Cooking Lesson #206 Classic Moscow Mule

How you doin’? You never have to miss out on a happy hour during the pandemic as long as we’re around. We put our bartender skills to work every Friday afternoon.
 
If you’ve got copper mugs (or not), ginger beer and vodka, that’s all you need together with this recipe on how to make a classic Moscow Mule! If you don’t have the copper mugs, don’t let that stop you.

A Moscow Mule is bubbly, tangy, looks important and goes down easy—real easy. The Moscow Mule was first mixed in the 1940’s, but it’s been making a comeback at many bars and saloons. It’s got only 3 ingredients and takes 3 minutes to make: perfect for parties or a lazy evening on the patio.
 
The Moscow Mule was invented as a marketing scheme to sell more vodka, ginger beer and copper mugs. The glitterati in Hollywood fell in love with it, and there were lots of images at the time of celebs drinking mules from copper mugs. It caught on, and it’s still the traditional way to drink a Moscow Mule.
 
It’s actually part of a family of cocktails called a buck: a cocktail made with liquor, ginger ale or ginger beer and lime. So, it can also be called a vodka buck, if you like… or maybe a Bucking Mule!
 
Because a Moscow mule is all about the carbonation in the ginger beer, this drink is not mixed in a cocktail shaker. To preserve the carbonation, it’s simply mixed right in the mug and quickly served over ice.
 
Ingredients
1-1/2 ounces vodka
4 to 5 ounces ginger beer
1 or 2 lime wedges for the juice and garnish
 
Directions

1. Pour the vodka and ginger beer into a copper mug.
2. Add ice cubes.
3. Squeeze a couple of lime wedges and toss them in the mug.

It’s that simple! This makes it one of the easiest cocktail recipes you can make—perfect for a stay-at-home happy hour.

ChefSecret:  Moscow Mules are traditionally served in a copper cup or copped mug. But it doesn’t have to be served in copper. No way. Just remember, copper keeps the drink cool in a different way than glass. The copper immediately takes on the temperature of the drink and there’s something about taking a sip of the drink with a cool copper rim… it feels even colder!

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Nothing like relaxing on the couch after a long day of being tense on the couch.”
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                                                 ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, Inc., 2021

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