8 Best Canned Moscow Mules Brand Reviewed In 2022

Picture this: it’s a hot summer’s day, and you’re heading to your favorite local bar to kick back with a few drinks. You’re sweating as soon as you leave the house, and all you want is an excellent Moscow Mule to cool off. They’re all out of ginger beer when you get to the bar, but canned Moscow Mules are available.

This drink is absolutely delicious, but how did it originate? Are canned Moscow Mules better than the ones made fresh?

In this article, we’re going to take a look at how Moscow Mules came into being. We’ll look at the differences between drinking it from a copper mug versus drinking it straight out of a can. We will also review the top 8 best canned Moscow Mule brands!

Let’s take a closer look.

Origin of the Moscow Mule

Moscow Mules combine all the ingredients you want in the perfect summer cocktail: ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. These ingredients might not always be the first that comes to your mind when you think about a cocktail, so how did the Moscow Mule originate?

Well, the first Moscow Mule came to be in 1941, when Sophie Berezinski (the woman who invented the iconic copper mugs that Moscow Mules are served in) walked into a pub where John Martin and Jack Morgan were sitting. John Martin had just bought the Smirnoff distillery, and Jack Morgan owned the bar that Sophie had just walked into.

The three of them sat together for several hours and developed what turned out to be the Moscow Mule.

Back in 1941, America was having the time of their lives with beer and whiskey, but customers everywhere hadn’t developed a taste for vodka yet. However, after the Mule was invented, vodka made itself known, and America never looked back!

Moscow Mule Drink & Its Presentation

Sophie, John, and Jack sat together and developed the recipe as we know it today. After trying out various proportions of alcohol and ginger, they eventually came to the conclusion that two ounces of vodka coupled with a good amount of ginger beer and lime juice tasted the most delicious!  

They loved the taste so much that they decided to go ahead and make it permanent. After a week or so, John, Jack, and Sophie decided to name it the Moscow Mule.

While this drink is very delicious and famous, you might have also noticed that most bars and restaurants serve it in a copper mug. Some alcohol snobs and foodies even go so far as to say that serving in a glass or cup is going against the rules of making the perfect Moscow Mule.

Have you ever wondered why these copper mugs are as popular as they are?

Well, from our research and doing some testing in our home kitchens as well, we’ve gathered that the thermal properties of the copper mug simply help the Moscow Mule taste even better.

If you’ve ever been to an extremely fancy restaurant, you might have noticed that the kitchen staff use copper pots and pans and maybe even copper speed racks to hold trays of prepared food. This is because copper has different thermal properties than materials like stainless steel or iron. In the same way that copper heats differently from other metals, it also activates the taste of food and drinks when they are served cold.

In other words, copper mugs help elevate the way the Moscow Mule tastes than if you were to serve it in a container made of glass or steel. The copper helps lift up the drink while also allowing it to remain cold for a longer time.

Mixologists and chefs alike have realized that the concoction of ginger beer and vodka become oxidized in the copper container, and as a result, the cocktail tastes much better. Most importantly, it smells more appealing as well. Copper mugs help the drink retain its fizziness for a longer time as well while making sure that the lime juice blends well with the ginger beer and the sharpness of the vodka.

Moscow Mule in Copper Mug vs. Moscow Mule in a Can

While it’s always fun to drink a cocktail from a fancy and elegant copper mug, many companies are have started to sell Moscow Mules in cans to help people purchase drinks that are easier and more convenient to drink.

Canned Moscow Mules are easy to purchase and drink, especially if you’re having a big party and don’t have the time to make individual cocktails for every guest. With a large selection of canned Moscow Mules, you can enjoy your own party while making sure your guests are fed and watered throughout the day or night.

If you want to take your party to the next level and make it seem fancy and expensive, you could simply purchase a few copper mugs online and pour your canned cocktails into the mugs. After everyone’s had a few glasses, no one will be none the wiser!

If you asked us to make a comparison between canned Moscow Mules versus Moscow Mules made from scratch, we don’t think we’d be able to pick a favorite. Even though there’s nothing like drinking a cocktail made from scratch, nothing can beat the convenience of pouring out a readymade cocktail into a copper mug, sitting back, and sipping it slowly.

