Find out here what the Western Mule, a lizard, moonshine whiskey, the Cherokee and the Indian Territory have to do with the Moscow Mule.
80 ml Fever Tree Ginger Beer 40 ml Orkisz Wodka 10 ml lime juice
Preparation: Like a highball, serve with ice.
Note: By its very nature, you can’t taste the vodka, so the mixture really only tastes of ginger with a little lime. It’s not our favourite drink, but due to its historical importance we have to report on the Moscow Mule. Because other Mules are very delicious, and they were created on the basis of the Moscow Mule. These include the Fernet Buck or the Jamaica Mule, which we will have to report on later.
The history of the Moscow Mule is closely linked to that of Smirnoff vodka. This distillery was founded in Moscow at the end of the 19th century and was the first to filter vodka with charcoal, which made it particularly mild and clear, with little flavour of its own. During the Russian October Revolution, the facilities were confiscated, the owner’s family left the country and opened new production facilities first in Istanbul, and then in Paris in 1925, changing the company name to the Latin spelling Smirnoff.[4][26]
The creation of the Moscow Mule in the words of John Gilbert Martin
John Gilbert Martin played an important role in the success of Smirnoff and Moscow Mule. Fortunately, there is a video in which he talks about this in detail. He tells how Rudolph Kunett went to Paris to successfully obtain from his old friend Vladimir Smirnov the American and Canadian rights to produce and distribute Smirnoff vodka. After a few years Rudolph Kunnet went bankrupt and he sold to John Gilbert Martin as the agent of G. F. Heublein Brothers Inc. for $14000 and was additionally employed by Heublein. If one wanted to be successful in America, according to John Gilbert Martin, one had to sell internationally, and so Rudolph Kunett acquired the international rights from the widow Smirnov, who lived in Nice, France; to be really sure, they finally additionally bought the Paris-based company Smirnoff in the mid-1950s. [23] Initially, it was not yet clear what to do with the newly acquired company, as John Gilbert Martin reports: “… When we bought the Smirnoff company we had no idea as to what we were going to do with it and we had no idea what we were going to do with Rudolph Kunett. His job was advertising manager of Heublein and early on in 1939 he came to Hartford and said, “How am I going to earn the $6,000 a year you’re paying me? I’m advertising manager. What does that mean?” And I said, “I really don’t know. You just take care of the advertising such as it is, but I’ll give you a suggestion. The first thing you do is change the Smirnoff label and package so that it says Smirnoff and not just vodka.” This was done in a very intriguing way and you can see where by putting a strip label with Smirnoff on it on the bottle changed the whole complexion of selling vodka. We weren’t just selling vodka. We were selling Smirnoff vodka. If Smirnoff was to have a chance of competing with whiskey in America it had to be as a mixer and therefore I went to California with Rudolph Kunett and through him met a fellow by the name of Jack Morgan. Jack Morgan owned the Cock’n Bull Restaurant in Los Angeles. So he had Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer made for him in Los Angeles and of course couldn’t sell it because Americans didn’t like Ginger Beer, they liked Ginger Ale. Morgan had a girlfriend. A great big, beautiful, buxom woman by the name Oseline Schmidt who had inherited a copper factory from her father, but unfortunately hadn’t found any sale for its products. And so with Kunett one evening, Morgan, Oseline Schmidt and I met at the bar of the Cock’n Bull Restaurant and tried to think up a drink for Smirnoff vodka with ginger beer. We finally came up with the name Moscow Mule. Just how it originated, I don’t know, but I imagine that it had to do with the kick. The Moscow Mule eventually developed to be a two ounce drink of Smirnoff vodka put in a copper mug made by Oseline, then mixed with ginger beer from Morgan’s Cock’n Bull ginger beer bottle and a squeeze of lime. We developed the Moscow Mule in 1940 and then let it go because World War II came in and no Smirnoff was made. In 1946 or thereabouts we started again and franchised Cock’n Bull’s ginger beer and promoted the Moscow Mule. The big difficulty, of course, was to get a bartender to even try it. He’d say, “What, drink that stuff? Russian dynamite and drop dead? No sir.” So I developed a scheme to get him to try it. Polaroid had just came out with a camera that took a picture immediately. I bought one and I’d go into a bar with a Moscow Mule mug, a bottle of Smirnoff, a bottle of Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer and offered to make the bartender a drink for free if he would just try it. And I said, “You know, if you will try it I will give you a picture of you drinking it which you can immediately take home to your wife. He said, “How are you going to do that?” And I said, “Well that’s my business. Just try this drink and I’ll show you.” So he would reluctantly sip a little Moscow Mule and he said tastes pretty good. I would snap a Polaroid picture of him. In fact, I would snap two. One for him to take home to his wife and one I would use in the bar across the street. It worked wonders and of course the press got onto it and it received tremendous publicity at that time. No doubt it was the key influence in making the Moscow Mule famous throughout America.” [23]
Unfortunately, it is not noted in which year the video was made. Since John Gilbert Martin died in 1986 at the age of 80, [24] it must have been made before then. He also looks quite old on the video, and so one would like to think that the video was taken in the early 80s.
The origin story of the Moscow Mule according to the New York Herald Tribune
In the New York Herald Tribune, the story of how the Moscow Mule came to be was described several decades earlier. However, it decides that it is said to have originated in Manhattan at the Chattham Hotel, and the year of origin also differs slightly. Oseline Schmidt was not present at this. We hope we are quoting correctly here, because in three different secondary sources the original text is reproduced differently, and unfortunately we have not been able to see the original. It was written there: “The mule was born in Manhattan but “stalled” on the West Coast for the duration. The birthplace of “Little Moscow” was in New York’s Chatham Hotel. That was back in 1941 when the first carload of Jack Morgan’s Cock ‘n’ Bull ginger beer was railing over the plains to give New Yorkers a happy surprise. … Three friends were in the Chatham bar; John A. Morgan, known as Jack, president of Cock ‘n’ Bull Products and owner of the Hollywood Cock ‘n’ Bull Restaurant; John G. Martin, president of G.F. Heublein Brothers Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut and Rudolph Kunett, president of the Pierre Smirnoff, Heublein’s vodka division. As Jack Morgan tells it, “We three were quaffing a slug, nibbling an hors d’oeuvre and shoving toward inventive genius”. Martin and Kunett had their minds on their vodka and wondered what would happen if a two-ounce shot joined with Morgan’s ginger beer and the squeeze of a lime. … Four or five drinks later and the mixture was christened the Moscow Mule, for a number of obvious reasons. Not knowing about the coming of Pearl Harbor, the friends chipped in and ordered 500 copper mugs embossed with ‘Little Moscows.” [1][5][25]
The copper mugs of Sophie Berezinski
There is another story that tells a different story about the origin of the copper cup. It is said to go back not to Oseline Schmidt, but to Sophie Berezinski. It is said that Sophie Berezinski immigrated to the USA from Russia in 1941 with 2,000 copper mugs that she had designed, because her father owned a copper factory in Russia. She had tried to sell the mugs, but without success. When John Gilbert Martin and Jack Morgan sat together in the Cock ‘n’ Bull in Hollywood to talk about their business problems concerning vodka and ginger beer, Sophie allegedly came into the bar with her copper mugs to sell them. Together they are said to have invented the Moscow Mule. [20][22][25]
The objection of Wes Price
The bartender of the Cock ‘n’ Bull, Wes Price, on the other hand, claimed in a newspaper article published in the Schenectady Gazette on 20 November 1951 that he had invented the Moscow Mule. It was also about the demand of some to change the name of the drink. The newspaper writes: “Art rose above politics in movieland today. The man who invented the ‘Moscow Mule’ served notice he refuses to change its name … Of late there has been some pretty loose talk around brass rails, and other talking pieces, about changing the drink’s moniker to a patriotic ‘Washington Wallop.’ But bartender Wes Price who mixes exotic drinks for movie stars, announced that he doesn’t think liquor and politics should mix. “Some people holler about those things, but 99 percent of my customers don’t pay any attention to that name,” he said. “Art is art. To change the name of my drink because of the world situation would be like refusing to listen to Tchaikovsky’s music.” The Moscow Mule was dreamed up during the beginning of World War II and he was moved to the creation, he confessed, “to get rid of some extra ginger beer and vodka” at his famous bar in the Cock n’Bull, a plushy English restaurant on Hollywood’s nightclub row, the Sunset Strip. “I just wanted to clean out the basement,” he chuckled. “I was tryin’ to get rid of a lot of dead stock – Cock n’Bull ginger beer that we made and 100 cases of vodka that we had to buy then in order to get other liquors. I fixed this drink and served it first to Broderick Crawford and Rod Cameron. It caught on like wildfire.” Wes served up his Moscow Mules in copper mugs. “Somethin’ different, so people will ask what’s in it. Several thousand mugs are stolen per year in the bar though,” he added. “So we had to raise the price of the drink from 70 to 75 cents and yet I never got an extra cent for my invention,” he sighed. “I wasn’t truly appreciated.”” [25][46]
The first publication
The Fresno Bee, 27. December 1942, page 36 – Moscow Mule. [6]
Although we don’t know how the Moscow Mule really came into being, we can say with a fair degree of certainty when it was first mentioned in writing. It probably happened on 27 December 1942, in “Inside Hollywood”, a newspaper column by Eith Gwynn [5][25] It says: “There is a new drink that is a craze in the movie colony now. It is called “Moscow Mule.” Recipe: equal parts Vodka, lime juice and ginger beer!…” [6]
What is a Moscow Mule?
