The mojito is a classic for pool and beachside drinking — less dowdy than a pina colada, healthier than a Mai Tai. They’re a little less ‘look at me! I’m on holiday!’ than those frou-frou cocktails that people on vacation tend to order, but mojitos still have serious party, holiday, and chill-out vibes attached to them.
The rum-based drink hails from Cuba, but now Phuket, which recently won an award for having the second best beaches in the world, has a pop-up Mojito Factory on Layan Beach open daily through the end of October, where visitors can try 25 different kinds of mojito — including a few with distinctly Thai influences.
Checking out plane routes and prices yet? If you’ve visited the spot where the bar is located, you might be opening a new tab to do that already. Layan Beach is situated on the chill northwest corner of the island surrounded by a national park, so you can call any buzz you catch there almost like a nature outing. The bar, run by Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, plays a Latin soundtrack with DJs on the weekend and bean bag chairs on the sand in case sitting on a stool seems too taxing.
From the bar, of course, you can grab The Classic (THB290/US$8.7). The Mojito Factory’s version uses local Chalong Bay rum, lime, mint and sugar cane, but for something a little less conventional, there’s the Champagne Mojito (THB550/US$16.5), Tom Yam Mojito (THB390/US$11.7), or the exotic purple Butterfly Pea Mojito (THB390/US$11.7), colored with Thai anchan, the same flower that makes this viral coffee blue.
Mojitos at the pop-up bar arrive in a bottle with the name written on a tag. The presentation references messages in bottles and the disputed history that the drink recipe started as the swill of pirates, only later becoming popular in Havana, where Ernest Hemingway was said to be a fan and daily imbiber.
No one will blame — or judge — if you can’t decide which drink to go for. In fact, the Triojito (THB420/US$12.6), is designed for the indecisive (or thirsty) and offers guests the ability to try three kinds of mini mojito. For mojito connoisseurs, there’s also a DIY Mojito (starts at THB290/US$8.7) menu, where guests can customize their drink, choosing the kind of sugar, rum, citrus, and soda used.
FIND IT:
The Mojito Factory at Anantara Phuket Layan Resort
168 Moo 6 Layan Beach Soi 4
Phuket
Open daily, 8am-7pm through Oct. 31
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