Top Exotic Drinks Served In South Florida

It's not often you find mint leaves in your drink, but if you do, don't send it back -- those leaves are supposed to be there, that's if you ordered a Mojito. Other drinks may be hard to pronounce but easy to swallow. Take, for example, the Caipirinha (pronounced Cay-Pir-Inn-Ya) , that's Brazil's national cocktail and it's easy to find in South Florida.

MOJITO

Mix in the following five ingredients -- white rum, cane juice sugar, lime, sparkling water and mint – and voila you have yourself a Mojito. The drink originated from Cuba and became popular as a summer drink. It's been imported to Miami where bartenders have made different variations of the drink, including the apple Mojito. The drink is easily found in every full-service bar in South Florida. Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway favored this drink when he lived in Cuba.

CAIPIRINHA

Known as Brazil's national cocktail, this drink is made with cachaca sugar and lime. Cachaca is Brazil's famous distilled alcohol and the drink uses both cachaca and molasses-based rum. It can leave you feeling tipsy if you're not much of a drinker, but for a true taste of Brazil, it's a must. Note the drink's colors also match Brazil's flag. Naturally, there have been many variations on the drink including the Caipivodka, which substitutes Cachaca with Vodka.

PISCO SOUR

Two South American countries lay claim to the popular drink that uses a variety of lemons and grape brandy made from Muscat grapes. Both Chileans and Peruvians will fight for the title of originators of the drink. But Peru seems to show more love. In Peru, the pisco sour is celebrated the first weekend of February with National Pisco Sour Day. The origins of the pisco sour, however, date back to the 16^th century when the Spaniards brought grapes to the area now known as Peru.

PAIN IN THE A**

It's a rum runner. Nope, it's a pina colada. Actually, it's both. The drink mixes two of the most popular island drinks and turns it into one colossal "pain in the a**." How that name came about is still debated. But some say it's because it's a pain in the a** to make. It does require four different alcohols -- Midori melon liquer, Bacardi 151 rum, Malibu coconut rum and sour apple Schnapps along with pineapple juice and 7-up.

RUM RUNNER

Legend has it that the rum runner got its start at an Islamorada bar in the late 1950s. The story that's been passed around begins with the Holiday Island Tiki Bar trying to move a surplus of rum and other liqueurs off its shelves to make room for an upcoming shipment. So, they splashed pineapple juice, orange juice, blackberry and banana liquer, light rum, dark rum and splashed it with some grenadine and, thus, the rum runner was born.