In this blog post, We will talk about a cocktail that is not counted in the top then when it comes to classic cocktails, but it is one of my favourite cocktails, Moscow Mule.
The Story of Moscow Mule
First of all, it should be mentioned that Moscow Mule is considered by many to be a Russian invention because of Moscow and vodka it contains. But it is a cocktail invented in the US (Hollywood) and became famous. So why Moscow? Why vodka?
In fact, the first stop of our story is Russia. We cannot tell the story without stopping by the Moscow Copper Company in Russia. Our hero is Sophie Berezinksy. Sophie is a young woman who worked with her father in his copper company. And she designed a copper mug which was her signature design. Together with his father, they manufactured the mugs but they couldn’t be successful in Russia. Nobody bought thıse mugs. We are talking about the 1930s and as it’s now, the US was the land of opportunity back there. As a young girl in her 20s, Sophie migrated to the US to take advantage of these opportunities with around 2000 copper cups. But in the land of opportunity, things did not go as they wish and mugs were still not sold. Meanwhile, Sophie met her husband, then they moved from New York to Hollywood. Their house was too small to have all the copper mugs and her husband said, “I can’t deal with your copper mugs anymore, sell them or I will throw them away”
From this point, Sophie started to door-to-door sales for her mugs, entered all restaurants, bars and pubs etc. In 1941, our girl’s path crossed with John Martin (owner of Smirnoff Vodkas). John also had hard times to sell his vodka because the common drinks at that time were not white spirits like gin, vodka or rum but brown spirits were like whiskey and bourbon. At the same point, we had to meet with Jack Morgan, who owns the Cock ‘n’ Pub and makes Ginger Beer, but Americans didn’t drink it either because they used to drink Ginger Ale.
Close friends Jack Morgan and John Martin met with Sophie when she tried to door-to-door sales. At this point, a woman with unsold copper mugs, a man with non-drinking vodka and another man with non-drinking ginger beer came together and they said, “Let’s put this trio together!”. So they entered the cocktail creating process, after many failed attempts, they eventually invented Moscow Mule. Since then, Moscow Mule has become one of the most popular cocktails. Do you want to learn how its made?
Cocktail and Stories 