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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

CULTURE

The Moscow Mule: A Classic Cocktail Gets a Facelift

Standard Grill

Bar area of the Standard Grill (Photo by Paul Goguen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Food trends may come and go, but a well-made cocktail will always be in style. With cocktail “mixologists” worldwide returning to the classics, it's nice to see a new restaurant take on a time-honored mixed drink recipe, update it, and make it into something deliciously new. Take the Moscow Mule recipe, a drink composed of vodka, ginger beer and lime that is traditionally served in a copper mug. At New York's Standard Grill, where a copper- penny- tiled floor has served as inspiration, the traditional cocktail has been reincarnated with the addition candied ginger. It also has a new name: The Penny Drop.

Originally invented in the 1940’s, the Moscow Mule was served in that now-famous copper mug as a marketing ploy—a way of attracting business to the lagging sales of Russian vodkas. The Hollywood crowd was photographed holding the Moscow Mule cocktail at Sunset’s “Cock n’ Bull” bar, starting a craze that spread to the rest of the country. A popular libation was launched, and people are still enjoying it today.

 

The Standard Grill’s Penny Drop (from the Standard Culture website)

2 oz. of Vodka (tequila even makes a nice but totally non-traditional substitute)

1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

 

Shake and strain into a copper mug filled with ice

Top with Ginger Beer

Add Candied Ginger as garnish

Standard Grill

The Penny Drop at the Standard Grill in New York; the copper- penny- tiled floor that inspired the drink

The popularity of the drink has renewed interest in the Moscow Mule copper mug, and has led to many inquiries for purchase at the Standard Grill in NYC. “We are always kindly declining guests who want to purchase them because we don't always have them in stock because we lose more than 50 mugs per week due their popularity. We were then forced to put the price of the mug on the cocktail menu to try to engender some honesty, but it hasn’t really worked,” explained Standard Grill General Manager, Niels Koizumi.

Thanks to eBay online acutions, of course, original Moscow Mule collectibles are a click away. In fact, Moscow Mule copper mug sales are up 83 percent in a recent 30-day period (12/12/10-1/10/11) compared to six months prior.

Here, a selection of current items up for bid:

 

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68de5bfe-0ffb-442c-81f6-acf5a54a3222 Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:05:47 PST Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:05:47 PST
Stefan Gheorghe
comment-post

Really I love the Moscow Mule Mug,makes me feel in other year.

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