Mezcal Mule
Muddle; Shake ∙ 4 min ∙ 13.3% ABV ∙
The Mezcal Mule shakes mezcal with muddled cucumber, ginger liqueur, lime, passion fruit purée and agave syrup, served over ice in a highball glass.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- In the base of the shaker, muddle: Cucumber 4 slices
- Add the remaining ingredients: Mezcal 45 mlGinger liqueur 20 mlLime juice 20 mlPassion fruit purée 20 mlAgave syrup 15 ml
- Shake with ice and fine strain into the ice-filled glass
- Garnish with candied ginger and dust with a chili flake
Tips
- Pick a joven (unaged) mezcal so the smoke sits alongside the passion fruit instead of drowning it.
- Muddle the cucumber gently in the shaker base first, just enough to release juice without pulverizing the skin.
History
The Mezcal Mule traces to Jim Meehan, who created it in 2008 at PDT (Please Don't Tell) in New York City. Meehan's original reworked the mule template around mezcal's smokiness, pairing it with a housemade ginger wort instead of bottled ginger beer. He added passion fruit, cucumber, and lime to complement the spirit's vegetal, fermented character; ginger liqueur stands in for the wort here. The recipe was later published in Robert Simonson's book Mezcal + Tequila Cocktails: Mixed Drinks for the Golden Age of Agave.
The drink is one of many riffs on the Moscow Mule, the vodka, ginger beer, and lime highball popularized in the United States in the 1940s, which gave its name to the wider Mule family. The Mezcal Mule keeps that citrus-and-ginger backbone but swaps in mezcal for the base spirit, giving the drink a smoky depth in place of the original's cleaner, more neutral profile.
FAQ
What is in a Mezcal Mule?
This recipe uses 45 ml mezcal, four slices of muddled cucumber, 20 ml each of ginger liqueur, fresh lime juice and passion fruit purée, and 15 ml agave syrup.
What is the difference between a Mezcal Mule and a Moscow Mule?
A Moscow Mule is vodka, lime juice and ginger beer, served in a copper mug. The Mezcal Mule swaps the vodka for smoky mezcal and the ginger beer for ginger liqueur, and adds muddled cucumber and passion fruit purée. It is fruitier and smokier than the crisp, spicy original.
