This is a very awesome drink, especially for vodka lovers who enjoy ginger beer.  It's made with Utica's own Saranac 1888 Ginger Beer.  It's best served in a copper mug, which is totally American as the colonists used copper mugs for their drinks.

To make the drink that much more local, Revere Copper in Rome is well known for making classic copper mugs.  In fact, often times you can find mugs available on eBay that were made in the early 1900's in Rome.

So where did the drink come from?

One day, while Martin was visiting his friend Jack Morgan who owned the Cock 'n Bull pub on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, he bemoaned the fact that he couldn't sell his vodka. Morgan complained he couldn't sell his ginger beer, a side passion of his that saw cases of it sitting in his restaurant's basement. And a third person (never identified in any of the stories) lamented that she had copper mugs that she either didn't want or need. Enter the brainstorm. Could all three benefit from combining their losses? The vodka and ginger beer were mixed with a dash of limejuice and served in copper mugs, imprinted with a kicking mule.

In one of the most successful marketing campaigns in cocktail history, Martin combined these three seemingly hopeless endeavors into one of the most popular drinks of the 1950s and early 1960s. Advertised as the Smirnoff Mule, magazine ads and posters across the nation showed celebrities Woody AllenMonique Van VoorenJulie Newmar"Killer" Joe Piro, and Dolores Hawkins enjoying this tasty drink.

The result was that the Moscow Mule became a huge hit within a few years, helped by the Hollywood set and their affinity for the latest cocktail trends. Copper mugs were soon ordered across the country to support the lively libation.  See the full story here.

 Recipe- The Utica Moscow Mule

Ingredients:

2.5 oz vodka

Juice from 1/2 lime

1 bottle of Saranac 1888 Ginger Beer

Directions:

In a copper mug (or whatever you can find) add about 4-6 ice cubes, the vodka and the the juice of 1/2 lime. Add the squeezed lime into the mug.  Top off with Saranac Ginger Beer and stir.  Garnish with a lime wheel.

More From WIBX 950