An American twist on the Moscow Mule
Ilove telling stories behind the bar — how a certain spirit was made, where it comes from, what made this cocktail famous back in its heyday. The Moscow Mule is a really popular drink at the moment — it’s made with vodka and ginger beer, which is like ginger ale, but with a more intense, spicy ginger flavor.
I could tell you that the Moscow Mule has it roots in Moscow when the only mode of transportation was mules. They were hauling fresh ginger in a barrel in the hot sun and it started to ferment and a bottle of vodka fell in. By the time they realized the vodka had fallen in, they needed to quickly pour it into something to prevent it from further fermentation. The local blacksmith had all these copper mugs laying around, so they poured it all into these mugs and the Moscow Mule in the copper mug was born.
But, alas, this is one of those times that fiction is better than the truth. Yeah, I totally made that story up.
The truth is that it was actually a 1940s marketing stunt by Smirnoff vodka; John “Jack” Morgan, the president of Cock ‘n’ Bull products (a ginger beer) and owner of the Cock ‘n’ Bull restaurant in Los Angeles; and John Martin of food and spirits distributor G.F. Heublein Bros. Inc. At the time, THE LIBATIONIST vodka wasn’t all that well known, but people were drinking more of it because it didn’t taste like anything. Morgan, Martin and a Smirnoff executive were in New York’s Chatham Hotel drinking and brainstorming how to sell more vodka and ginger beer, and that led to the Moscow Mule.
Interestingly, it never really took off on the East Coast; it was more of a West Coast/LA thing. Now, it’s 10 times more popular than it ever was back then. Today, there are some really amazing ginger beers on the market, and many bars are even making their own ginger beer. Fever-Tree, Reed’s, Gosling’s are all great ginger-beer brands — most can be found at the grocery store or at BevMo or Total Wine.
I like making it with a good American vodka, such as Tito’s Handmade Vodka, or even Square One rye, and call it an American Mule. If you really want to go authentic, you can buy copper mugs at cocktailkingdom.com, but they are a little pricy. Very refreshing drink, but you have to love ginger.
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