The refreshing flavour and pleasant aroma of a Moscow Mule make it a wonderful spring and summertime favourite. Super simple to make with just 4 ingredients and tools most amateur bartenders have on hand, let’s see if this will make it to your list of favourite tipples this year!
You may also have heard it referred to as a Vodka Buck – a buck being any drink with ginger beer and lime base with a spirit added.
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Tools you will need for making a Moscow Mule
- Copper Mugs, aka Moscow Mule mugs
- Jigger
- Stirrer
- Ice cubes
- Fresh lime squeezer
Find all our favourite tools for your home cocktail bar here.
Moscow Mule Recipe
A deliciously refreshing Moscow Mule to tantalise your taste buds, here's how we make ours following the classic recipe.
Ingredients
- 60ml Vodka
- 15ml Freshly squeezed lime juice
- 180ml Ginger Beer
- Ice Cubes
- Optional lime slice and mint sprig to garnish
Instructions
- Measure out the vodka straight into the copper mug
- Add freshly squeezed lime juice
- Fill remainder of glass with ice
- Top off until full with ginger beer
- Use long stirring spoon to mix the drink
- Garnish if desired with lime slices and/or mint sprig
Like all good cocktail recipes, everyone will have their own variations. Particularly on quantities, it depends if you really like to taste your vodka; with the amount of ice a copper mug can fit we err on adding a little extra vodka, 60ml or 2oz does not seem overpowering. Some add the lime last, just a drizzle leaving the lime wedge served in the mug.
How did Moscow Mule get its name?
Like all classic drinks, there’s a disputed story behind the true origins of the Moscow Mule. Most versions seem to date the drink back to the 1940s and New York’s Chatham Hotel. Was it three friends – John (Jack) A Morgan, John G. Martin and Rudolph Kunett, exploring ginger beer vodka and lemon – or supposedly head bartender Wes Price on instruction use up surplus supplies of ginger beer and vodka… The “Moscow” coming from the use of Smirnoff Vodka. Whoever is responsible, thank you!
Why is a Moscow Mule traditionally served in a copper mug?
Copper mugs are great thermal conductors. They respond well to the temperature of the beverage inside, be it hot or cold. So in the case or a refreshing Moscow Mule, the copper cup is keeping the wonderful chilled sensation and the aromas, so you can slowly sip without the ice melting and watering down your drink.
National Moscow Mule Day
What better time to break out your copper mugs for this deliciously refreshing treat than National Moscow Mule Day – held in the US on 3 March every year.
Find more refreshing summer drink ideas here!
Mama Loves A Drink advocates quality over quantity. Always drink responsibly!