There is some confusion about what a Mule is. For example, we hear that a Moscow Mule belongs to the category of highballs. [4] However, this is not true because of the lime juice it contains, as we have already pointed out in the post about the highball. It is also written that the Mule is a Buck, and the latter consists of a spirit, citrus juice and ginger beer. Due to the popularity of the Moscow Mule, other Bucks were therefore also called Mule [1][4] This is also wrong, because a Buck is made with ginger ale. We will publish a separate article on this topic. Some also claim that it is closely related to a Mamie Taylor, because it is made with Scotch, ginger beer and lime. [5] This is also wrong, because ginger ale belongs in a Mamie Talyor, as we have already analysed in the article on Mamie Taylor.
Let’s take a look at the different aspects of the Moscow Mule for clarification.
Traditionally, a Moscow Mule is served in a copper mug. However, this should definitely be coated on the inside, otherwise there is a risk of copper poisoning. This is caused by the acid contained in the Mule, which dissolves copper in the drink. Copper is considered toxic above a level of 1 mg/l. [1]
It is therefore not surprising that the serving of acidic drinks with a pH value of less than 6 in copper cups has been banned in the USA, unless they are coated on the inside. [1] EC Regulation No. 1935/2004 allows a maximum release of 4 mg copper/kg food from the material of food contact articles. [3]
The matter with the mule
What no one has gone into yet is the question of why the Moscow Mule is called what it is. John Gilbert Martin couldn’t remember, but thought it might have something to do with the “kick”. By this he probably meant that you couldn’t taste the vodka, that the alcohol content was so hidden, but that the drinker finally got a “kick” out of it. Smirnoff advertised aggressively with this tastelessness in the first years: “Smirnoff White Whiskey. No Taste. No Smell.” [5]
Pioneers of American Business. 1973, Seite 124-125. [34-124][34-125]
How did it come about? After Prohibition, in 1939, Heublein acquired the rights to Smirnoff Vodka. It is reported that at the beginning of production there were no more corks with the inscription “Smirnoff Vodka”. However, they still had some that were labelled “Smirnoff Whiskey”. These had been left over from a failed attempt in the whiskey business, and so they were now used to seal the vodka bottles. So the first bottles of Smirnoff vodka were delivered with whiskey caps. [34-122][34-124] “It turned out that one of the distributor salesmen had tasted the first batch of Smirnoff and noticed it didn’t have a taste or smell. He’d noticed the whiskey cap, too, so he had come up with hte rather ingenious, but totally illegal, scheme. He’d had streamers made that said, “Smirnoffs White Whiskey … No Taste, No Smell.” The idea caught on and people started buying Smirnoff.” [34-124][34-125]
The tastelessness of vodka was also the key to its success. John Gilbert Martin stated in the Van Wert Times Bulletin, published on 22 November 1955: “I had a public pulse company sound out 14,000 hard drinkers in New York and they came up with the fact that only 7,000 of them like the taste of whisky.” [5]
The white mule of Charles Brown
Charles Browne: The Gun Club Drink Book. 1939, page 30. [7-30]
However, these two facts, though perhaps unintentionally, put us on the right track. For Charles Brown writes in 1939 in his “The Gun Club Drink Book”: ““White mule” is a raw whiskey, usually corn, fresh from the still. It is an atrocious drink and it is well named. Synthetic whiskey and other drinks long antedated Prohibition but got no publicity. All whiskey is colorless when first distilled and is so raw in taste that it can be drunk only by the inexperienced or the confirmed addict. Like brandy, whiskey gets its mellowness and flavoring from its ageing in oak casks; the spirit absorbing pleasant flavors from the resin of the wood, while the charcoal in the casks that are charred in turn takes up the deleterious products.” [7-30]
The mule from Moscow
If Smirnoff was called a “white whiskey”, which was also colloquially referred to as a “white mule”, it stands to reason that a mixed drink with such a clear distillate straight from the still should also be called a “mule”. However, it is not American whiskey that is used, but Smirnoff vodka, which originally saw the light of day in Moscow. So it is only natural to call a Smirnoff vodka, or rather the signature drink developed with it, a “Moscow Mule”.
Is it still possible to find out why such an unripened distillate was called a mule? An interesting find in this regard can be found from Prohibition times.
The mule in the times of prohibition
The Billboard, 10. February 1923, page 19, Detail.[10]New York Times, 6. May 1924, page 20. [8-20]
The New York Times writes on 6 May 1924: “The ordinary White Mule (moonshine whiskey) is very common in almost every community, because it is so easily made. I know women who have their cooks make it, as they “put over” oatmeal for breakfast. With ginger ale, White Mule makes a palatable drink, has a big kick, and many men buy it by the barrel, in order to be Bigger Devils than their neighbors. At a certain country club a party was given, and White Mule flowed like water. Not only the guests drank too much, but they gave it to the girls in the dining room. The music finally stopped because the musicians were made drunk by the men giving the party. And the women who drink to be devilish are otherwise good women. For some reason there is a national revolt against prohibition. I know men who ask blessings at their tables and drink White Mule. And they are not tough men; they are among the very best men in their community. I know a man and is wife who were leaders in temperance work for forty years or more in the days of license. After prohibition was adopted I have seen them drink cocktails made of White Mule.” [8-20]
This newspaper article must make us sit up and take notice. It is clear that the predecessor of the Moscow Mule is the Gin Buck. But with this evidence, the relationship becomes even clearer. They mixed their moonshine whiskey with ginger ale, and the result was an extremely tasty and popular drink. This must also have been ubiquitous and widely known. So the path to the Moscow Mule was in a way already marked out and not very creative.
Now we know that this prohibition abuse must be regarded as the precursor of the Moscow Mule, but we still don’t know where the name Mule comes from.
So we have to do a little etymological research, and a dictionary published between 1900 and 1904 helps. The author of those times already knows the name as a word from northwest Arkansas and explains: “white mule, n. New whiskey, illicitly distilled. ‘Now white mule is new moonshine whiskey.’” [9-422]
The mule of the Tsalagi, a.k.a. Cherokee.
Thomas Donaldson: The Five Civilized Tribes Of Indian Territory. 1893, page 38. [11-38]
This indication suggests that the term White Mule originated in Arkansas. This origin can be determined even more precisely, because in 1893, as part of the eleventh census of the USA, an official report is published on „The Five Civilized Tribes Of Indian Territory: Cherokee Nation, Creek Nation, Seminole Nation, Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation“, which states: “No distilled spirits are supposed to be sold in the Five Tribes. In 1890 to June 1, the distilled spirits used in the arts, manufactures, and for medicine in the Five Tribes, as shown by returns from retail apothecaries, were: ordinary gallons of whisky, 20; ordinary gallons of brandy, 16; ordinary gallons of gin, 5. Liquors are smuggled in, sold, and drank. One most extraordinary article of distillation is used in the eastern part of the territory, known as “white mule.” It is a villainous moonshine whisky distilled in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. Its effects probably cause one-half of the crimes in that portion of the territory.” [11-38]
The Ozark Mountains are located in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and in the extreme southeast of Kansas. [12] If we superimpose the maps of the Ozarks [13] and the Indian Territory, [14][15][16] we see that a part of the Cherokee, who call themselves Tsalagi, [27] lay in the Ozark Mountains. The territory was in what is now Oklahoma. Although it is clearly stated that the White Mule came from Arkansas, it was drunk and referred to as “white mule” in the eastern part of the territory.
King’s Handbook of the United States. 1891. Page 249-250. [17-249][17-250]
So does the name White Mule come from the Cherokee? We say: yes. The “Handbook of the United States”, probably published around 1891, confirms our suggestion, because it writes about the territory: “The most murderous element in the Territory is Arkansas moonshine whisky, brewed in the Ozark Mountains, and called “white mule,” because made by white men, and endowed with the destructive powers of the Western mule. It is illegal to sell alcoholic liquor in the Territory, as it is in Maine, but the traffic goes on, despite the strenuous denominational schools.” [17-249][17-250]
Leopold Wagner: More About Names. 1893, page 170. [19-170]
In 1893, this is confirmed in a book published in London and New York: “A particular kind of Moonshine whiskey distilled in the Ozark Mountains, Arkansas, for sale in the Indian territory, is called by the Red Skins White Mule, because it is made by white men, and endowed with all the destructive powers of the Western mule.” [19-170]
What is the “Western Mule”?
Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture for October 1876. Washington, 1876. [18-407]
A publication by the Department of Agriculture from 1876 tells us what this “Western Mule” is all about: “THE MULE. The origin and history of this peculiar animal is almost as ancient as that of his progenitors, the ass and the horse. He has ever been useful in the industries of the people of many nations, both ancient and modern, and to the development of certain branches of our American agriculture, traffic, and commerce he is widely appropriated and indispensable. The early mules of the Eastern States were small in size, seldom attaining a height of more than fifteen hands, and usually less, yet of great strength in labor, endurance, and longevity; but the western mule has far exceeded him in size, weight, and adaptation to the heavier work demanded of him. It is now not uncommon to find him sixteen, even seventeen hands high, with a body in proportion, and frequently a comeliness in form exciting the admiration of those who are partial to his employment. His uses in the various labors demanded of him are so well known that it is unnecessary to name them; and in comparing him with the mules of other countries, it may be truthfully said that the American mule has no superior, and but few equals, and thus constitutes an important staple of our agricultural wealth. A proper history of the progress and present condition of either the American ass or mule has never yet been written for publication other than in detached scraps or pamphlets, yet they are subjects well worthy the employment of an able pen, and it is hoped that such a labor will be undertaken by some one fully competent to its execution.” [18-407]
Thus the designation of the Moscow Mule as a Mule, derived from the White Mule or the Western Mule, is apt. The inherent vodka shows its full power after a while and hits the drinker with a “kick” and, if too much has been drunk, it also shows its full destructive power.
The life of the Moscow Mule
What happened after the Moscow Mule was created? Which stages of its further development are interesting?
Serving the Moscow Mule in a copper mug was obviously something that was seen as mandatory. It was advertised that way, but also generally seen that way. The Photoplay magazine, for example, reported in September 1949: “Pimms and Whims: Hollywood’s hostesses are in a swivet these nights. A couple of years ago, when Paulette Goddard introduced a drink called “Moscow Mule,” they all had to buy special copper mugs to serve this concoction. Now, a drink called “Pimm’s Cup,” which Joan Fontaine launched on the film colony some time ago, is really catching on in a big way. The only thing that fusses the hostesses is that this Pimm’s drink has to be served, if one is utterly, utterly correct, out of pewter mugs. Joan has antique pewter mugs. But other Hollywood girls have had to rush around and settle for any pewter mugs they could find.” [29-16]
Richard Lippincott Williams & David Myers What, when, where, and how to drink. 1955, page 91-92. [30-91][30-92]
The success of the Moscow Mule may also have been due in large part to Hollywood’s film stars. This is also how a book published in 1955 sees it and writes: “If you think there’s no accounting for taste, consider the case of vodka. It is the traditional drink of peasants and princes in parts of Austria, Poland, Russia and other countries, yet until a decade ago nobody, nobody drank it in the U.S.A. Well, hardly anybody: a few people drank it by way of maintaining ties with the old country, and a few other, offbeat drinkers thought or pretended that it had some special potency. (Actually at 84 proof it is weaker than Scotch and the 100-proof variety is exactly as strong as bonded bourbon.) Then, one day shortly after World War II, a man mixed vodka and ginger beer in a copper mug and called it a Moscow Mule. Introduced at the Cock ’n’ Bull, an English-accented bar and grill on the Sunset Strip in Beverly Hills, it was a conversation-piece drink that caught on with the restaurant’s adventurous clientele of actors and press agents. Imitators and merchandisers took it from there, and pretty soon the Mule was a craze, spreading through the sunny hills and smoggy valleys of Southern California, northward up the Coast and eastward over the Sierras. Today the Mule is dead on the street where it was born; the copper mugs hang unused on the barroom walls—but the taste for vodka remains. The Screwdriver, the vodka Martini, the Tomato Sam and the vodka Collins are drinks to be reckoned with. The nation is drinking 1,200,000 cases of vodka a year, nearly half of it on the Pacific Coast, and the tide is still rising. Some like it because it leaves the breath relatively untouched, some because it will mix with anything (it’s as neutral as spirits can get, being unflavored alcohol controlled with water). And many people like it who wouldn’t have tasted it on a bet back in 1946. You may feel that way today—but it’s just as well to know about vodka in case you travel west.” [30-91][30-92]
This text is important for another reason. It describes that the Moscow Mule was initially a fashionable drink, but by 1955 it was practically no longer drunk. If you wanted a mixed drink with vodka, you ordered Screwdriver, Vodka Martini, Tomato Sam or Vodka Collins instead.
Daily News (Los Angeles). 29. September 1947, page 22. [44]
Around 1947, however, the Moscow Mule was still considered a novelty, as the Daily News, published in Los Angeles, described it on 29 September 1947 as ““Moscow Mule” – vodka with ginger beer over ice – which is a new Hollywood drink“. [44]
Advertising
Advertising Age. 25. August 1958, page 120. [32-120]
Further light is shed on the mystery of advertising measures by an article published in 1958 in a magazine called “Advertising Age”. This trade organ of the advertising industry writes: “Heublein Inc., Hartford, Conn., is the nation’s 97th largest advertiser … . The company’s heavy advertising investment in Smirnoff vodka started in southern California after World War II when bars began pushing the Moscow Mule and its vodka ingredient to unload their heavy vodka stocks. When vodka stocks started booming, Heublein began its advertising in the Los Angeles area. The beginning budget was estimated at $42,000 and early advertising consisted largely of small space ads in selected newspapers with as many as four or five ads in the sameedition. At that time there was practically no competition to Smirnoff. Now there are at least 9 other major domestic vodka manufacturers. Smirnoff was the first to originate the “breathless” theme, which was taken up by other manufacturers and became a strong factor in the vodka sales boom. After it became familiar, the slogan “It leaves you breathless” was toned down in Smirnoff’s advertising to give greater emphasis to the brand name.” [32-120]
Daily News (Los Angeles). 21. June 1950, page 36. [39]Daily News (Los Angeles). 26. June 1950, page 9. [38]Daily News (Los Angeles). 30. June 1950, page 14. [40]Daily News (Los Angeles). 12. July 1950, page 10. [41]Daily News (Los Angeles). 19. July 1950, page 8. [42]
In fact, Smritnoff was initially unrivalled. Its success, but also that of vodka, is shown by the fact that in 1939 only 6000 cases of Smirnoff were sold, but in 1973 about seven million. In 1972 alone, sales increased by 11%. No vodka was produced during the Second World War. [34-125][34-126] How successful the advertising must have been afterwards can be seen from the fact that from 1950 to 1953 vodka sales in the USA rose from 386,447 to 14,823,443 gallons. [33-163] That’s almost a forty-fold increase in three years!
The lizard
Daily News (Los Angeles), 29. October 1947, page 31. [37]
On 29 October 1947, a report appeared in several newspapers about a lawsuit against Cock ‘n Bull. It was about an incident on 10 September. [35][36][37] The Daily News, published in Los Angeles, reported, for example: “Lizard’s leer from bottle prompts suit. One drink of a potent beverage called “Moscow Mule” and they saw a lizard – unfortunately not the hallucinatory kind – two Los Angeles rouples complained today in a $10,000 damage suit. It wasnt the hard liquor, anyway, asserted Mr. and Mrs. George Horsman and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin White, all of 638 E. 136th St. What made them turn green was a lizard’s head protruding from a bottle of ginger beer after they drank part of the contents. The suit was directed against Cock ‘N Bull Products, Inc., makers, and Arrowhead Beverage Co., bottlers of the ginger beer, an essential ingredient of “Moscow Mules.” The experience shocked their nerves so that all four have troubled dreams “in which cocks and bulls and mules and lizards leer at them from the necks of ginger beer bottles,” said the complaint, drawn up by Atty. Arthur J. Speight.” [37]
Courtesy, The Cock ‘n Bull, Hollywood “The Moscow Mule (now fairly famous throughout the nation) originated over the bar of my small pub in 1941, shortly before Pearl Harbour.” 1 jigger Smirnoff vodka Cock ‘n Bull ginger beer Cracked ice 1/2 fresh lime Place ice in copper or earthen mug. Pour vodka over it, then fill with ginger beer. Squeeze lime for juice, then use as garnish.
1953 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 163. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Cracked Ice. Fill Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1953 Leo Cotton: Old Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide. Seite 103. Moscow Mule.
Into a Copper Mug put: 1 1/2 oz. Old Mr. Boston Vodka Juice of 1/2 Lime Add Ice Cubes and fill with Ginger Beer. Drop Lime in Mug and decorate.
1953 S. S. Field: The American Drinking Book. Seite 128.Moscow Mule.
Squeeze the juice of 1 lime into a mug. Drop in the rind. Pack the mug with shaved ice, pour in 2 ounces of Vodka and fill with Ginger Beer.
1954 Eddie Clark: King Cocktail. Seite 44. Moscow Mule.
Large tumbler, ice, measure of Vodka, fill with Ginger Beer, add dash of Lime or fresh Lemon Juice.
