Holiday Apple Cider Moscow Mule

Spice up your holiday with this apple cider Moscow mule.  Its full of delicious ginger and apple flavor, made with an apple whiskey, apple cider, fizzy ginger beer and plenty of freshly grated cinnamon.

Perfect for sipping around a bonfire or for getting your party guests into the holiday spirit.  Refreshing and full of fall and holiday flavors, this twist on a Moscow mule is our favorite yet!

If you have the time or the ambition, make this cocktail even better with homemade apple cider!  Here is a link to our favorite homemade apple cider recipe.   It’s easy to make and you can do it in your slow cooker or on the stove.  It will make your house smell AMAZING!

What is an Irish Mule or Kentucky Mule:

An Irish mule or Kentucky mule cocktail is a Moscow mule made with whiskey.

So because this Moscow mule recipe uses whiskey instead of vodka, its technically called an Irish mule or a Kentucky mule.  But otherwise its the same as a Moscow mule.

You could also use vodka for our whiskey mule version, if that’s what you have, or an apple vodka, but we found that the apple whiskey gave our Moscow mule an added dimension of almost caramel like flavor and we absolutely loved it!  So did everyone else too!   Kevin doesn’t really drink cocktails, hes more of a beer man, but he asked for another….

Ingredients in a Moscow mule:

The ingredients in a traditional Moscow mule are the following:

• vodka
• ginger beer
• lime
• ice

The ingredients in our holiday version are:

• apple whiskey
• apple cider
• ginger beer
• lime
• ice
• fresh grated cinnamon

A Few Tips About the Ingredients

• for the apple cider, try to find a local fresh pressed version and organic if you can find it, something that’s not from concentrate.  Apple ciders are not all created equal, but you can find a good one pretty easily if you live in Canada or the US.  In a pinch, here is one I found on Amazon that looks like it will do the trick.
• if you want to really step up your game, make your own.  Here is a link to our apple cider recipe.  Its fabulous and it makes your whole house smell amazing!
• the lime is also important in this Moscow mule, and actually, we think it is in every cocktail that includes lime.  Fresh lime juice makes a HUGE difference, and this little citrus squeezer makes it really easy!  But if you don’t always have fresh limes on hand or you run out, or your having a big party and you don’t want to be squeezing a million limes, this lime juice from Santa Cruz Organics is the one that we use.
• finally, for the cinnamon, use freshly grated cinnamon if at all possible.  The fragrance and taste is so incredible, you will be grating cinnamon constantly just for the smell lol.  Its amazing.  Just take a stick of cinnamon and grate it with a small microplane or rasp.

Best Ginger Beer for a Cocktail

There is a bunch of different kinds of ginger beer out there.  Some are really spicy, some are really sweet.  We like one that’s a little bit spicy and not too sweet.  We used Fentimans ginger beer and it was really great in this cocktail. 

You can find it at more specialty grocery stores, like Whole Foods, or you can get it here on Amazon.  It’s pretty damn good on its own too, or in our dark and stormy cocktail!

Fever Tree Ginger Beer is another really wonderful ginger beer with a good spicy ginger kick that’s not too sweet.  You can find it at Whole Foods or on Amazon too.

Moscow Mule Copper Mugs

Moscow mules are traditionally served in a copper mug.  Not only do they look cool, they keep your drink cool longer and did we mention that they look cool?!   Just make sure when you are buying copper mugs that they are food safe because copper can leach into your drink and you don’t want that!

These copper mugs are lined with a stainless steel lining which also makes them double insulated.  They are also so pretty!!

How to Make the Cocktail

These are really easy to mix up.  Here are the steps:

• Fill your copper cup or glass about 3/4 full of ice.  Crushed ice is nice, but you don’t have to use it.
• Add 2 oz of apple whiskey, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 2 oz apple cider, and 3-4 oz of ginger beer.
• Give it a good stir!
• Grate a cinnamon stick right over top of each cocktail.  Don’t be shy with the cinnamon!
• To get a little fancy, garnish with a stick of cinnamon and a sprig of rosemary and serve.

Serving this Cocktail to a Crowd

If you are having a party and you want to serve this cocktail to get everyone in the holiday spirit, we have a few tips for you.

• set up a station with all your ingredients on a bar cart, a section of your counter, or a small table.  Have a bucket of ice there too.   This one looks like a huge copper mug!   This one is a nice one too.
• squeeze a whole bunch of limes ahead of time.  This little tool will make it easy to do a whole bunch in a short time.
• make homemade apple cider.  It will infuse your whole house with a holiday fragrance and give your guests a hint of what’s to come as soon as they walk in the door.   Make it well ahead of time though as it will need time to cool before you add it to your cocktail.

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Tools You Will Need

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Other Cocktails You Might Like

Here’s a list of other cocktails that use either ginger beer or apple cider.  Any of them would be a great addition to your holiday party!

• dark and stormy cocktail
• hot buttered rum
• hot buttered rum with apple cider
• apple cider martini with homemade apple cider
• mulled apple cider sangria

If you’ve tried this recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out in the comments below.  We love hearing from you!  

We love to see your creations!  Tag @Cookswithcocktails if you post a picture of this recipe on INSTAGRAM