Moscow Mule

  • 75 ml vodka
  • 200 ml Fever-Tree, Fentiman’s or DIY ginger beer, chilled
  • juice of 1 lime, freshly squeezed

Throw a few ice cubes into a copper mug or pint glass. Add vodka, squeeze the juice from a lime in, then top up with ginger beer. Do not garnish; it’s just annoying.

In 1941 John Martin, owner of Smirnoff at the time, met Jack Morgan at Jack’s bar, The Cock n’ Bull, on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, along with Russian immigrant Sophie Berezinsk,i who wanted to sell her father’s copper mugs. Jack made his own ginger beer. Right then and there the Moscow Mule, originally the Smirnoff Mule, was born.

A Moscow Mule is all down to the ginger beer. Fever-Tree, a blend of three gingers from Nigeria, Cochin and the Ivory Coast, is excellent, Fentiman’s a close second, but making your own is the way to go.

Roughly peel 1 kg of fresh ginger. Run it through a sturdy juicer. Add a litre of plain spring water. Sweeten to taste, with either sugar syrup or liquid stevia if you want a slimline version.