Pomegranate Moscow Mule

Name: Pomegranate Moscow Mule
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 Cocktail
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/4 cup granulated sugar; zest of half a lime; 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger; 2.5 ounces 100% pomegranate juice; 1 ounce vodka; 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice (reserve the lime wedges); ice cubes; 6 ounces ginger beer (I highly recommend Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer); pomegranate arils, for garnishing (optional)

September 19, 2014

Pomegranate Moscow Mule. An easy fall cocktail made with pure pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice, ginger beer, and vodka.

Friday calls for a cocktail! All that’s missing now is some cute copper mugs (excuse me while I go add some to my wedding registry).

Remember when I mentioned that I had recently tried my first Moscow mule, and how I’ve never had an official cocktail? Well, after making these pomegranate Moscow mules and taste-testing far too many of them, I’ve officially decided that Moscow mules are my cocktail.

Why I find that concept to be so exciting, I really have no idea, but I’m genuinely excited. This version has a little fall flair with the addition of tangy pomegranate juice, and the optional (but oh so fun!) lime-ginger sugar rim.

By the way, the only reason why I bought (and subsequently photographed) Absolut vcdka to due to my obsession with all of their labels and commercial print ads. Remember those amazing ones from years ago? My older sister has a binder collection full of them.

Marketing: 1; Laura: 0.

Anyway, the addition of the pomegranate juice was spontaneous (and a little premature, since the real ones haven’t appeared to hit the stores just yet), but I decided to go with it. Honestly, since Moscow mules are really all about the ginger beer and lime, the pomegranate is not very noticeable in flavor. You could easily substitute it with pure cranberry juice (not cocktail!) and achieve the same effect.

However, it does add the prettiest pink hue to these cocktails, which is great if you’re missing the copper mugs and need to serve these in regular Tom Collins or in my case, mason jar mugs.

The lime-ginger sugar rim is made by mixing and infusing granulated sugar with fresh lime zest and grated ginger. I liked the extra dose of lime and ginger flavor, but feel free to skip it! Fresh pomegranate arils would be a great garnish as well!

The most important component of any Moscow mule boils down to the ginger beer. Just like with any traditional beer or wine, they are not all created equal. My first Moscow mule experience happened to be amazing, because the restaurant that I had it at made their own draft ginger beer.

Since draft ginger beer is not on my culinary agenda any time soon, I ended up stumbling across Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer at Whole Foods, and couldn’t recommend it more! It has a pronounced and natural ginger flavor, was not overly sweet, and had just enough carbonation.

Drink up!

Pomegranate Moscow Mule

Yield: 1 Cocktail

Pomegranate Moscow Mule. An easy fall cocktail made with pure pomegranate juice, fresh lime juice, ginger beer, and vodka.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

Ginger-Lime Sugar (optional):

1/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of half a lime
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated ginger