The (so-called) Moscow Mule
The Moscow Mule isn’t Russian, but the myth behind its name is what gives the cocktail an added layer of flavour.
The drink is New York-inspired and appeared in the early 1940s. The story goes that three gentlemen from the bar industry – a distributor, a ginger beer-maker and a vodka distiller – dreamed up the cocktail together while at the bar in The Chatham Hotel in Manhattan. The guys combined a couple of jiggers of vodka with some ginger beer and gave it a good squeeze of lime. It’s really a pretty simple creation. And its a great thirst-quencher.
As for the name, vodka has for a very long time been associated with Russia, and some early imbibers of the drink, as they were testing it, thought that the spicy, snappy ginger beer gave the beverage a bit of a kick.
And the Moscow Mule was born.
Here’s a recipe:
Moscow Mule
Ingredients
½ oz. lime juice
2 oz. vodka
6 oz. ginger beer
Method
Squeeze lime juice into a Moscow Mule mug. Drop in squeezed lime for good measure. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes. Pour in the vodka and fill with cold ginger beer. Serve with a stir stick.
Variation: The Kentucky Mule
An excellent substitution: use 2 oz. bourbon instead of vodka and garnish with a sprig of mint.
[Image/ Nan Palermo, via Wikimedia Commons]
