Medium · long
Moscow mule
Vodka, lime and ginger beer in a cold cup. Spicy, long and easy, the drink people take a second one of.
- Pour
- 175 ml
- Strength
- Medium
- Best for
- Big parties, Garden parties
- Season
- Summer, Autumn, Spring
- Fizz
- Added at the door
- Ahead
- Jug ahead, top at the door
The welcome pour
One glass, 175 ml
Copper mug or a tall glass, filled with ice. Garnish: a wedge of lime.
The spec, according to the IBA: 45 ml vodka and 120 ml ginger beer combined in a mule cup or rocks glass, with 10 ml of fresh lime juice stirred in and a lime slice.
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Vodka | 45 ml (1.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Fresh lime juice | 10 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Ginger beer | 120 ml (4 fl oz) | at the door |
The jug
How much for your party
One welcome drink per guest plus a 15% spare. Sparkling wine and soda are counted here but stay in the fridge until the door.
| Ingredient | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Vodka 1 × 700 ml bottle (750 ml in the US) | 650 ml 22 fl oz | in the jug |
| Fresh lime juice about 4 limes | 140 ml 4.5 fl oz | in the jug |
| Ginger beer 2 × 1 L bottles | 1.7 L 7 cups | at the door |
| The jug holds 800 ml (27 fl oz), which is 1 1.5-litre jug filled to 85%. Added per glass at the door: 1.7 L in all. | ||
Make it
In the jug, then at the door
Ahead. Vodka and lime go in the jug, 55 ml per glass. Chill the ginger beer.
At the door. Fill the cup with ice, pour 55 ml from the jug, top with 120 ml ginger beer, stir once, lime wedge.
Keeps. The vodka and lime mix keeps a day; lime juice starts to turn after about ten hours, so squeeze it the afternoon of the party.
- Buy a ginger beer with real bite. The drink is only as spicy as the ginger beer, and a sweet, mild one makes a mule that tastes like lemonade.
- Squeeze the limes a few hours ahead; a lime gives roughly 35 ml, so three limes cover ten glasses.
- Mix vodka and lime in a jug and refrigerate.
- Fill the cups with ice all the way to the top just before serving; a mule is meant to be very cold.
- At the door: base from the jug, ginger beer, stir, wedge.
The alcohol-free twin
Virgin mule
Difford's Guide's alcohol-free mule stretches the ginger beer with tonic and cloudy apple juice so the glass still has body. Their recipe is a full 340 ml; we halve it to a welcome pour.
Apple juice and lime in a jug; ginger beer and tonic cold. Ice, 50 ml from the jug, top with ginger beer and tonic, lime wedge.
Reference: diffordsguide.com
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Ginger beer | 80 ml (2.5 fl oz) | at the door |
| Tonic water | 40 ml (1.5 fl oz) | at the door |
| Cloudy apple juice | 40 ml (1.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Fresh lime juice | 10 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
Why it works at the door
Moscow mule, in three paragraphs
The mule was invented in Hollywood in the 1940s, at the Cock'n'Bull, by people who, as the story goes, had too much vodka and too much ginger beer to sell. Whatever the truth of the story, the drink has the two qualities a party drink needs: it is long, so people are not drunk after the first one, and it is spicy, so it does not taste like a soft drink.
As a welcome drink it suits the parties that are not dressed up. Barbecues, birthdays, a housewarming. The copper mug is theatre, and worth it if you own them, but a tall glass full of ice does the same job. What matters is the cold: the cup, the ginger beer, the vodka, all of it from the fridge.
It batches almost as easily as a spritz. The vodka and lime wait in a jug; the ginger beer, which carries the fizz, goes in at the door. The only planning is the ginger beer itself, which comes in small bottles and cans: at 120 ml a glass, a 1 L bottle pours eight mules.
Questions hosts ask
Ginger beer or ginger ale?
Ginger beer. The IBA spec uses ginger beer, which is brewed with real ginger and has the heat the drink is named for. Ginger ale is milder and sweeter and makes a flat, sugary mule.
How much ginger beer per guest?
120 ml a glass, so a 1 L bottle pours eight mules and a 330 ml can pours nearly three. For 20 guests with a spare, buy three litres.
Do I need copper mugs?
No. A tall glass packed with ice makes the same drink. Copper feels colder in the hand and looks the part, but the IBA lists a rocks glass as a perfectly good alternative.
Next to it on the tray