The Gin-Gin Mule is a long drink created by Audrey Saunders (1962–) in 2000 for Beacon Restaurant in New York City and was featured on the menu of her seminal New York City bar, Pegu Club. Inspired by the Moscow Mule and Mojito, it is considered a modern classic and one of the most influential cocktails of the twenty-first century. The Gin-Gin Mule is composed of London dry gin, muddled mint, sugar, lime juice, and an uncarbonated fresh ginger infusion, which Ms. Saunders has described as “non-negotiable” and essential to the character of the drink.
The Mojito was just starting to become popular in New York City in 1999 when Dale DeGroff taught Saunders how to make the drink at their short-lived restaurant bar Blackbird, and it quickly became one of her favorites. This was the first time Saunders had experienced the use of fresh herbs in a cocktail, and, desiring to incorporate the Mojito’s fresh mint flavor into her burgeoning exploration of gin, she replaced the Mojito’s white rum with gin. Further experimentation led Saunders to seek an ingredient that would enhance the gin’s botanicals, and for this she turned to a ginger beer she had already developed for use in a drink at Beacon named the Jamaican Firefly. Spicy fresh ginger tempered by cooling mint proved a winning combination with London dry gin’s juniper-forward botanicals, and the drink was born.
Recipe: Combine 22.5 ml fresh lime juice, 30 ml simple syrup, and 6 sprigs of mint in mixing glass and muddle. Add 45 ml gin, 30 ml ginger beer, and ice, and shake well. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice, and garnish with mint leaves.
See also Saunders, Audrey; and DeGroff, Dale.
DeGroff, Dale. The Craft of the Cocktail. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2002.
By: Samuel Lloyd Kinsey