1954 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 163. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1956 Patrick Gavin Duffy: The Official Mixer’s Manual. Seite 130. Moscow Mule.
Squeeze into a 12-ounce glass 1/2 Lime and drop in the Rind. Add ice cuvbes and 1-1/2 jiggers Vodka and fill with Ginger Beer. Stir and serve.
1957 Lawrence Blockman: Here’s How. Seite 108. Moscow Mule.
2 ounces vodka Juice of 1/2 lime . Ginger beer Put the vodka, the lime juice, and the lime peel in a sturdy mug (a 10-inch highball glass will do in a pinch) with a few ice cubes. Fill with ginger beer – not ginger ale – the murky British-type ginger beer if you can get it. Stir, garnish with a cucumber peel.
1959 Anonymus: Manual de cockteleria. #86. Moscow Mule.
En jarra de metal, pedazos de hielo. 1/4 onza de jugo de limón 1 1/2 onza de Vodka 1/2 botella de Ginger beer Una rueda de limón
1960 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to drinks. Seite 141. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1963 Eddie Clarke: Shaking the 60’s. Seite 118. Moscow Mule.
Place in a tumbler glass a large piece of ice. Add: one measure of Vodka Fill with ginger beer. Add dash of lime or fresh lemon juice.
Eddie Clarke: Shaking the 60’s. 1963, Seite 118. Moscow Mule.
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 113. Moscow Mule Collins.
1/3 Zitronensaft 2/3 Smirnoff Wodka 1 TL Limejuice über 2 Eiswürfel im tumbler ge- ben, dazu eine Zitronenzeste und mit Ginger Ale auffüllen, kurz umrühren.
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to drinks. Seite 142. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1965 Harry Schraemli: Manuel du bar. Seite 439. Moscow Mule.
Dans un élégant verre à bière mettre 1/2 mesure de jus de citron, 1/2 mesure de vodka et finir de remplir à la bìere blonde.
1965 Robert London & Anne London: Cocktails and Snacks. Seite 87. Moscow Mule.
2 ounces vodka 1/2 lime 8 ounces ginger beer Squeeze and drop lime and juice into a 12- or 14-ounce tumbler. Add vodka, ginger beer, and ice cubes. Stir and serve.
1966 Harry Schraemli: Le roi du bar. Seite 126. Moscow Mule.
Verre à bière, 1/2 jus de citron, 1/2 vodka, remplir à la bière blonde.
1966 Oscar Haimo:Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 71. Moscow Mule.
1/2 Lime Squeezed and Dropped in 2 oz. Vodka 1 split Ginger Beer or Canada Dry Ginger Ale. 2 Cubes Ice. Serve in mug. Stir.
1968 Anonymus: The Dieter’s Drink Book. Seite 39. Moscow Mule.
. calories grams 1 1/2 oz. vodka, 80 proof 100 0 4 oz. ginger beer 48 11.6 1 tbs. lime juice 4 1.3 . total: 152 12.9 Stir vodka and juice in highball glass or cop- per mug. Add ice cubes. Fill with chilled ginger beer. Stir lightly. Add lime slice.
1971 Anonymus: Tropical Recipes. Moscow Mule.
(Build) Copper Cup 2 Cubes Ice Squeeze and drop 1/2 Lime 1 Jigger Vodka Fill with Ginger Beer
1972 Anonymus: Recipes – Wines and Spirits. Seite 24. Moscow Mule.
To make 1 tall drink 2 to 3 ice cubes A dash of fresh lime juice 3 ounces vodka 4 to 6 ounces cold ginger beer 1 slice lime A beer mug or 8 ounces glass Place the ice cubes in a beer mug or heavy glass and add the lime juice and vodka. Fill the mug or glass with ginger beer and top with the slice of lime.
1 lime 2 ounces vodka Ginger beer Cut lime; squeeze juice into a glass mug or 10-ounce glass filled with ice cubes; drop 1 spent shell into mug. Add vodka. Fill mug with ginger beer. Stir gently.
1973 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 71. Muscow Mule.
1/2 Lime Squeezed and dropped in 2 oz. Vodka 1 split Ginger Beer or Canada ry Ginger Ale 2 cubes of Ice. Serve in mug. Stir.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 100. Moscow Mule.
Use highball glass. 1 measure vodka. Juice of lemon or lime. Add ice. Fill with ginger beer. Decorate with sprigs of mint. Serve with straws.
1976 Brian F. Rea: Brian’s Booze Guide. Seite 66. Moscow Mule.
– the old Cock n’ Bull specialty. Build in a copper, pewter or glass mug filled with ice cubes 1 1/2 ounces Vodka Fill almost to the top with Ginger Beer Squeeze wedge of lime in drink
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 196. Moscow Mule.
Moscow Mule – One of the main drinks responsible for the initial success of vodka, created by Jack Morgan at his Cock ‘N Bull restaurant in L.A. John Martin of Heublein teamed up with Morgan to promote the Moscow Mule, the name presumably coming from the “kick” added to the ginger beer by vodka. Jack Morgan had been trying to promote his ginger beer which he couldn’t sell and he had a friend who had copper mugs which she couldn’t sell and of course Heublein wasn’t setting any sales records with their vodka. But all three teamed up to make the three of them successful along with the help of another newcomer, Polaroid cameras. In order to get bartenders to even try Smirnoff vodka and the Moscow Mule, Martin would offer to take the bartender’s picture if he would try the drink. Going on to the next bar Martin would show the photograph to demonstrate that everyone was switching to vodka and the Moscow Mule. And pretty soon they were, copper mugs and all!
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 344. Moscow Mule.
Copper mug or Build Hiball glass 1-1/2 oz vodka 3/4 oz lime juice (Leave shell in glass) Fill with ginger beer, ice Note: Moscow Mule was created by Jack Morgan at his Cock ‘N Bull restaurant in Los Angeles, Calif)
1979 Fred Powell: The Bartender’s Standard Manual. Seite 59. Moscow Mule.
2 jiggers Vodka Ginger Beer 1 Slice Lime Serve over ice in glass, brass or copper mug.
2009 Ted Haigh: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Seite 217. Moscow Mule. Juice of 1/2 lime, 6 cl vodka, ginger beer or ginger ale.
2010 Colin Peter Field: The Ritz Paris. Seite 71. Moscow Mule. 4/10 Skyy vodka, 1/10 or less lime juice, 5/10 Ginger beer; garnish: segment of lime.
2011 Jim Meehan: Das Geheime Cocktail-Buch. Seite 186. Moscow Mule. 4,5 cl Smirnoff Black Vodka, 3 cl Ingwerbier, 3 cl Zuckersirup, 2 cl Limettensaft; Garnierung: Limettenscheibe und kandierter Ingwer.
2013 Tristan Stephenson: The Curious Bartender. Seite 98. Moscow Mule. 50 ml Smirnoff Black vodka, 25 ml lime juice, 10 ml gomme, 100 ml ginger beer; garnish: sprig of mint.
2013 Victoria Bar: Die Schule der Trunkenheit. Seite 241. Moscow Mule. 6-8 cl ingwer-infusionierter Vodka, 10-15 cl Gingerbeer.
2014 David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, Alex Day: Death & Co. Seite 147. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. Charbay vodka, 1/2 oz. lime juice, 3/4 oz. ginger syrup; club soda; garnish: 1 lime wheel and candied ginger.
2015 Oliver Bon, Pierre-Charles Cros, Romée de Goriainoff, Xavier Padovani: Experimental Cocktail Club. Seite 193. Moscow Mule. 50 ml vodka, 20 ml lime juice, 15 ml ginger syrup, 5 ml sugar syrup, ginger beer, to top up; garnish: lime wedge and 1 dash Angostura bitters.
2016 André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington: The New Cocktail Hour. Seite 122. Moscow Mule. 60 ml vodka (Stolichnaya), 15 ml lime juice, 120-180 ml ginger beer; garnish: lime wheel.
2017 Jim Meehan: Meehan’s Bartender Manual. Seite 189. Moscow Mule. 4 oz. Fentimans ginger beer, 1.5 oz Smirnoff vodka, o.5 oz. lime juice; garnish: lime shell, candied ginger.
2018 Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan: Cocktail Codex. Seite 139. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. cold seltzer, 2 oz. vodka, 1/2 oz. lime juice, 3/4 oz. ginger syrup; garnish: 1 lime wheel and candied ginger.
2018 Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Seite 253. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. vodka, 3 oz. ginger beer; garnish: 2 lime wedges.
80 ml Fever Tree Ginger Beer
40 ml Orkisz Wodka
10 ml lime juice
Preparation: Like a highball, serve with ice.
Note: By its very nature, you can’t taste the vodka, so the mixture really only tastes of ginger with a little lime. It’s not our favourite drink, but due to its historical importance we have to report on the Moscow Mule. Because other Mules are very delicious, and they were created on the basis of the Moscow Mule. These include the Fernet Buck or the Jamaica Mule, which we will have to report on later.
