Moscow Mule

Be aware that ginger beer and ginger ale are not the same thing. The former tastes a lot more of ginger and has a spicy kick.

Choose a ginger beer that carries the right amount of heat for you. Fever Tree and Q strike a nice balance between sweetness and kick. If you want something really spicy, try Goya’s ginger beer.

When pouring the ginger beer, avoid pouring on top of the ice to allow it to go to the bottom of the drink and mix with the other ingredients.

The Moscow Mule falls under the category of “Buck” cocktails. Bucks can be made with any spirit and are mixed with ginger beer or ale and citrus.

Created in 1941 by Wes Price, head bartender at the Cock ’n’ Bull in Los Angeles, California.

According to Price the drink was created when he needed to “clean out the basement” from their surplus of vodka and ginger beer.

The signature copper mug used in a Moscow Mule comes from the fact that the bar owner’s girlfriend had a company that made copper products. These copper mugs were simply something that was easy for them to get.

The cocktail gained popularity across the country thanks to John G. Martin, an executive at the Heublein drinks company.

Martin’s firm acquired the rights to sell Smirnoff Vodka in the US. In an effort to sell it, Martin took a Polaroid camera and started taking pictures of bartenders holding a Moscow Mule, along with a bottle of Smirnoff.

Martin always took two pictures: One for the bartender to keep, and the other to take and tell the next bartender about how popular the Moscow Mule was in the previous place he visited.