For another excellent variation, skip the lime juice and soda water, and use bourbon instead of rum.

For simple syrup, instead of regular granular sugar, there's another kind (less granular than granular sugar, less powdery than powdered sugar) designed specifically to dissolve in liquids. I don't remember what it's called, but in the supermarket the package will have a picture of glasses of iced tea on it.

I'm not sure a Mint Julep fits within the expected bounds of "variation" on a Mojito, but they're tasty too.

The sugar is often called "Bartender's" sugar or simply "super fine" sugar. But I just keep a supply of simple syrup on hand in a squeeze bottle in the fridge. (Thank you, Alton Brown.)

Thanks for the recipe!

And, nice tile...Oceanside?