ginger beer

I’ve always loved the name of this drink, unpretentious and ready to deliver a kick, but until recently I’d never tried it.

As far as drinks go, the Moscow Mule is a pretty basic one, with uncomplicated ingredients and a distinct lack of fussiness: ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka. You can play with the proportions, and you can pour it in a traditional copper mug, but there’s no careful mixing or vigorous shaking involved.

Mules (also known as “bucks”) are drinks made with ginger beer, citrus juice, and a variety of base spirits. They’re related to other (perhaps more familiar) highballs like the Dark and Stormy, Cuba Libre, and Mojito. The Moscow Mule is so named because the base spirit is vodka, of course. It was born right here in L.A. in the 1940s, a brainchild of Jack Morgan, who owned the Cock and Bull Tavern, and John Martin, an executive who’d just acquired the (then-new) Smirnoff Vodka brand. Legend has it that Morgan’s girlfriend had a business with a surplus of copper mugs, and voila! a new drink was born.

The Moscow Mule became so popular that it may have been largely responsible for America’s love affair with vodka. I love this drink. It’s frosty and refreshing, especially when served in a copper mug.

Now you may ask, why is the Drink Gorilla featuring a drink more suited to a L.A. hot summer night on Christmas Eve? Well, Herself (or Mrs. Drink Gorilla, aka Hungry Passport aka Carol) got me a pair of copper mugs for Christmas–especially for making this tasty drink. I had to make a couple of mules right away! (I’d planned on posting about the Moscow Mule a month ago, but decided to wait until I could get proper mugs.)

After you pour in the ginger beer, the flavor of the vodka all but disappears, and you’re left with a spicy drink that packs a wallop. Just like a mule-kick. If vodka’s not your thing, you can use rum, gin, or even scotch (though then it’s not technically a Moscow Mule). Herself likes to use gin. She finds the herbal notes as good match for the bite of the ginger beer. She calls it a “Manchester Mule” for fun, though the drink is more properly named a London Buck, a Gin Gin Mule, or a Ginger Rogers. No offense to Ginger, but that name makes me think it’s a non-alcoholic mocktail.

One note on ginger beer. It is not ginger ale. It’s much more intensely flavored and makes ginger ale seem like sump water in comparison. We usually stock Reed’s Ginger Beer around Chez Penn Romine. Finally, the recipe I use to make the drink is based on several sources. Some call for more vodka, some for less (?!), and the proportions of lime juice vary. Feel free to adjust to your own tastes.

Moscow Mule

• fill a copper mug (or highball glass) with ice
• add 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 oz. vodka
• top off the mug with ginger beer
• garnish with lime wedge

I made it once with one recipe where you squeeze a whole half a lime right into the iced mug, drop the peel right into the glass, and then fill with your other liquid ingredients. This is tasty, too. Next week, I’ll have a cocktail perhaps more appropriate for the season-something to drink while ringing in the New Year.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays and cheers!

UPDATE!

On Christmas Day, the family was mighty intrigued to try some mules! We didn’t have any copper on hand, but Mom scrounged up some old Williamsburg pewter mugs, and they seemed to work just fine (and looked amazingly rustic and cool).

We made mules with gin, vodka, and bourbon. Dad had some Cock & Bull ginger beer in the fridge just for the occasion.

Cock & Bull Ginger beer was originally produced by the selfsame tavern in Los Angeles — a side business of sorts. I think the brand name beer is all that’s left of the legacy, however. Except the cocktail, of course. Enjoy!