The Moscow Mule, or Why Nobody Drank My Sangria on New Year's Eve

Last year I purchased a book on vintage cocktails in the gift shop at Greenfield Village. It's a hilariously funny book to just sit down and read - but of course, one of the perils of reading any cookbook is that you (well, I) immediately want to start making all the recipes. It turns out this is as true for cocktails as it is for, say, Southern cooking or dim sum or anything else, and I fully intend to work my way through the entire book.

There are 64 recipes and so far, everything I've tried has been declared "my new favorite." I expect it's going to take a while to work through the whole thing - it took 3 months before I moved on from the first drink I tried, the Gin Sling. And I will never, ever make a Whiskey Sour with pre-made mix ever again. I'm now fairly confident that given any citrus fruit and even the most understocked liquor cabinet, I can manage to make a named cocktail for any unexpected guests and present it in my nifty vintage cocktail glasses, which gives the impression that I am far more glamorous than I actually am.

The Moscow Mule was the surprise hit of the New Year's party; 2 pitchers of very tasty sangria went largely ignored as everyone started with these. Depending on what source you're consulting, this drink was invented to either drum up demand for vodka (was this actually a problem?) or ginger beer. It must work because we promptly ran out of both.

I think this is called a "mule" because it hits you like one. If you have more than a couple of these in the course of a night, I imagine you'll feel like a mule kicked you in the head the next day, though I opted not to test this theory myself. If you're a Michigander, feel free to substitute Vernors. It doesn't have quite the same kick as ginger beer, but it's better than watery Canada Dry ginger ale. I'm now longing for a set of copper Moscow Mule cups to add to my barware collection, in case anyone is in the mood to buy me a gift for no reason.

The Moscow Mule 

2 oz vodka
4 oz ginger beer (I highly recommend Feverfew brand ginger beer, which you can find at Western Market in Ferndale. Substitute Vernor's if you must)
1/2 oz lime juice (squeeze a wedge of actual lime for this; if you're going to use bottled lime juice, you might as well go for the Canada Dry ginger ale and Smirnoff from a plastic jug. "Easy" doesn't have to mean "standards-free")

Pour over ice. Drink.