You can take the canned version of the drink to the beach or a party, and best of all, you can always recycle the cans once you’re done drinking from them!

At this point, we’ve waxed lyrical about how delicious and refreshing these cocktails are.

Let’s dive into our reviews of the top eight canned Moscow Mule brands.

8 Best Canned Moscow Mule Brands Reviewed

Here are our quick reviews of the top 8 canned Moscow Mules. 

1. Merican Mule “Moscow Style”

We’ve listed this canned drink as number one because it tastes as though it was just made by a bartender and brought to your table in a matter of minutes. ‘Merican Mule makes its drinks with natural ingredients that are all grown and sourced in the US. If you’re a health nut that loves a good drink every so often, you will love this drink because it is gluten and sugar-free. The distillery that manufactures these drinks makes sure that the alcohol isn’t distilled from malt or cane sugar. Overall, we’d highly recommend this canned cocktail!

2. Cutwater Fugu Moscow Mule

Cutwater combines the best ingredients to give you the classic flavors of a Moscow Mule. Unlike your local bar or home bar that has only ordinary vodka brands, Cutwater uses Fugu Vodka to give this drink the alcoholic kick it needs. In addition to using high-quality ginger beer and lime juice, the vodka in Cutwater’s Moscow Mule is blended with a unique selection of bitters, thus adding an additional depth of flavor. This canned Mule has an ABV of 7%. Most importantly, it’s got a significant amount of flavor that is smooth and delightful to consume.

3. Cabana Coast Moscow Mule

Next up is the Cabana Coast Moscow Mule. If you’re a Canadian, you might be familiar with the Iconic Brewing Company.  They are a well-known Canadian distillery whose canned Moscow Mules have an ABV of 7%. The ingredients are high-quality and flavorful, making this canned version of the drink the best possible choice if you need something quick and easy to serve before a lunch or dinner party.

4. GingerHead Moscow Mule

If you’re anything like me, you grew up reading books by Enid Blyton that featured ginger beer prominently in all her stories. Still, you never actually got to try ginger beer until you were an adult who could stomach the taste of ginger. This canned Moscow Mule by GingerHead takes this classic cocktail and goes heavy on the ginger, but not in a way that is overpowering or horrible-tasting. Instead, it is refreshing and so delicious that you’d want to drink the entire can in a single breath. We’d recommend against doing that, of course, but we wouldn’t advise against purchasing several of these cans in one go!

5. Russian Standard Moscow Mule

You might not like the more robust ginger flavors of the GingerHead Moscow Mule, and we understand entirely. If you want a milder-tasting Mule but still delicious, then we recommend this Russian Standard Moscow Mule. It is light, sweet, and refreshing but quite mellow, so you don’t feel like you’re being assaulted by the spicy ginger or acidic lime juice concentrate. At the same time, you get the delightful vodka kick.

6. Salt Point Moscow Mule

Salt Point’s Moscow Mule combines all of the main ingredients that a regular Moscow Mule has but combines with them a twist: a splash of pineapple juice! The pineapple cuts through the spice of the ginger and the acid of the lime, giving you a hint of sweetness that doesn’t divert your attention away from the primary flavors of this drink. We loved this version of the Mule because the pineapple made us feel like we were on vacation, even though we were trying these drinks at home!

7. Mule 2.0 Moscow Mule

These drinks are delicious and wonderful. Throughout this article, we’ve been recommending Moscow Mules that are sold in cans. However, this drink is the only one on our list that is sold in packaging that closely resembles the version of the cocktail that you can get at a bar. The can mimics the look of the classic copper mug and tastes deliciously fresh, almost as if it was made by hand and brought to you directly! Overall, we loved this version of the canned Moscow Mule and would highly recommend it.

8. Joia Spirit Sparkling Moscow Mule

Our final recommendation is the Joia Spirit Moscow Mule. It’s got the classic Mule flavors we all love so much, and Joia adds in a hint of apricot juice to cut through the intense flavors of the Mule.

Conclusion

In this article, we took you through a list of the eight best canned Moscow Mules that you can buy anywhere! We also looked at the drink’s origin, why it’s served in a copper mug, and the differences between drinking it from a copper mug and a can. We hope that our love for Moscow Mules inspired you to drink your next one!

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