Montecito Mule

Mulling Over the Mule

Sometimes you have to go a great distance to figure out what’s best to do at home. Such is the case with this issue’s cocktail, the Montecito Mule, which most recently has its roots in the Tales of the Cocktail, a wonderful annual cross between a conference and a bacchanal thrown in New Orleans.

One part of this year’s fest celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Moscow Mule, a simple classic of vodka, ginger beer and lime that has a charming creation story: A guy who has problems selling Smirnoff vodka to brown-liquor-loving Americans meets up with a guy who doesn’t know how to market his ginger beer, and the result is the cocktail world’s Reese’s Cup with a lime twist.

“At least the Moscow Mule is easy (your dog could make one), smooth and refreshing,” acclaimed cocktail writer David Wondrich asserts somewhat acidly. “Taken by itself, it does no harm, and compared to so much that has followed, it’s practically elegant.” What’s better, the basic Mule is plenty of fun to adapt to the situation at hand. For instance, at one Tales tasting, producers Quady Winery and High West Distillers teamed up for a room of fantastic drinks under the title “Of Grapes and Grains.”

One was a Western Sage Mule, and I’ve taken that as my inspiration to create something even more Santa Barbara, especially since you can make it with locally distilled products. (Sorry, Quady and High West!)

I’ve dubbed it the Montecito Mule as it’s a bit high-toned and also hints of the foothills with its white sage simple syrup that offers you a bonus: Making it fills the house with scents as if you’ve smudged your house. It’s not every day you get to banish the bad spirits while drinking the yummy ones. (If you can’t get white sage, any garden sage will do. The white is just a bit wilder.) The blackberries are also a hearty base; you will be amazed how much flavor just two per glass add, and since this is a built drink, you end up with some delicious fruit to snack on at the mug’s bottom.

And no, you don’t have to run out and buy copper mugs—the traditional vessel for the Mule. As legend has it, the drink creators met up with a copper heiress who just happened to have boxes of the mugs almost headed to the scrapyard before they figured out that the metal keeps the drink icy cool. Even better, the heiress’s heirs now reside in Santa Barbara, so you can drink local in their Moscow Copper mug.

Even if you use an old-fashioned glass, it’s still a built drink, which simply means you put it together in the very vessel you serve it in, no shaker necessary. That’s another of the drink’s charms: faster to create, easier to clean up after. If you’re doing them for a party, just line up the mugs and go.

Do note that built drinks, even when stirred, tend to deliver different facets in different sips, so be prepared for a berry blast one taste, a zip of more ginger the next, some soothing sage a third. That’s half the fun.

Of course, I’ve complicated the liquor bill beyond vodka. Quady and High West suggested their Vya Extra Dry Vermouth and American Prairie Bourbon, respectively. I opted to go local and use Margerum Vermouth and Cutler’s Artisan Spirits Stagecoach Whiskey. The Margerum is so flavorful and spry it’s a bit of a shame not to just drink it neat as an aperitif, but its mix of fortified wine, herbs, spices and mystery adds a fascinating complexity to the drink.

The Stagecoach Whiskey, Ian Cutler’s “summer” partner to his heartier 33 Bourbon, is made with both a wheat and corn bill, finding a lovely middle ground for a brown liquor.

And a good ginger beer (for any mixer, it’s hard to go wrong with a Fever-Tree product) lifts this drink, like any Mule, with its effervescence and spicy finish.