The history of the Moscow Mule is closely linked to that of Smirnoff vodka. This distillery was founded in Moscow at the end of the 19th century and was the first to filter vodka with charcoal, which made it particularly mild and clear, with little flavour of its own. During the Russian October Revolution, the facilities were confiscated, the owner’s family left the country and opened new production facilities first in Istanbul, and then in Paris in 1925, changing the company name to the Latin spelling Smirnoff. [4] [26]
The creation of the Moscow Mule in the words of John Gilbert Martin
John Gilbert Martin played an important role in the success of Smirnoff and Moscow Mule. Fortunately, there is a video in which he talks about this in detail. He tells how Rudolph Kunett went to Paris to successfully obtain from his old friend Vladimir Smirnov the American and Canadian rights to produce and distribute Smirnoff vodka. After a few years Rudolph Kunnet went bankrupt and he sold to John Gilbert Martin as the agent of G. F. Heublein Brothers Inc. for $14000 and was additionally employed by Heublein. If one wanted to be successful in America, according to John Gilbert Martin, one had to sell internationally, and so Rudolph Kunett acquired the international rights from the widow Smirnov, who lived in Nice, France; to be really sure, they finally additionally bought the Paris-based company Smirnoff in the mid-1950s. [23] Initially, it was not yet clear what to do with the newly acquired company, as John Gilbert Martin reports: “… When we bought the Smirnoff company we had no idea as to what we were going to do with it and we had no idea what we were going to do with Rudolph Kunett. His job was advertising manager of Heublein and early on in 1939 he came to Hartford and said, “How am I going to earn the $6,000 a year you’re paying me? I’m advertising manager. What does that mean?” And I said, “I really don’t know. You just take care of the advertising such as it is, but I’ll give you a suggestion. The first thing you do is change the Smirnoff label and package so that it says Smirnoff and not just vodka.” This was done in a very intriguing way and you can see where by putting a strip label with Smirnoff on it on the bottle changed the whole complexion of selling vodka. We weren’t just selling vodka. We were selling Smirnoff vodka. If Smirnoff was to have a chance of competing with whiskey in America it had to be as a mixer and therefore I went to California with Rudolph Kunett and through him met a fellow by the name of Jack Morgan. Jack Morgan owned the Cock’n Bull Restaurant in Los Angeles. So he had Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer made for him in Los Angeles and of course couldn’t sell it because Americans didn’t like Ginger Beer, they liked Ginger Ale. Morgan had a girlfriend. A great big, beautiful, buxom woman by the name Oseline Schmidt who had inherited a copper factory from her father, but unfortunately hadn’t found any sale for its products. And so with Kunett one evening, Morgan, Oseline Schmidt and I met at the bar of the Cock’n Bull Restaurant and tried to think up a drink for Smirnoff vodka with ginger beer. We finally came up with the name Moscow Mule. Just how it originated, I don’t know, but I imagine that it had to do with the kick. The Moscow Mule eventually developed to be a two ounce drink of Smirnoff vodka put in a copper mug made by Oseline, then mixed with ginger beer from Morgan’s Cock’n Bull ginger beer bottle and a squeeze of lime. We developed the Moscow Mule in 1940 and then let it go because World War II came in and no Smirnoff was made. In 1946 or thereabouts we started again and franchised Cock’n Bull’s ginger beer and promoted the Moscow Mule. The big difficulty, of course, was to get a bartender to even try it. He’d say, “What, drink that stuff? Russian dynamite and drop dead? No sir.” So I developed a scheme to get him to try it. Polaroid had just came out with a camera that took a picture immediately. I bought one and I’d go into a bar with a Moscow Mule mug, a bottle of Smirnoff, a bottle of Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer and offered to make the bartender a drink for free if he would just try it. And I said, “You know, if you will try it I will give you a picture of you drinking it which you can immediately take home to your wife. He said, “How are you going to do that?” And I said, “Well that’s my business. Just try this drink and I’ll show you.” So he would reluctantly sip a little Moscow Mule and he said tastes pretty good. I would snap a Polaroid picture of him. In fact, I would snap two. One for him to take home to his wife and one I would use in the bar across the street. It worked wonders and of course the press got onto it and it received tremendous publicity at that time. No doubt it was the key influence in making the Moscow Mule famous throughout America.” [23]
Unfortunately, it is not noted in which year the video was made. Since John Gilbert Martin died in 1986 at the age of 80, [24] it must have been made before then. He also looks quite old on the video, and so one would like to think that the video was taken in the early 80s.
The origin story of the Moscow Mule according to the New York Herald Tribune
In the New York Herald Tribune, the story of how the Moscow Mule came to be was described several decades earlier. However, it decides that it is said to have originated in Manhattan at the Chattham Hotel, and the year of origin also differs slightly. Oseline Schmidt was not present at this. We hope we are quoting correctly here, because in three different secondary sources the original text is reproduced differently, and unfortunately we have not been able to see the original. It was written there: “The mule was born in Manhattan but “stalled” on the West Coast for the duration. The birthplace of “Little Moscow” was in New York’s Chatham Hotel. That was back in 1941 when the first carload of Jack Morgan’s Cock ‘n’ Bull ginger beer was railing over the plains to give New Yorkers a happy surprise. … Three friends were in the Chatham bar; John A. Morgan, known as Jack, president of Cock ‘n’ Bull Products and owner of the Hollywood Cock ‘n’ Bull Restaurant; John G. Martin, president of G.F. Heublein Brothers Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut and Rudolph Kunett, president of the Pierre Smirnoff, Heublein’s vodka division. As Jack Morgan tells it, “We three were quaffing a slug, nibbling an hors d’oeuvre and shoving toward inventive genius”. Martin and Kunett had their minds on their vodka and wondered what would happen if a two-ounce shot joined with Morgan’s ginger beer and the squeeze of a lime. … Four or five drinks later and the mixture was christened the Moscow Mule, for a number of obvious reasons. Not knowing about the coming of Pearl Harbor, the friends chipped in and ordered 500 copper mugs embossed with ‘Little Moscows.” [1] [5] [25]
The copper mugs of Sophie Berezinski
There is another story that tells a different story about the origin of the copper cup. It is said to go back not to Oseline Schmidt, but to Sophie Berezinski. It is said that Sophie Berezinski immigrated to the USA from Russia in 1941 with 2,000 copper mugs that she had designed, because her father owned a copper factory in Russia. She had tried to sell the mugs, but without success. When John Gilbert Martin and Jack Morgan sat together in the Cock ‘n’ Bull in Hollywood to talk about their business problems concerning vodka and ginger beer, Sophie allegedly came into the bar with her copper mugs to sell them. Together they are said to have invented the Moscow Mule. [20] [22] [25]
The objection of Wes Price
The bartender of the Cock ‘n’ Bull, Wes Price, on the other hand, claimed in a newspaper article published in the Schenectady Gazette on 20 November 1951 that he had invented the Moscow Mule. It was also about the demand of some to change the name of the drink. The newspaper writes: “Art rose above politics in movieland today. The man who invented the ‘Moscow Mule’ served notice he refuses to change its name … Of late there has been some pretty loose talk around brass rails, and other talking pieces, about changing the drink’s moniker to a patriotic ‘Washington Wallop.’ But bartender Wes Price who mixes exotic drinks for movie stars, announced that he doesn’t think liquor and politics should mix. “Some people holler about those things, but 99 percent of my customers don’t pay any attention to that name,” he said. “Art is art. To change the name of my drink because of the world situation would be like refusing to listen to Tchaikovsky’s music.” The Moscow Mule was dreamed up during the beginning of World War II and he was moved to the creation, he confessed, “to get rid of some extra ginger beer and vodka” at his famous bar in the Cock n’Bull, a plushy English restaurant on Hollywood’s nightclub row, the Sunset Strip. “I just wanted to clean out the basement,” he chuckled. “I was tryin’ to get rid of a lot of dead stock – Cock n’Bull ginger beer that we made and 100 cases of vodka that we had to buy then in order to get other liquors. I fixed this drink and served it first to Broderick Crawford and Rod Cameron. It caught on like wildfire.” Wes served up his Moscow Mules in copper mugs. “Somethin’ different, so people will ask what’s in it. Several thousand mugs are stolen per year in the bar though,” he added. “So we had to raise the price of the drink from 70 to 75 cents and yet I never got an extra cent for my invention,” he sighed. “I wasn’t truly appreciated.”” [25] [46]
The first publication
Although we don’t know how the Moscow Mule really came into being, we can say with a fair degree of certainty when it was first mentioned in writing. It probably happened on 27 December 1942, in “Inside Hollywood”, a newspaper column by Eith Gwynn [5] [25] It says: “There is a new drink that is a craze in the movie colony now. It is called “Moscow Mule.” Recipe: equal parts Vodka, lime juice and ginger beer!…” [6]
What is a Moscow Mule?
