there are only a couple of choices. This one or key limes, so grab this one. It has a fair balance of acidity and sweetness, and will give you more juice per lime. 
  2. Key limes: These are very small limes, with a slightly more yellow-green rind than the Bearss/Persian variety. Key limes are much more acidic, and because of their size, they are a bit of a pain to juice for mocktails. However, they can be interesting to use if you are looking for a more acidic drink. Because most bars/bartenders do not use key limes, you will have to adjust recipes to account for the extra sharp acidity. 

When preparing your ingredients, always wash and dry your produce. This is an easy step to overlook, but incredibly important. After you have everything out and ready, cut your lime in half. 

Make the simple syrup. In a virgin mojito recipe, white sugar or cane sugar is most common. Simply dissolve sugar by stirring equal parts warm water to sugar, in an easy-to-pour vessel like a large measuring cup. If you make extra, you can save any unused sugar in the refrigerator in a simple syrup bottle like one in this review: Best Simple Syrup Bottles – The Bartender’s Best Friend.

Then, prepare your garnish: take one of your lime halves and half it lengthwise, then half one of those wedges again, lengthwise. Then, score one slice on the fruit across the middle so it will sit neatly on the edge of your glass. Clip a plump and healthy looking mint sprig from the bunch and set it aside. 

It’s best to make one mojito mocktail at a time, so you can build the ingredients directly into the glass as you go. Lightly muddle the mint with simple syrup in a Collins glass. You only want to express the oil, you don’t want to pulverize the herb, so use a muddler or a wooden spoon. Then, add the non-alcoholic rum and lime juice. 

Fill the glass with ice and top with club soda or sparkling water. Give it a light stir with your bar spoon and garnish with a lime wedge and mint sprig. 

More Mocktail Recipes with White Cane Spirit

Since it is such an excellent light rum substitute, Lyre’s White Cane Spirit has performed well in other Cuban mocktails aside from virgin mojitos, including two versions of a pina colada: Lyre’s Pina Colada, and Frozen Non Alcoholic Pina Colada

For a slightly different variation on the mojito with a different non-alcoholic spirit, try the Non Alcoholic Caipirinha using Caleño.

Picture of Angela T.
Hi, I’m Angela! Ever since alternative beverages made their debut, I’ve been on a mission to find the best. As someone who loves wine and making craft cocktails, I approach each new beverage with curiosity and a healthy dose of skepticism. I hope these honest reviews will help you learn which non-alcoholic drinks are best for you.