Ernest Hemingway’s Favorite Cocktail Turns Out to Be a Beautiful Fairy Tale: Biographers Debunk Famous Bar Myth

Every July, as literature fans celebrate Ernest Hemingway’s birthday, bars across Florida—from Key West to Miami Beach—mix hundreds of mojitos in honor of the Nobel Prize laureate.

However, researchers of the literary genius's life argue that the legend of Hemingway’s passion for the mojito is nothing more than a successful marketing myth, reports The Post.

“His connection to the mojito is more of a nice legend than reality,” explains Mark Ott, a Hemingway scholar and scientific consultant for Ken Burns' documentary. “There is practically no historical evidence in the sources to suggest he even drank mojitos.”

A Forged Inscription and Real Diabetes

The origin of the myth is typically tied to the Havana bar La Bodeguita del Medio, where a handwritten inscription on the wall is attributed to the author: “My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita.”

However, historians have long questioned both the authenticity of this autograph and the very fact that the establishment existed in its current form during the years Hemingway lived in Cuba and wrote The Old Man and the Sea (which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1953). Regardless, that hasn't stopped the inscription from becoming Havana’s top tourist attraction.

On the other hand, Hemingway’s love for the daiquiri is a fact documented in countless ways. Mark Ott notes that the writer was a regular at El Floridita in Havana, where bartenders created a special recipe just for him: the Papa Doble, a sugar-free daiquiri variant featuring a double pour of rum. “The daiquiri is Hemingway,” agrees Frank Gonzalez, head bartender for the Havana 1957 restaurant group.

Gonzalez explains that the writer's habits changed drastically due to his health: “Hemingway developed diabetes, so he had to strictly avoid any sweet drinks and cocktails with added sugar.”

Scotch, Martini, and Not a Single Mint Leaf

Numerous letters, memoirs of contemporaries, and biographies of the writer catch Hemingway with a glass of daiquiri, a bottle of beer, wine, a martini, or scotch far more often than with the mint-and-lime Cuban mix. “There are literally thousands of photographs of Hemingway,” says Mark Ott. “And I have never seen a single one where he is holding a mojito. You’ll see him with a bottle of beer or mixing a martini, but never with mint leaves floating in his glass.”

At the same time, researchers agree: if you are looking for the absolute favorite hard drink of the A Farewell to Arms author, it was undoubtedly Scotch whisky.

Does this make the mojito any less enjoyable? Not at all. Experts emphasize that the classic combination of white rum, fresh lime juice, mint, sugar, and club soda remains one of the greatest cocktails in history—whether Hemingway ever drank one or not.