Many countries have festivals celebrating the demise of Old Man Winter and many of these festivals date back centuries. In Poland for instance, the first day of spring is celebrated by tossing straw dolls representing winter into the local body of water, sending him off downstream until next year. In India there’s a spring festival known as Holi which includes bonfires, parties and the throwing of colored powder at one another. And in Japan the arrival of the cherry blossoms signal the symbolic end to winter with millions hitting the streets and parks to walk and float among the sakura. Here in the US however, there is no widely recognized springtime festival. So we’d like to suggest in its absence that the country adopt an official springtime cocktail: the Springtime Mule.

Put Your Copper Mugs to Work Hosting the Springtime Mule

Spring is a time to put the parka away, stash the gloves wherever you stash your gloves and open the windows to let the must out and the fresh air in. It’s also a time to celebrate the return of the flowers and the budding of trees and all that fantasticness just begs for a cocktail of its own. And we have it for you. So break out the Moscow Mule mugs and go pick up some ginger beer because it’s time for the Springtime Mule to kick the door down.

How to Make the Springtime Mule

If you’ve ever made a Moscow Mule you’re halfway there when it comes to its springtime variant. There’s no handcrafted, imported vodka that needs to be bought and you don’t need a PhD in mixology to understand the recipe. It’s all very straightforward. But before you start you’ll need to make sure you have all the ingredients on hand. And those ingredients are:

Springtime Mule Ingredients

• 2 ounces of Vodka (your choice, though Smirnoff is traditional)
• 6 ounces of ginger beer (definitely not ginger ale)
• The juice of half a fresh lime
• 4 slices of cucumber
• 12 fresh blueberries
• 4 to 6 mint leaves
• Copper mugs (chilled)
• 1 shaker, 1 strainer, 1 muddler

Note: there are some Mule variant recipes out there claiming you can serve a Mule in a standard tumbler or even a coffee mug. Don’t buy it. The copper mugs are as essential to the Moscow Mule and its variations (like the Springtime Mule) as the snifter is to brandy and the martini glass is to the martini.

Now that we’ve brought everything together and have the requisite number of copper Moscow Mule mugs on hand to hold our frosty ode to springtime it’s time to mix it up.

The Springtime Mule Recipe

Drop eight or nine blueberries, the cucumber slices and mint leaves into the shaker and grab the muddler. Muddle away until all the ingredients look like they’ve spent a couple of minutes in a blender. Pour the vodka and lime juice into the shaker on top of the muddled ingredients. Then add several ice cubes, cover and shake for 15 to 20 seconds. Toss a few more ice cubes into the copper mugs then pour the mixture that’s in the shaker into the copper mug through a strainer. Add the ginger beer and stir lightly. Then sprinkle in the final blueberries and enjoy the first cocktail of the spring season.

If you are serious about celebrating the end of winter it’s time to adopt the Springtime Mule as the official cocktail of March 21st. No matter what you think of muddling you’ll be sold once the blueberries butt up against your lips. This is a cocktail that possesses a degree of freshness you just don’t normally associate with the word “cocktail” and one well worth indulging in once winter is in the rearview.

What about Non-Drinkers?

We get asked about this a lot. About whether there are any non-alcoholic variants of the Moscow Mule. And we’re happy to say that, in this case anyway, the answer is a resounding “yes”. So let’s wrap things up by taking a quick look at the ultimate Springtime Mule Mocktail.

The Ultimate Mule Mocktail

Whereas the Springtime Mule revolves around vodka and ginger beer the Springtime Mule Mocktail swaps out vodka with club soda and utilizes its own springtime touches to give it the unmistakable essence of a mixed drink on the rise; like so many crocuses pushing their way up through the soil. So let’s take a look at the ingredient list for this March Mocktail before we get into the actual mixing.

Springtime Mule Mocktail Ingredients:

• 2 ounces club soda
• 6 ounces ginger beer cup
• The juice of half a fresh lime
• 1 tsp maraschino cherry juice
• 1 slice of lime
• 1 maraschino cherry (fresh)
• 1 sprig of mint

Unlike the Springtime Mule itself this Mule Mocktail does not require that you do any muddling so there’s no need for the shaker, strainer or muddler. It does however, require that you dig your copper mugs out of the cabinet and get them ready to receive the fruity goodness. As we said earlier no Moscow Mule mugs, no “Mule” designation. Now that we’re clear on that let’s put it all together and give it a try:

Springtime Mule Mocktail Recipe:

Mix the club soda and ginger beer together in a chilled copper mug filled with ice and stir gently. Add the lime juice and maraschino cherry juice and stir lightly again. Plant your slice of lime on the rim of the cup and drop your sprig of mint and the whole cherry on to the top of the mocktail. Enjoy!

The Bottom Line

Whether you like the kick of the mule or something a bit more sedate and family friendly you now have 2 new ways to celebrate the return of spring. If you don’t yet have the copper mugs you’ll need to create either of our mule variants just navigate to the copper mugs section of our online store and pick the style that works for you. We have dozens to choose from.