The creation of the Moscow Mule is a story of a Smirnoff executive trying to make Americans drink vodka and a bar owner with an excess stock of ginger beer.

In the late 1930s John Martin’s distribution company Heublein bought the rights to Smirnoff Vodka but vodka was a fairly unknown drink in the US and sales were slow. In 1941 he sat down with his friend Jack Morgan, owner of the Cock ‘n’ Bull pub on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Mr Morgan, trying to introduce his own brand of ginger beer, had problems of the same kind. Probably with the help of Cock ‘n Bull’s head barman Wes Price the creation of the drink was the answer to both men’s headache.

Enters Sophie Berezinski, the daughter of the owner of a copper factory in Moscow. She designed a copper mug they had a hard time selling in Russia. She brought her mugs and emigrated to the US and Los Angeles where she went from bar to bar trying to sell her mugs. Eventually she ended up at the Cock ‘n Bull and her mugs fit the drink perfectly, keeping it cool and fresh in the LA heat.

The copper mug was designed specifically for Moscow Mules by Tom Dixon in 2016 and is called Plum Moscow Mule.

Product information

This is one in a series of illustrations of classic cocktail recipes with a selection of the most beautifully designed glasses.

The size 40x50 cm (approx 16x20”) are signed and printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Bright White 310g archival paper and are sold in a limited edition of 50 prints.

The size 30x40 cm (approx 12x16”) are printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Studio Enhanced 210g archival paper.