No, I am not talking about strays in Sochi. Like everyone, I think I am just hoping that these Olympic Games pass without something awful happening. Or the awful jobs numbers. I am talking about cocktails.
The discussion had actually been going on all day. My pal Annie out in Shenandoah is always on the look-out to take care of her “kids,” the merry band of officers in the back room of the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs. She used to serve as the Minister of Thoughtfulness for the dozen odd (and we were odd) Commanders assigned to do liaison with the various Committees on the Hill; you know, gifts that would appeal to the wives and significant others.
Wait, let me strike that: replace with spouses OR significant others. Much better.
Anyway, her “M” key was jammed and she sent me an image of what she described as >OSCOW >ULES mugs. She thought of me for some reason when she came across the solid copper drinking mugs. Pretty things, I thought.
I could use some more specialized barware I will use a couple times a year, like those pumpkin bowls from Williams & Sonoma. Practical, you know? I bought a set of four in hammered solid copper, a wonderful evocative metal with the functional benefit of retaining the coldness of the cocktail.
I wrote her back: “I think you meant “Moscow Mule,” right? It’s funny you mention that drink. Boomer the new Beverage Manager at Willow has rolled out a new specialty cocktail list, and the Mule is on it. Jon-Without has been working his way through it, “mixing it up,” as he says, sometimes “calling an audible” at the bar.
Cursory research (which did not actually involve pouring one, though it is getting on to noon, right?) indicated the Mule is a refreshing and easy vodka highball made with ginger beer was from the classic era of high-balls, and a drink that was designed to sell vodka to U.S. drinkers.
As if! But there really was a time when the Russian rocket fuel was a distant third to whiskey and Scotch. I still like my whiskey, but rocket fuel is the way I like to roll.
There are a couple of claims about who created the Mule. One dates to 1939, on the eve of Great Hate, Part Two. The other one dates to 1941 in the same bar, the Cock’n Bull pub in the sun-drenched streets of Hollywood.
A quick note about the ancient past, before the American drinking Public woke up and realized that Vodka was the next-to-last stop on the Oblivion Express. The Smirnoff brand was the result of a dramatic technical innovation by Pyotr Smirnov at his vodka distillery in Moscow in the 1860s: charcoal filtration. In a clever combination of influence peddling, advertising and patronage, he captured two-thirds of the domestic market by the 1880s, and the brand gained a Royal Patron, since even the Czar enjoyed his Smirnoff.
In fact, the Czar liked it so much that he nationalized the company in 1904. During the October Revolution of 1917 the Smirnov family had to flee the country via Turkey, Poland and France, though the brand by then a shadow of its former self. Smirnoff arrived in North America in the 1930s with the Kunett family which had supplied grains to the Smirnov distillery before the Revolution.
Smirnoff was a bomb on the market, and no one cared whether the Czar liked it or not. By 1938 Smirnoff couldn’t pay for the licenses to sell the product. John Martin of the Hublein beverage concern bought the distilling equipment for a song- literally the cost of the distilling equipment- and there the matter sat, a product looking for a market.
According to the 1939 story, Martin teamed with Morgan at the Cock’n Bull to pour Smirnoff into some fancy copper cups with ginger beer in about equal proportions and called it “The Moscow Mule” to promote the brand and the bar’s house ginger beer.
Or maybe you like the other story, from two years later. In that one, Cock’n Bull head bartender Wes Price needed to unload stock that wasn’t selling. This was enhanced by a marketing campaign in which the Moscow Mule (made with Smirnoff )was served in copper mugs, which became a trademark vessel for the drink. The campaign was a success and people have been stupefied since.
Here is the recipe, though if you know the ingredients, it really doesn’t matter; you know, “vodka to taste.”
Traditional Moscow Mule
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Drinking time: Variable
Total Time: 3 minutes
Yield: 1 Cocktail
Ingredients:
2 ounces vodka or more. I use Popov, which is the loss-leader for Smirnov and a link to tradition. People tell you it is the bottom of the Smirnoff barrel. I say, after you choke down the first one, what does it matter?
1 ounce lime juice
Ginger Beer (Fevertree is a personal favorite for the ginger notes and fizz).
Lime wedge for garnish
Preparation:
Pour the vodka and lime juice into a copper mug with ice- I like crushed.
Top off with the ginger beer.
Garnish with the lime wedge.
Employment: raise copper mug to lips. Quench thirst. Drive carefully.
Anyway, immersed as I was in the back-story of the Smirnoff brand, it was a positive tonic to be seated next to Old Jim and Jon-without at the Willow Bar last night. Jim was drinking his Bud long neck and I was drinking the Happy Hour White as usual.
Jon-without was stepping up his game. He started with a Lost Rhino pale ale, sort of a change up, before he decided to sample a couple of Boomer’s Specialty Drinks.
“I had the Cucumber Thyme Refresher last night,” he said. “It wasn’t bad. What do you think for tonight?”
“It is a voyage of exploration,” said Jim.
“The Los Cabos Margarita?” I suggested, looking over the menu. “But wait, they have Moscow Mules. I just bought some copper Mules mugs for today. Why don’t you try one of those?”
Jon looked thoughtful and wagged a finger at Brett the Bartender.
“What’s in a Moscow Mule?” he asked.
Brett was enigmatic. “Strictly speaking, “ he said, “It is a Texas Mule?”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked suspiciously.
“We use Tito’s Vodka, and that is distilled in Austin.”
“What kind of ginger beer?”
Brett leaned forward, conspiratorially. “It is a secret. We actually use a dollop of Domain De Canton ginger liqueur. They make that stuff with the finest, fresh baby Vietnamese ginger herbs, spices and cognac to unlock the essence. ” He walked down the bar and came back with a bottle of Domain Canton and poured a fnger into a shot glass. I tasted a sip, and damn, it was complex and gingery.
“I like it,” I said. “No ginger beer?”
“Nah, we just top it off with some ginger ale from the tap and a couple lime slices.”
“I will try that,” saidJon-without . Brett came back with a plain glass with a vaguely green liquid inside topped with a couple lime slices.
Jon was just tucking into it when the Lovely Bea made her entrance. He handed her the glass and she took a sip. “That’s good,” she said. “What is it?”
“Moscow Mule,” said Jon-without.
“Texas Mule,” corrected Brett.
“I am going to serve Popov Mules at Big Pink,” I declared. “In authentic copper mugs. But I think I am going to try the Willow recipe with the ginger liqueur.”
“Good luck finding it,” growled Jim.
“It’s a voyage of exploration,” I said, and took a deep sip of Happy Hour white.
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303