There is some confusion about what a Mule is. For example, we hear that a Moscow Mule belongs to the category of highballs. [4] However, this is not true because of the lime juice it contains, as we have already pointed out in the post about the highball. It is also written that the Mule is a Buck, and the latter consists of a spirit, citrus juice and ginger beer. Due to the popularity of the Moscow Mule, other Bucks were therefore also called Mule [1] [4] This is also wrong, because a Buck is made with ginger ale. We will publish a separate article on this topic. Some also claim that it is closely related to a Mamie Taylor, because it is made with Scotch, ginger beer and lime. [5] This is also wrong, because ginger ale belongs in a Mamie Talyor, as we have already analysed in the article on Mamie Taylor.
Let’s take a look at the different aspects of the Moscow Mule for clarification.
The matter with the cup
Traditionally, a Moscow Mule is served in a copper mug. However, this should definitely be coated on the inside, otherwise there is a risk of copper poisoning. This is caused by the acid contained in the Mule, which dissolves copper in the drink. Copper is considered toxic above a level of 1 mg/l. [1]
It is therefore not surprising that the serving of acidic drinks with a pH value of less than 6 in copper cups has been banned in the USA, unless they are coated on the inside. [1] EC Regulation No. 1935/2004 allows a maximum release of 4 mg copper/kg food from the material of food contact articles. [3]
The matter with the mule
What no one has gone into yet is the question of why the Moscow Mule is called what it is. John Gilbert Martin couldn’t remember, but thought it might have something to do with the “kick”. By this he probably meant that you couldn’t taste the vodka, that the alcohol content was so hidden, but that the drinker finally got a “kick” out of it. Smirnoff advertised aggressively with this tastelessness in the first years: “Smirnoff White Whiskey. No Taste. No Smell.” [5]
How did it come about? After Prohibition, in 1939, Heublein acquired the rights to Smirnoff Vodka. It is reported that at the beginning of production there were no more corks with the inscription “Smirnoff Vodka”. However, they still had some that were labelled “Smirnoff Whiskey”. These had been left over from a failed attempt in the whiskey business, and so they were now used to seal the vodka bottles. So the first bottles of Smirnoff vodka were delivered with whiskey caps. [34-122] [34-124] “It turned out that one of the distributor salesmen had tasted the first batch of Smirnoff and noticed it didn’t have a taste or smell. He’d noticed the whiskey cap, too, so he had come up with hte rather ingenious, but totally illegal, scheme. He’d had streamers made that said, “Smirnoffs White Whiskey … No Taste, No Smell.” The idea caught on and people started buying Smirnoff.” [34-124] [34-125]
The tastelessness of vodka was also the key to its success. John Gilbert Martin stated in the Van Wert Times Bulletin, published on 22 November 1955: “I had a public pulse company sound out 14,000 hard drinkers in New York and they came up with the fact that only 7,000 of them like the taste of whisky.” [5]
The white mule of Charles Brown
However, these two facts, though perhaps unintentionally, put us on the right track. For Charles Brown writes in 1939 in his “The Gun Club Drink Book”: ““White mule” is a raw whiskey, usually corn, fresh from the still. It is an atrocious drink and it is well named. Synthetic whiskey and other drinks long antedated Prohibition but got no publicity. All whiskey is colorless when first distilled and is so raw in taste that it can be drunk only by the inexperienced or the confirmed addict. Like brandy, whiskey gets its mellowness and flavoring from its ageing in oak casks; the spirit absorbing pleasant flavors from the resin of the wood, while the charcoal in the casks that are charred in turn takes up the deleterious products.” [7-30]
The mule from Moscow
If Smirnoff was called a “white whiskey”, which was also colloquially referred to as a “white mule”, it stands to reason that a mixed drink with such a clear distillate straight from the still should also be called a “mule”. However, it is not American whiskey that is used, but Smirnoff vodka, which originally saw the light of day in Moscow. So it is only natural to call a Smirnoff vodka, or rather the signature drink developed with it, a “Moscow Mule”.
Is it still possible to find out why such an unripened distillate was called a mule? An interesting find in this regard can be found from Prohibition times.
The mule in the times of prohibition
The New York Times writes on 6 May 1924: “The ordinary White Mule (moonshine whiskey) is very common in almost every community, because it is so easily made. I know women who have their cooks make it, as they “put over” oatmeal for breakfast. With ginger ale, White Mule makes a palatable drink, has a big kick, and many men buy it by the barrel, in order to be Bigger Devils than their neighbors. At a certain country club a party was given, and White Mule flowed like water. Not only the guests drank too much, but they gave it to the girls in the dining room. The music finally stopped because the musicians were made drunk by the men giving the party. And the women who drink to be devilish are otherwise good women. For some reason there is a national revolt against prohibition. I know men who ask blessings at their tables and drink White Mule. And they are not tough men; they are among the very best men in their community. I know a man and is wife who were leaders in temperance work for forty years or more in the days of license. After prohibition was adopted I have seen them drink cocktails made of White Mule.” [8-20]
This newspaper article must make us sit up and take notice. It is clear that the predecessor of the Moscow Mule is the Gin Buck. But with this evidence, the relationship becomes even clearer. They mixed their moonshine whiskey with ginger ale, and the result was an extremely tasty and popular drink. This must also have been ubiquitous and widely known. So the path to the Moscow Mule was in a way already marked out and not very creative.
Now we know that this prohibition abuse must be regarded as the precursor of the Moscow Mule, but we still don’t know where the name Mule comes from.
The etymology of the mule
So we have to do a little etymological research, and a dictionary published between 1900 and 1904 helps. The author of those times already knows the name as a word from northwest Arkansas and explains: “white mule, n. New whiskey, illicitly distilled. ‘Now white mule is new moonshine whiskey.’” [9-422]
The mule of the Tsalagi, a.k.a. Cherokee.
This indication suggests that the term White Mule originated in Arkansas. This origin can be determined even more precisely, because in 1893, as part of the eleventh census of the USA, an official report is published on „The Five Civilized Tribes Of Indian Territory: Cherokee Nation, Creek Nation, Seminole Nation, Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation“, which states: “No distilled spirits are supposed to be sold in the Five Tribes. In 1890 to June 1, the distilled spirits used in the arts, manufactures, and for medicine in the Five Tribes, as shown by returns from retail apothecaries, were: ordinary gallons of whisky, 20; ordinary gallons of brandy, 16; ordinary gallons of gin, 5. Liquors are smuggled in, sold, and drank. One most extraordinary article of distillation is used in the eastern part of the territory, known as “white mule.” It is a villainous moonshine whisky distilled in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. Its effects probably cause one-half of the crimes in that portion of the territory.” [11-38]
The Ozark Mountains are located in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and in the extreme southeast of Kansas. [12] If we superimpose the maps of the Ozarks [13] and the Indian Territory, [14] [15] [16] we see that a part of the Cherokee, who call themselves Tsalagi, [27] lay in the Ozark Mountains. The territory was in what is now Oklahoma. Although it is clearly stated that the White Mule came from Arkansas, it was drunk and referred to as “white mule” in the eastern part of the territory.
So does the name White Mule come from the Cherokee? We say: yes. The “Handbook of the United States”, probably published around 1891, confirms our suggestion, because it writes about the territory: “The most murderous element in the Territory is Arkansas moonshine whisky, brewed in the Ozark Mountains, and called “white mule,” because made by white men, and endowed with the destructive powers of the Western mule. It is illegal to sell alcoholic liquor in the Territory, as it is in Maine, but the traffic goes on, despite the strenuous denominational schools.” [17-249] [17-250]
In 1893, this is confirmed in a book published in London and New York: “A particular kind of Moonshine whiskey distilled in the Ozark Mountains, Arkansas, for sale in the Indian territory, is called by the Red Skins White Mule, because it is made by white men, and endowed with all the destructive powers of the Western mule.” [19-170]
What is the “Western Mule”?
A publication by the Department of Agriculture from 1876 tells us what this “Western Mule” is all about: “THE MULE. The origin and history of this peculiar animal is almost as ancient as that of his progenitors, the ass and the horse. He has ever been useful in the industries of the people of many nations, both ancient and modern, and to the development of certain branches of our American agriculture, traffic, and commerce he is widely appropriated and indispensable. The early mules of the Eastern States were small in size, seldom attaining a height of more than fifteen hands, and usually less, yet of great strength in labor, endurance, and longevity; but the western mule has far exceeded him in size, weight, and adaptation to the heavier work demanded of him. It is now not uncommon to find him sixteen, even seventeen hands high, with a body in proportion, and frequently a comeliness in form exciting the admiration of those who are partial to his employment. His uses in the various labors demanded of him are so well known that it is unnecessary to name them; and in comparing him with the mules of other countries, it may be truthfully said that the American mule has no superior, and but few equals, and thus constitutes an important staple of our agricultural wealth. A proper history of the progress and present condition of either the American ass or mule has never yet been written for publication other than in detached scraps or pamphlets, yet they are subjects well worthy the employment of an able pen, and it is hoped that such a labor will be undertaken by some one fully competent to its execution.” [18-407]
Thus the designation of the Moscow Mule as a Mule, derived from the White Mule or the Western Mule, is apt. The inherent vodka shows its full power after a while and hits the drinker with a “kick” and, if too much has been drunk, it also shows its full destructive power.
