Drink Battle: PDT Moscow Mule vs 12 Bottles Moscow Mule

A new, and much less interesting month is upon us as I continue traveling through The 12 Bottle Bar cocktail book: VODKA month.  In this case, we’ve got a spirit I’ve never associated with much, except for cleaning wounds, taking shots with my Russian friends, and cleaning wounds they received from actions they took after taking too many shots (gets complicated, I know).  No flavor except ethanol make it hard for one to see beyond the fact it essentially is an “alcohol delivery device,” a fact the good people at The 12 Bottle Bar have recognized.

Still, I celebrate… cause it’s necessary.

First fight: The Moscow Mule!
 

Now this is an interesting fight.  In one corner is the simple, middle-weight champion of the world: the 12 Bottle Moscow Mule!  However this is not evocative of just one variation on this drink; it’s similar to all that I’m use too with vodka, topped with ginger beer and lime… pretty simple.

The PDT cocktail however, uses much less ginger beer (1 oz) and 1 oz simple syrup.  The cocktail is much lest in content, but also much sweeter and much more aftertaste of ethanol because of it.  The former drink has plenty of ginger beer in it to mask the taste.  Another big difference here also includes that PDT uses a house ginger beer without club soda; fairly post modernistic.  

PDT Cocktail

• 1.5 oz. Smirnoff Black Vodka
• 1 oz. House Ginger Beer
• 1 oz. Simple Syrup
• .75 oz. Lime Juice

The 12 Bottle Bar

• 1.5 to 2 oz vodka, to taste
• 1/2 lime
• 4 to 6 ounces ginger beer

As you can see in the photo I used Stolichnaya Vodka from Lativa (though not 100 proof as recommended by 12 Bottles) and Fever Tree Ginger Beer (recommended by no one, but truly potent/delicious).

I created, I imbibed, and I discovered...

The PDT version was much more of fine cocktail, with a smaller amount of ginger beer and an addition of simple syrup.  This led to a welcome sweetness though a slightly unwelcome clear taste of vodka.  

The 12 Bottles version is much more like the refreshing collins drink that you’d expect, with the added bonus of throwing in the shell of the lime after squeezing.  In this I did not taste the vodka and it was slightly more desirable.  However it did lack the sweetness that the PDT version had...

In all honesty, I’ve noticed that if I’ve made two drinks together (only for these Drink Battles of course…) and they disappear, is one really better than the other?  This, among a few other tastes led me to the following conclusion:

Winner: DRAW 

It’s just not fair as not everything was similar enough… and I did appreciate the differences in both. Sometimes variations just help to keep things from getting boring, and when you think about a drink as arguable simplistic and omnipresent as this, change is just what the boozehound needs. Watch out:  Cosmos might be next (dear God this month needs to end)