Have You Heard The Crazy Origin Story Of The Moscow Mule?

When you order a Moscow Mule, you may be thinking it has a long and storied past, crafted just to make a delicious beverage and served in a copper mug to complete the taste, right? Well, the actual story might surprise you, especially if you're a frequent Moscow Mule aficionado.

In the early 1940s, a man named John Martin, the president of G.F. Heublein & Brothers, in an effort to market the next cocktail craze, purchased a small vodka distillery called Smirnoff for $14,000. Yes, that Smirnoff. Vodka was not a particularly popular drink back then, as many people had not even heard of it, let alone drank it.

As Martin was visiting his friend Jack Morgan on the sunset strip in Los Angeles, he bemoaned the fact that he could not sell his vodka. Morgan sympathized, because he could not sell the cases and cases of Ginger beer he had purchased as a side project. A woman in the bar joined in, saying she also could not sell her large cache of copper mugs, which were out of fashion.

So they mixed them together, and history was made. The Moscow Mule was born out of three elements that weren't selling well on their own, and created an iconic cocktail that you can still enjoy at nearly any bar. Some will even hold your ID to make sure they get the copper mug back.