Tropical Mule Recipe

Chill glass

Place a copper mule mug (or highball glass) in the freezer for 5–10 minutes or fill it with ice water while you prepare ingredients to chill it.

Add base

Fill the chilled mug about two-thirds full with fresh ice cubes.

Build the cocktail

Pour 2 oz Deep Eddy vodka and 0.5 oz fresh lime juice over the ice.

Add flavor

Choose one flavor and add the corresponding ingredient: 1 oz ruby red grapefruit juice (or grapefruit syrup) OR 1 oz cranberry juice OR 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice plus 0.5 oz simple syrup OR 1 oz orange juice. Pour the chosen flavoring into the mug.

Top with ginger beer

Gently top the drink with 4 oz ginger beer. Stir once or twice gently with a bar spoon to combine—avoid over-stirring to preserve carbonation.

Garnish and serve

Garnish with a lime wedge or wheel plus a matching fruit slice (grapefruit wedge for ruby red, few fresh cranberries for cranberry, lemon wheel for lemon, or orange slice for orange). Add a mint sprig if desired. Serve immediately with a straw or stirring spoon.

If you prefer a sweeter drink, increase the flavoring (use 1 oz for lemon option and skip or reduce simple syrup) or use a sweeter ginger beer. For a lighter cocktail, reduce vodka to 1.5 oz and increase ginger beer to 5–6 oz.

To make a batch (6 servings), multiply ingredients by 6 and combine vodka, lime juice and chosen flavor in a pitcher. Keep ginger beer chilled and add it to the pitcher or pour into individual glasses just before serving to preserve fizz.