The life of the Moscow Mule
What happened after the Moscow Mule was created? Which stages of its further development are interesting?
Copyright
A copyright was registered for a label for the Moscow Mule. On 19 September 1946, this was granted to “COCK ‘N BULL PRODUCTS, Los Angeles. Moscow mule. (Beverage comprised of vodka, lime juice, and ginger beer) Label. © 19Sep46; KK14792.” [28-91]
An attempt was also made to have the Moscow Mule protected as such, but the application was rejected in 1955. [31-105] [31-106]
Copper mug & fad
Serving the Moscow Mule in a copper mug was obviously something that was seen as mandatory. It was advertised that way, but also generally seen that way. The Photoplay magazine, for example, reported in September 1949: “Pimms and Whims: Hollywood’s hostesses are in a swivet these nights. A couple of years ago, when Paulette Goddard introduced a drink called “Moscow Mule,” they all had to buy special copper mugs to serve this concoction. Now, a drink called “Pimm’s Cup,” which Joan Fontaine launched on the film colony some time ago, is really catching on in a big way. The only thing that fusses the hostesses is that this Pimm’s drink has to be served, if one is utterly, utterly correct, out of pewter mugs. Joan has antique pewter mugs. But other Hollywood girls have had to rush around and settle for any pewter mugs they could find.” [29-16]
The success of the Moscow Mule may also have been due in large part to Hollywood’s film stars. This is also how a book published in 1955 sees it and writes: “If you think there’s no accounting for taste, consider the case of vodka. It is the traditional drink of peasants and princes in parts of Austria, Poland, Russia and other countries, yet until a decade ago nobody, nobody drank it in the U.S.A. Well, hardly anybody: a few people drank it by way of maintaining ties with the old country, and a few other, offbeat drinkers thought or pretended that it had some special potency. (Actually at 84 proof it is weaker than Scotch and the 100-proof variety is exactly as strong as bonded bourbon.) Then, one day shortly after World War II, a man mixed vodka and ginger beer in a copper mug and called it a Moscow Mule. Introduced at the Cock ’n’ Bull, an English-accented bar and grill on the Sunset Strip in Beverly Hills, it was a conversation-piece drink that caught on with the restaurant’s adventurous clientele of actors and press agents. Imitators and merchandisers took it from there, and pretty soon the Mule was a craze, spreading through the sunny hills and smoggy valleys of Southern California, northward up the Coast and eastward over the Sierras. Today the Mule is dead on the street where it was born; the copper mugs hang unused on the barroom walls—but the taste for vodka remains. The Screwdriver, the vodka Martini, the Tomato Sam and the vodka Collins are drinks to be reckoned with. The nation is drinking 1,200,000 cases of vodka a year, nearly half of it on the Pacific Coast, and the tide is still rising. Some like it because it leaves the breath relatively untouched, some because it will mix with anything (it’s as neutral as spirits can get, being unflavored alcohol controlled with water). And many people like it who wouldn’t have tasted it on a bet back in 1946. You may feel that way today—but it’s just as well to know about vodka in case you travel west.” [30-91] [30-92]
This text is important for another reason. It describes that the Moscow Mule was initially a fashionable drink, but by 1955 it was practically no longer drunk. If you wanted a mixed drink with vodka, you ordered Screwdriver, Vodka Martini, Tomato Sam or Vodka Collins instead.
Around 1947, however, the Moscow Mule was still considered a novelty, as the Daily News, published in Los Angeles, described it on 29 September 1947 as ““Moscow Mule” – vodka with ginger beer over ice – which is a new Hollywood drink“. [44]
Advertising
Further light is shed on the mystery of advertising measures by an article published in 1958 in a magazine called “Advertising Age”. This trade organ of the advertising industry writes: “Heublein Inc., Hartford, Conn., is the nation’s 97th largest advertiser … . The company’s heavy advertising investment in Smirnoff vodka started in southern California after World War II when bars began pushing the Moscow Mule and its vodka ingredient to unload their heavy vodka stocks. When vodka stocks started booming, Heublein began its advertising in the Los Angeles area. The beginning budget was estimated at $42,000 and early advertising consisted largely of small space ads in selected newspapers with as many as four or five ads in the sameedition. At that time there was practically no competition to Smirnoff. Now there are at least 9 other major domestic vodka manufacturers. Smirnoff was the first to originate the “breathless” theme, which was taken up by other manufacturers and became a strong factor in the vodka sales boom. After it became familiar, the slogan “It leaves you breathless” was toned down in Smirnoff’s advertising to give greater emphasis to the brand name.” [32-120]
In fact, Smritnoff was initially unrivalled. Its success, but also that of vodka, is shown by the fact that in 1939 only 6000 cases of Smirnoff were sold, but in 1973 about seven million. In 1972 alone, sales increased by 11%. No vodka was produced during the Second World War. [34-125] [34-126] How successful the advertising must have been afterwards can be seen from the fact that from 1950 to 1953 vodka sales in the USA rose from 386,447 to 14,823,443 gallons. [33-163] That’s almost a forty-fold increase in three years!
The lizard
On 29 October 1947, a report appeared in several newspapers about a lawsuit against Cock ‘n Bull. It was about an incident on 10 September. [35] [36] [37] The Daily News, published in Los Angeles, reported, for example: “Lizard’s leer from bottle prompts suit. One drink of a potent beverage called “Moscow Mule” and they saw a lizard – unfortunately not the hallucinatory kind – two Los Angeles rouples complained today in a $10,000 damage suit. It wasnt the hard liquor, anyway, asserted Mr. and Mrs. George Horsman and Mr. and Mrs. Marvin White, all of 638 E. 136th St. What made them turn green was a lizard’s head protruding from a bottle of ginger beer after they drank part of the contents. The suit was directed against Cock ‘N Bull Products, Inc., makers, and Arrowhead Beverage Co., bottlers of the ginger beer, an essential ingredient of “Moscow Mules.” The experience shocked their nerves so that all four have troubled dreams “in which cocks and bulls and mules and lizards leer at them from the necks of ginger beer bottles,” said the complaint, drawn up by Atty. Arthur J. Speight.” [37]
Sources
Historical recipes
1943 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail Digest. Seite 53. Moscow Mule.
2 oz. Vodka
1 spplit Ginger Beer
Crushed Ice
Serve in mug
Decorate with sprigs of mint.
1943 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail Digest. Seite 64. Moscow Mule.
2 oz. Vodka
1 spplit Ginger Beer
Crushed Ice
Serve in mug
Decorate with sprigs of mint.
1946 Lucius Beebe: The Stork Club Bar Book. Seite 91. Moscow Mule.
2 oz. vodka
1 split ginger beer
crushed ice
Serve in mug and decorate with sprigs of
mint.
1946 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 71. Moscow Mule.
2 oz. Vodka
1 spplit Ginger Beer
Crushed Ice
Serve in mug
Decorate with sprigs of mint.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 172. Moscow Mule.
Courtesy, The Cock ‘n Bull, Hollywood
“The Moscow Mule (now fairly famous throughout the nation)
originated over the bar of my small pub in 1941, shortly before Pearl
Harbour.”
1 jigger Smirnoff vodka
Cock ‘n Bull ginger beer
Cracked ice
1/2 fresh lime
Place ice in copper or earthen mug. Pour vodka
over it, then fill with ginger beer. Squeeze lime
for juice, then use as garnish.
1953 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 163. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Cracked Ice. Fill Ginger
Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1953 Leo Cotton: Old Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide. Seite 103. Moscow Mule.
Into a Copper Mug put:
1 1/2 oz. Old Mr. Boston Vodka
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Add Ice Cubes and fill with Ginger
Beer. Drop Lime in Mug and decorate.
1953 S. S. Field: The American Drinking Book. Seite 128.Moscow Mule.
Squeeze the juice of 1 lime into a mug. Drop
in the rind. Pack the mug with shaved ice, pour in 2 ounces of Vodka
and fill with Ginger Beer.
1954 Eddie Clark: King Cocktail. Seite 44. Moscow Mule.
Large tumbler, ice, measure
of Vodka, fill with Ginger
Beer, add dash of Lime or
fresh Lemon Juice.
1954 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 163. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked
Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1956 Patrick Gavin Duffy: The Official Mixer’s Manual. Seite 130. Moscow Mule.
Squeeze into a 12-ounce glass
1/2 Lime and drop in the Rind.
Add ice cuvbes and 1-1/2 jiggers
Vodka and fill with Ginger
Beer. Stir and serve.
