Mezcal Mule

A variation of the well known Moscow Mule, the Mezcal Mule goes all out with not only Mezcal, Lime Juice, and Ginger Beer, it also adds Cucumber, Agave Nectar, and Passion Fruit Puree. If you want to spice it up further, you can also add a garnish of chile powder for even more fun!

While the Moscow Mule is an older classic, as are a lot of its variations, this recipe for the Mezcal Mule is a lot newer, coming out of New York Bar PDT. And of course it's modern. Some of the ingredients, like the Passion Fruit Puree wouldn't have been around as much during the classic days of cocktails 100 years ago.

If you like a Mule, this is the next one for you to try.

Total Time 5

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

45 mL Mezcal
20 mL Lime Juice
20 mL Passion Fruit Puree
90 mL Ginger Beer to top up
3 Cucumber Slices
15 mL Agave Syrup
Garnish with Cucumber, Candied Ginger, and Chile Powder

Instructions

Muddle the Cucumber Slices with the Agave Spirit at the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Add the Mezcal, Lime Juice, and Passion Fruit Puree to the shaker with ice. Shake it all until it's cold.
Strain into a Rocks glass with fresh ice.
Top up with Ginger Beer.
Garnish, serve, and enjoy.

A Few More Thoughts on the Mezcal Mule

As mentioned, if you’re a fond of a Moscow Mule, we highly encourage you to try the Mezcal Mule. Or if you just like Ginger Beer and want to make it a little bit more interesting, this is a great cocktail to try! If you’ve taken a look at our recipe for the Moscow Mule, you will have noticed that the Mule has almost endless variations depending on what base alcohol is used in the recipes. Obviously this is one of the variations! However, this recipe takes the riff a little bit further by adding Passion Fruit Puree, Cucumber, and just a little bit of sugar through the Agave Syrup. This is pretty welcome considering Mezcal can have a fairly bold flavour profile to it. With that, you probably already know that Mezcal and Lime Juice are a great combination; the Lime Juice was already present in the original Moscow Mule, so it’s almost like Mezcal (or Tequila for that matter) were a natural choice for a variation on the original. We’re not sure where the inspiration to throw Passion Fruit Puree into the mix came from, but we’re not complaining! It adds a little bit of sour sweetness to it and a bit of interest to otherwise fairly standard flavours.

Can this recipe be increased to make a larger batch or multiple cocktails?

You can make two or three cocktails at a time, but remember you need to muddle the Cucumber in a shaker. If you have too much Cucumber, you’re going to have trouble muddling it. The same goes for simply putting too much liquid in your cocktail shaker; too much and you’ll have trouble shaking!

Making two cocktails at a time should be fine, but don’t overdo it.

Can a Mezcal Mule be served later after making it?

This shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Make the cocktail but don’t add the Ginger Beer until you’re ready to serve it. That way the Ginger Beer will stay fizzy for serving.

What’s the best time to try a Mezcal Mule?

We usually like a a day with a bit of a dry heat for anything Mezcal or Tequila related. For whatever reason the spirit just suits that kind of weather. We’re aware that Mexico isn’t exclusively arid in its geography or whether, but it’s just where the mind goes. Maybe we’ve been watching too many westerns.

Going into a little more depth here though, we also often sees drinks like the Mezcal Mule (or Mules in general) as a drink to have when you want a carbonated soft drink or soda but want a proper drink as well. This would be situations where it’s appropriate to have a beer, but you just prefer something else. This would include situations like a barbecue, as a refreshment at the end of the day, or even a large outdoor picnic.

Is the Mezcal Mule a strong cocktail?

It’s actually pretty mild in terms of strength. We’d put the Mezcal Mule at slightly below average in terms of overall alcohol, relatively low in terms of ABV. However, the Mezcal Mule will probably have a higher ABV than that beer we were talking about earlier! The total volume of liquid in this cocktail comes in at 190 mL (plus whatever comes out of the cucumber) while your typical can of beer is about 330 mL. The Mezcal is diluted by all the other liquids, of course, but not enough to get it down to beer strength! So take this a little slower than a beer. Unfortunately there’s not as much liquid in there to take it slow with, but that’s OK, you can just get more enjoyment from the drink!

What music goes best with a Mezcal Mule?

Although we often talk about Mexican music styles when it comes to Mezcal (and Tequila as well of course), we’re not going to do that here. It’s not that we’re trying to avoid the stereotype, because, let’s face it, pairing a cocktail with a type of music relies on some stereotypes about the base spirit and how the cocktail makes you feel. However, some cocktails seem to have such a good purpose, we can do away with thoughts on specific ingredients and evaluate the drink as a whole.

As we already said, cocktails like the Mezcal Mule do well when a beer would be OK to drink, but you’re feeling something different. This is in informal social situations like a casual party or just hanging out with friends. People usually put a little background music on for these situations. It’s not usually cheesy pop music, but it’s also not extremely sophisticated music. Generic popular music, as wide as that is as a genre, is what we’re thinking here. We’re mostly thinking popular Rock music of the last however many decades. Hopefully you know what we’re talking about!