It’s full on summer… hot and sultry here in NYC. This heat reminds me of Texas but it wasn’t this humid in Wichita Falls; although I do remember plenty of days when the thermometer spiked to 100 and above.
It’s on these hot summer days that I want something refreshing and bubbly to drink. One of my new favorite drinks is a Moscow Mule. I might be late to the copper mug drinking game but I changed the classic Moscow mule and added some pretty pinks note to it. It’s light, fizzy and sweet with a taste of ginger, and herbaceous mint – a Strawberry & Mint Moscow Mule!
I’ve always wondered how the heck did it ever get that name? Rumor has it that 3 businessmen were together in a bar in the 1940’s. One had the rights to the Smirnoff brand and vodka was not popular in the 1940’s. The other was trying to sell ginger beer and the other was hard up to sell copper mugs. They put their heads together and came up this crazy drink with ginger beer and vodka mixed together in a copper mug! Pure deliciousness!Why did they call it a Moscow Mule? Moscow was associated with Russian vodka and maybe the ginger beer delivers a real kick of flavor like a mule. Crazy… right? But they marketed it like mad and it caught on.
The Moscow Mule that we’re making here is flavored with strawberries and fresh mint. We make it in a pitcher for a crowd, and on a hot summer night, it will be gone in a flash.