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Moscow Mule.

By George Sinclair.

The usual story of the Moscow Mule is that one guy, who owned the rights to 
Smirnoff vodka (John Gilbert Martin) and this other guy who owned a restaurant 
and had a side-business in making Ginger beer (John "Jack" Morgan) got 
together and combined their products, which apparently weren't selling very 
well individually, to create the Moscow Mule. Some versions of the story throw 
in a third person, usually Jack Morgan's girlfriend, who also had some items 
she needed to shift, copper mugs to be exact.

John Gilbert Martin became the president of G. F. Heublein & Bro. upon the 
death of his grandfather, the founder of the company, Gilbert F. Heublein in 
1937. In 1939, Martin was responsible for the purchase of the Smirnoff 
company; he paid Rudolph Kunnet $14,000 for the company, while keeping Kunnet 
on as the President of the Pierre Smirnoff company.

John "Jack" Morgan was the owner of the Cock N' Bull tavern in Hollywood, as 
well as being the President of "Cock N' Bull" products which produced the 
original ginger beer used in the Moscow Mule.

Most of the versions of the Moscow Mule story tell of the two protagonists, 
named above, as meeting during World War 2; and then these stories will go on 
to state that the Moscow Mule was created after WW2. However this is 
completely false, as the Moscow Mule was created before the war; as is 
evidenced by newspaper articles from 1942 and 1943.

The first known mention of the Moscow Mule is from the "Inside Hollywood" 
syndicated newspaper column, penned by Eith Gwynn, the date was the 27th of 
December 1942, and goes like this:

    "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!..."

And so the first, known, reference to the Moscow Mule has most of the elements 
we would hope for in a first citation; all the ingredients and a reference to 
where it was popular (Hollywood). The only negatives are the lack of a mention 
for the copper mug, and the unbalanced recipe cited; Equal parts would render 
this drink too sour, and not very pleasant at all. One would assume that the 
author was passing on secondary information.

Now, the reason that I mention the lack of a copper mug in the recipe above is 
that I feel that it may not have been an original feature of the drink, it may 
just have been attached to the Moscow Mule legend after the fact. While it is 
true that mentions of the drink being served in a mug come from as early as 
1945, it is not until 1948 that the material they were comprised of was 
mentioned as being that of copper.

Another interesting tid-bit about the copper mug is that the supposed 
birthplace of the Moscow Mule, the Cock N' Bull in Hollywood, was an English 
style tavern; and what did they serve their draught beer in? why copper mugs 
of course. And yes, there is evidence that the Cock N' Bull served their beers 
in copper mugs, so if they already were using copper mugs, would it be any 
stretch of the imagination to suppose that they used the same copper mugs for 
the Moscow Mule also. Modern cocktail bars use their beer glasses for mixed 
drinks all the time.

There is another claim that the drink originates specifically from 1941, this 
story was featured in the New York Herald Tribune, of 28th July 1948:

    "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. 
Here was ginger beer in crockery bottles tasting exactly like that of old 
England."

    "Three friends were in the Chatham bar, one John A. Morgan, known as Jack, 
president of Cock 'n' Bull Products and owner of the Hollywood Cock 'n' Bull 
Restaurant; one was John G. Martin, president of G. F. Heublein Brothers, Inc. 
of Hartford, Conn., and the third was 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. Ice was ordered, limes procured, mugs ushered in and the 
concoction put together. Cups were raised, the men counted five and down went 
the first taste. It was good. It lifted the spirit to adventure. Four or five 
later the mixture was christened the Moscow Mule--and for a number of obvious 
reasons. "

Now, one asks, is all of this true? Well maybe it is and maybe it isn't. But 
it is 6-7 years after the fact.

Some people might think that mixing vodka into ginger beer is not that 
exciting, and they would be right, but is it original? Other spirits had 
already taken their turn being mixed with ginger beer, one such spirit was 
Scotch Whisky; this ginger beer and whisky drink was named a "Mamie Taylor", 
after the famous opera singer. While the Mamie Taylor might be virtually 
unknown today, in its time (1900-1940) it was very well known; featured in 
newspapers no less. The Mamie Taylor is not just similar to the Moscow Mule, 
disregarding the alcoholic spirit used for one moment, it is exactly the same. 
The Mamie Taylor was more than just Scotch Whisky and Ginger Beer, it also 
included the juice from half a lime, which is exactly what a Moscow Mule 
includes.

A piece of circumstantial evidence that might help sway you to my way of 
thinking, regarding the vodka-isation of the Mamie Taylor, is the fact that 
during the initial marketing of Smirnoff Vodka in the US, by the Heublein 
company, it was marketed as "Smirnoff White Whiskey. No Taste. No Smell.".

Is it really that difficult to take an existing mixed drink recipe and 
straight swap the main alcoholic spirit for another one? I do not think so. 
Scotch whisky swapped for white whiskey.

John Gilbert Martin, who was actually the Grandson of the founder of 
Heubleins, was not a brash man, he did his research:

Van Wert Times Bulletin, 22nd 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"

So if half of the drinkers didn't actually like the taste of booze, then 
surely they would love a booze that doesn't taste of anything in particular 
when mixed? And he was right.

    Moscow Mule.

    50ml Vodka,
    juice from half a lime fruit (c. 12.5ml)
    Ginger Beer.

    Pour the vodka into an ice-filled tall glass, and then squeeze the lime 
juice into the glass; fill the remainder of the glass with cold ginger beer. 
Garnish with a lime wedge.


    Mamie Taylor.

    50ml Scotch Whisky (Famous Grouse),
    juice from half a lime fruit (c. 12.5ml)
    Ginger Beer.

    Pour the whisky into an ice-filled tall glass, and then squeeze the lime 
juice into the glass; fill the remainder of the glass with cold ginger beer. 
Garnish with a lime wedge.


Cheers!

George


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