Skip to content

Free shipping in the contiguous US

The Dry Pour August 6, 2026

Home / Learn / Recipes & Mocktails / From Scratch / Virgin Moscow Mule

Virgin Moscow Mule

Ginger beer, lime and a great deal of ice — the classic that loses least without the vodka.

beClink Editorial · August 6, 2026

A virgin Moscow mule in a frosted copper mug packed with crushed ice, garnished with a lime wheel and mint, on a wooden board.

Time

3 min

Serves

1

Glass

Copper mug, over crushed ice

Garnish

Mint sprig and a lime wheel

A Moscow mule is ginger beer, lime and vodka, and vodka is by design the ingredient that tastes of least. Take it out and almost nothing goes with it: the heat is the ginger's, the sharpness is the lime's, and what is left is the drink rather than a version of it. If you cannot get good ginger beer, honey ginger syrup and soda gets you most of the way there and lets you set the heat yourself.

Ingredients

  • 150 ml (5 oz)Ginger beer
  • 20 ml (0.75 oz)Fresh lime juice
  • Crushed ice
  • 1Mint sprig
  • 1Lime wheel

Method

  1. Pack a copper mug or a highball to the top with crushed ice. More than feels right — crushed chills faster and harder than cubes, which is why a mule is served this way, and the trade is that it dilutes quicker so the drink wants finishing rather than nursing.
  2. Add the lime juice.
  3. Top with ginger beer, poured down the side of the glass. Don't stir — the pour mixes it and stirring only costs the fizz.
  4. Slap the mint sprig once between your palms and drop it in, with a lime wheel alongside.

Make it yours

Make the ginger part yourself

Honey ginger syrup and sparkling water, 30ml to 120ml. Strictly this is a ginger soda rather than ginger beer — brewing is what makes the difference — but in a glass with lime and ice the gap is small, and you decide how hot it is.

A hotter ginger beer

The fiery styles are a different drink from the sweet ones. Worth trying both before deciding you know what a mule tastes like.

Ginger ale

Softer, sweeter, less spicy. A gentler drink and the one to make for a room rather than for yourself.

Half lime, half grapefruit

Bitterness alongside the sourness, which gives the drink a longer finish.

A whole squeezed wedge

Oils from the skin as well as juice. Drop the spent wedge in afterwards.

Two dashes of bitters

Aromatic bitters against ginger is one of the better pairings available for two seconds of effort.

Cucumber

Three ribbons down the inside of the glass. Cool and green against the heat.

A spoonful of shrub

A berry or rhubarb shrub turns it sharper and considerably more interesting.

Lime and ice ahead

Juice into each mug, crushed ice on top, ginger beer poured as people arrive. Thirty seconds each.

How to serve & pair

In a copper mug if you have one, packed with crushed ice. The copper is not superstition — it takes the cold quickly and holds it, and crushed ice gives it more surface to work with, so the drink arrives properly cold rather than merely chilled. A highball works perfectly well and nobody will mind.

Common questions

Is a mule still a mule without the vodka?

More than most drinks would be. Vodka is distilled to taste of as little as possible, so removing it takes away strength rather than flavor — the ginger and the lime were always doing the work. Of the classics, this is among the few that arrive essentially intact.

Which ginger beer should I use?

A hot one, if you like heat — the styles differ enormously, from gentle and sweet to genuinely fierce, and the drink changes completely between them. Check the label either way: a few traditionally brewed ginger beers are lightly fermented and carry a small amount of alcohol.

Can I make ginger beer at home?

Properly, yes, but it is a fermentation project measured in days. The quicker route is honey ginger syrup topped with sparkling water — 30ml to 120ml. That is a ginger soda rather than ginger beer, since brewing is the difference, but with lime and enough ice the gap is smaller than it sounds and you control the heat rather than accepting whatever the bottle decided. The syrup itself is grated ginger simmered in water with honey stirred in off the heat.

Does the copper mug actually matter?

A little. Copper conducts heat quickly, so the mug takes the drink's cold and holds it, and the metal frosts in a way that makes it feel colder still. It is mostly tradition and partly physics. A highball full of ice gets you a drink just as good.

BeaThinking of making a Virgin Moscow Mule and not sure where to start? Ask us.Ask us →

More From Scratch

See all →

Pour it, don’t just read it.

Every bottle in this recipe is on the shelf.

Shop the Catalog →

— The Dry Pour —

Best sellers

See all best sellers