Those of you who have been following our mojito contest—and almost 250 people voted in it, so I know there’s at least a handful of you out there—know that it came down to two finalists: Matchbox and Carnivale. In this week’s issue we announced that Carnivale won by a landslide, with 94% of the vote.

The Carnivale mojito was my choice of finalist, but even I was surprised how heartily it won. I wondered: How could one drink inspire such a coup? I called Carnivale’s general manager Michael Sands, and he didn’t know for sure either. But he did offer some theories.

First of all, Carnivale is perhaps the mojito capital of the city, averaging 2000 a week. That’s almost 300 a day, a rate that I doubt is matched by any other restaurant (except possibly Nacional 27). Knowing that the drink is such a crucial part of its business, bartenders at Carnivale are trained extensively. “The key is how you muddle it,” Sands says. “If you under-muddle it, it’s not going to taste good. If you over-muddle it’s going to get bitter from the rind of the lime.” Thus, each bartender at Carnivale is taught to muddle their mojitos ten times—no more, no less.

Sands also suggests that the organic mint the restaurant uses—they get it from Home Grown Wisconsin—creates a better drink. But the most likely reason the mojitos are so good is quality control. Every Saturday night Sands will secretly order a mojito from each bar and have it brought to his office. There, he tastes it and, if he needs to, corrects the bartenders who aren’t making it right. Sounds like tough work. But nobody said putting out the city’s best mojito would be easy.