This Summer's Drink of Choice: The Moscow Mule

Last summer it was the Tom Collins, a refreshing summer drink, but this summer I've moved on to the equally refreshing Moscow Mule. As you can see by these ads from the 60's, featuring Woody Allen (left) and Robert Morse (right), lately of Mad Men fame, that the Mule was served traditionally in frosty copper mugs.

The recipe is simple: Just remember 1-2-3. 1 part Rose's Lime Juice, 2 parts vodka, and 3 parts ginger beer.

In an attempt to revive the popularity of vodka in the late 1950s, manufacturers were thinking of creative ways to overcome the stigma of a liquor long associated with communist Russia. In the midst of the cold war and the space race, Americans were shunning vodka and sales, although never as high as whisky in this country, were slumping. It wasn't until the mid-60s and the advent, and help, of James Bond, who order vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred" in the Bond movies that started in 1963 that sales started to revive.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An hour by hour account of the Cuban Missile based heavily on declassified documents, tapes and transcripts that debunks many of the myths that have been propagated in the intervening years. It also sheds light on other related, but seemingly trivial events, that had an impact on the final outcome of the crisis. The book gives complete credit to Kennedy and Khrushchev themselves for resolving the standoff in the midst of much external pressure.

Recommended reading, although you might you come to a different conclusion than the author.

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