1957 Lawrence Blockman: Here’s How. Seite 108. Moscow Mule.
2 ounces vodka Juice of 1/2 lime
. Ginger beer
Put the vodka, the lime juice, and the lime peel in a
sturdy mug (a 10-inch highball glass will do in a pinch)
with a few ice cubes. Fill with ginger beer – not ginger
ale – the murky British-type ginger beer if you can get
it. Stir, garnish with a cucumber peel.
1959 Anonymus: Manual de cockteleria. #86. Moscow Mule.
En jarra de metal, pedazos de hielo.
1/4 onza de jugo de limón
1 1/2 onza de Vodka
1/2 botella de Ginger beer
Una rueda de limón
1960 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to drinks. Seite 141. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked
Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1963 Eddie Clarke: Shaking the 60’s. Seite 118. Moscow Mule.
Place in a tumbler glass a large piece of ice.
Add:
one measure of Vodka
Fill with ginger beer. Add dash of lime or fresh
lemon juice.
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 113. Moscow Mule Collins.
1/3 Zitronensaft
2/3 Smirnoff Wodka
1 TL Limejuice
über 2 Eiswürfel im tumbler ge-
ben, dazu eine Zitronenzeste und
mit Ginger Ale auffüllen, kurz
umrühren.
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to drinks. Seite 142. Moscow Mule.
Use 10 oz. tumbler. 2 oz. Vodka. Juice of 1/2 Lime. Cracked
Ice. Fill with Ginger Beer. Decorate with sprigs of Mint.
1965 Harry Schraemli: Manuel du bar. Seite 439. Moscow Mule.
Dans un élégant verre à bière mettre 1/2 mesure de jus de citron, 1/2
mesure de vodka et finir de remplir à la bìere blonde.
1965 Robert London & Anne London: Cocktails and Snacks. Seite 87. Moscow Mule.
2 ounces vodka 1/2 lime
8 ounces ginger beer
Squeeze and drop lime and juice into a 12- or 14-ounce tumbler. Add
vodka, ginger beer, and ice cubes. Stir and serve.
1966 Harry Schraemli: Le roi du bar. Seite 126. Moscow Mule.
Verre à bière, 1/2 jus de citron, 1/2 vodka,
remplir à la bière blonde.
1966 Oscar Haimo:Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 71. Moscow Mule.
1/2 Lime Squeezed and Dropped in 2 oz. Vodka
1 split Ginger Beer or Canada Dry Ginger Ale.
2 Cubes Ice. Serve in mug. Stir.
1968 Anonymus: The Dieter’s Drink Book. Seite 39. Moscow Mule.
. calories grams
1 1/2 oz. vodka, 80 proof 100 0
4 oz. ginger beer 48 11.6
1 tbs. lime juice 4 1.3
. total: 152 12.9
Stir vodka and juice in highball glass or cop-
per mug. Add ice cubes. Fill with chilled
ginger beer. Stir lightly. Add lime slice.
1971 Anonymus: Tropical Recipes. Moscow Mule.
(Build)
Copper Cup
2 Cubes Ice
Squeeze and drop 1/2 Lime
1 Jigger Vodka
Fill with Ginger Beer
1972 Anonymus: Recipes – Wines and Spirits. Seite 24. Moscow Mule.
To make 1 tall drink
2 to 3 ice cubes
A dash of fresh lime juice
3 ounces vodka
4 to 6 ounces cold ginger beer
1 slice lime
A beer mug or 8 ounces glass
Place the ice cubes in a beer mug or heavy glass and add the lime juice
and vodka. Fill the mug or glass with ginger beer and top with the slice
of lime.
1972 Trader Vic: Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide, Revised. Seite 213. Moscow Mule.
1 lime
2 ounces vodka
Ginger beer
Cut lime; squeeze juice into a glass mug or 10-ounce glass
filled with ice cubes; drop 1 spent shell into mug. Add vodka.
Fill mug with ginger beer. Stir gently.
1973 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 71. Muscow Mule.
1/2 Lime Squeezed and dropped in 2 oz. Vodka
1 split Ginger Beer or Canada ry Ginger Ale
2 cubes of Ice. Serve in mug. Stir.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 100. Moscow Mule.
Use highball glass. 1 measure
vodka. Juice of lemon or lime.
Add ice. Fill with ginger beer.
Decorate with sprigs of mint.
Serve with straws.
1976 Brian F. Rea: Brian’s Booze Guide. Seite 66. Moscow Mule.
– the old Cock n’ Bull specialty.
Build in a copper, pewter or glass mug
filled with ice cubes
1 1/2 ounces Vodka
Fill almost to the top with Ginger Beer
Squeeze wedge of lime in drink
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 196. Moscow Mule.
Moscow Mule – One of the main drinks responsible for the initial success of vodka, created by
Jack Morgan at his Cock ‘N Bull restaurant in L.A. John Martin of Heublein teamed up with
Morgan to promote the Moscow Mule, the name presumably coming from the “kick” added to
the ginger beer by vodka. Jack Morgan had been trying to promote his ginger beer which he
couldn’t sell and he had a friend who had copper mugs which she couldn’t sell and of course
Heublein wasn’t setting any sales records with their vodka. But all three teamed up to make
the three of them successful along with the help of another newcomer, Polaroid cameras. In
order to get bartenders to even try Smirnoff vodka and the Moscow Mule, Martin would offer
to take the bartender’s picture if he would try the drink. Going on to the next bar Martin
would show the photograph to demonstrate that everyone was switching to vodka and the
Moscow Mule. And pretty soon they were, copper mugs and all!
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 344. Moscow Mule.
Copper mug or Build
Hiball glass
1-1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz lime juice
(Leave shell in glass)
Fill with ginger beer, ice
Note: Moscow Mule was created
by Jack Morgan at his Cock ‘N
Bull restaurant in Los Angeles,
Calif)
1979 Fred Powell: The Bartender’s Standard Manual. Seite 59. Moscow Mule.
2 jiggers Vodka
Ginger Beer
1 Slice Lime
Serve over ice in glass, brass
or copper mug.
2009 Ted Haigh: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Seite 217. Moscow Mule. Juice of 1/2 lime, 6 cl vodka, ginger beer or ginger ale.
2010 Colin Peter Field: The Ritz Paris. Seite 71. Moscow Mule. 4/10 Skyy vodka, 1/10 or less lime juice, 5/10 Ginger beer; garnish: segment of lime.
2010 Jason Kosmas & Dushan Zaric: Speakeasy. Seite 121. Moscow Mule. 2 ounces Smirnoff vodka, 1/2 ounce lime juice, 4 1/2 ounces Spicy Ginger Beer of Fever-Tree ginger beer; garnish: lime wheel.
2011 Helmut Adam, Jens Hasenbein, Bastian Heuser: Cocktailian 1. Seite 249. Moscow Mule. 5 cl Vodka, 2 Limettenviertel, 15 cl Ingwerlimonade (Ginger Beer).
2011 Jim Meehan: Das Geheime Cocktail-Buch. Seite 186. Moscow Mule. 4,5 cl Smirnoff Black Vodka, 3 cl Ingwerbier, 3 cl Zuckersirup, 2 cl Limettensaft; Garnierung: Limettenscheibe und kandierter Ingwer.
2013 Tristan Stephenson: The Curious Bartender. Seite 98. Moscow Mule. 50 ml Smirnoff Black vodka, 25 ml lime juice, 10 ml gomme, 100 ml ginger beer; garnish: sprig of mint.
2013 Victoria Bar: Die Schule der Trunkenheit. Seite 241. Moscow Mule. 6-8 cl ingwer-infusionierter Vodka, 10-15 cl Gingerbeer.
2014 David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, Alex Day: Death & Co. Seite 147. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. Charbay vodka, 1/2 oz. lime juice, 3/4 oz. ginger syrup; club soda; garnish: 1 lime wheel and candied ginger.
2015 Oliver Bon, Pierre-Charles Cros, Romée de Goriainoff, Xavier Padovani: Experimental Cocktail Club. Seite 193. Moscow Mule. 50 ml vodka, 20 ml lime juice, 15 ml ginger syrup, 5 ml sugar syrup, ginger beer, to top up; garnish: lime wedge and 1 dash Angostura bitters.
2016 André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington: The New Cocktail Hour. Seite 122. Moscow Mule. 60 ml vodka (Stolichnaya), 15 ml lime juice, 120-180 ml ginger beer; garnish: lime wheel.
2017 Jim Meehan: Meehan’s Bartender Manual. Seite 189. Moscow Mule. 4 oz. Fentimans ginger beer, 1.5 oz Smirnoff vodka, o.5 oz. lime juice; garnish: lime shell, candied ginger.
2018 Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan: Cocktail Codex. Seite 139. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. cold seltzer, 2 oz. vodka, 1/2 oz. lime juice, 3/4 oz. ginger syrup; garnish: 1 lime wheel and candied ginger.
2018 Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Seite 253. Moscow Mule. 2 oz. vodka, 3 oz. ginger beer; garnish: 2 lime wedges.
explicit capitulum
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