Cocktail · Medium strength
Moscow Mule
Vodka, ginger beer, lime — crisp enough to start a copper-mug industry.
How to order it: Spicy ginger beer or don't bother. The mug keeps it cold; the lime keeps it honest.
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The recipe
- 2 oz vodka
- ½ oz lime juice
- Top with spicy ginger beer
- Copper mug, plenty of ice
- Lime wedge
The story
A marketing miracle with a copper finish. In 1941 Los Angeles, John G. Martin — whose company had bought the obscure Smirnoff vodka brand — joined forces with Jack Morgan of the Cock 'n' Bull pub, who had a surplus of house-made ginger beer. Vodka, ginger beer, lime; legend adds a stockpile of copper mugs, often credited to a Russian immigrant named Sophie Berezinski, though that detail rests on family telling. The drink worked. It almost single-handedly taught America to drink vodka, paving the way for the spirit's mid-century conquest. The Moscow Mule endures because the mug was never a gimmick — frost on copper is half the recipe.
Adjacent pours