Moscow Mule
The cocktail that made copper mugs a thing. Vodka meets spicy ginger beer and fresh lime in a combination so refreshing, so photogenic, it launched a thousand copycats.
- 2 ozvodka
- 4 ozginger beer(chilled)
- ½ ozfresh lime juice(freshly squeezed)
- Lime wheelgarnish
- 1Add vodka and fresh lime juice.
- 2Fill a copper mug with ice cubes.
- 3Garnish with a lime wheel and mint sprig.
- 4Top with ginger beer and stir gently.
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The Moscow Mule was created in 1941 at the Cock 'n' Bull pub on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, through a collaboration between John G. Martin — who had recently acquired the US distribution rights for Smirnoff vodka — and Jack Morgan, the pub owner struggling to sell his house-produced ginger beer. Martin famously photographed bartenders holding the copper mugs with early Polaroid cameras to document the drink's spread from city to city. The copper mugs — supplied by a manufacturer named Sophie Berezinski who had been unable to sell them elsewhere — became among the most recognized vessels in cocktail culture. The Moscow Mule is widely credited with introducing vodka to mainstream American drinking. Before 1941, the spirit was virtually unknown to American consumers, and the Moscow Mule's commercial success convinced the broader US bar industry that vodka had a commercial future.
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