Mezcal Mule

Build it. The Moscow Mule method is the right method: spirit and lime in the mug, ginger beer last, one stir. A shaker murders the ginger beer. Fill the ice to the top so the drink stays cold in copper. Slapped mint is aroma, not a salad — one sprig. If you do not have a copper mug, use a highball and do not apologize; the drink is the three ingredients, not the metal.

Two ounces of mezcal to three-quarters of lime and a proper ginger beer is a mule, not a mezcal soda. Use a mezcal you would sip — Vida or Ilegal Joven — because smoke plus ginger is either excellent or a campfire. Fever-Tree or Q ginger beer; sweet grocery ginger ale makes a different, flatter drink. If the smoke is loud, drop the mezcal to 1½ oz and add a splash of soda. If the ginger is shy, you bought the wrong beer.

The Moscow Mule is a 1941 Hollywood marketing story. The Mezcal Mule is not a second origin myth. This is the SipSelect Kitchen three-ingredient build: mezcal, lime, ginger beer, in the mule glass if you have it. Tequila mules were already on menus; mezcal is the same template with smoke. We are not attaching a bar or a year we cannot stand behind.

Tequila Mule

Use blanco tequila instead of mezcal when you want agave without the pit roast. Same lime and ginger beer. Brighter, easier to pour for a crowd.

Spicy Mezcal Mule

Muddle two slices of fresh jalapeño with the lime before you build, then add mezcal and ginger beer. Use it when you want heat on top of smoke — and strain out the seeds if you do not want a bitter finish.