Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Mule Time

Happy week 1 everybody! Football is finally back…barely. Hopefully this week’s cocktail will help wash out the suck that was Thursday Night Football. Luckily, this week’s cocktail is extremely easy to make. No shaking necessary (of which, is a huge plus for me right now). Let’s mix up a Moscow Mule from the Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails book:

Juice of 1/2 Lime

2 oz. Vodka

Ginger beer or ginger ale

Squeeze the lime juice into a copper Moscow Mule Mug. Drop the spent lime into the mug. Add ice cubes and the vodka. Top with the ginger beer.

I guess I can see why this falls under the forgotten cocktails category. I definitely do not make this drink enough, despite its stupid easy preparation.  Moscow Mules are absolutely delicious. They are light very light and extremely refreshing.  They are not very strong, given only the two ounces of vodka in the cocktail. Personally, I’d add maybe another ounce to an ounce and a half, but then again I prefer my drinks to be on the stronger side. This is another drink that can easily be scaled up and made in bulk, to make entertaining easier. Also, I suppose you could make this in a regular collins glass, but there is something about sipping this out of a copper mug that makes it taste a bit better. Kind of like drinking coke out of a glass bottle. It may be in my head, but I think it’s vital to use the copper mug if you have one.

Moscow Mules also are versatile too. I made a virgin version for Mrs. Sharkbait. Since she is temporarily not drinking, I added more lime, mint and simple syrup to offset the ginger beer and make up for the lack of vodka. Not only can these be made virgin, changing up the base spirit plays nicely as well. using dark rum turns this into Dark and Stormy, using gin makes it an English Mule. Have some Tequila on hand? You can make a (you guessed it) Mexican Mule.  Go ahead and experiment with whatever you want. Adding lime and ginger beer will most likely result in a delicious and easily made cocktail.