Black Russian
50 ml Vodka, 20 ml Coffee liqueur
Photo: Moscow Mule by edseloh · CC BY-SA 2.0 · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 600 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 600 ml line. Vodka
- 1440 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 1440 ml line. Ginger beer - The fieriest you can find
- 180 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 180 ml line. Lime juice
- 12 wedges Lime wedge (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Fill a copper mug with ice, add vodka and lime.
- Top with ginger beer and stir once.
Method
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 2.22 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a copper mug to the top with ice.
- Add the vodka and the fresh lime juice.
- Top with ginger beer and stir once to mix.
- Garnish with a lime wedge and serve straight away.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Moscow Mule
Invented in the 1940s to shift three things nobody wanted: vodka, ginger beer and copper mugs. All three turned out to be rather good together, and a piece of marketing became one of the most reliably enjoyable drinks there is.
Getting it right
Ginger beer, not ginger ale - you want the burn, and the fiercer the bottle the better the drink. Ice right to the top of the mug, lime squeezed in fresh, then the vodka, then the ginger beer poured gently down the side so you lose as little of the fizz as possible. A copper mug keeps it colder for longer and does something lovely to the aroma, though a tall glass works perfectly well when the mug is in the dishwasher. One slow stir at the end, and no more.
Tasting notes
Sharp lime over hot, spicy ginger, with the vodka quietly holding it all up. Cold, loud and enormously easy to drink.
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50 ml Vodka, 120 ml Tomato juice, 15 ml Lemon juice, 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 2 dashes Tabasco, 1 pinch Celery salt, 1 pinch Black pepper, 1 Celery stick
Cosmopolitan
40 ml Vodka, 20 ml Triple sec, 30 ml Cranberry juice, 15 ml Lime juice, 1 Orange slice