Dining Dojo Drinks: The Ginger Russian Donkey

Recently, I have been having a taste for Moscow Mules.  I was trying to create a new recipe while still be inspired by the classic recipes.  There are two recipes for the Moscow Mule.  Here is the history behind the classic Moscow mule of vodka, lime juice, and ginger beer.

The cocktail was invented in 1941 by John G. Martin of G.F. Heublein Brothers, Inc., an East Coast spirits and food distributor, and "Jack" Morgan, President of Cock 'n' Bull Products (which produced ginger beer) and proprietor of the Cock 'n' Bull restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles popular with celebrities.^[1][2][3] George Sinclair (2007) quotes from an article run in the New York Herald Tribune:

The mule was born in Manhattan but "stalled" on the West Coast for the duration. The birthplace of "Little Moscow" was in New York's Chatham Hotel. That was back in 1941 when the first carload of Jack Morgan's Cock 'n' Bull ginger beer was railing over the plains to give New Yorkers a happy surprise... Three friends were in the Chatham bar, one John A. Morgan, known as Jack, president of Cock 'n' Bull Products and owner of the Hollywood Cock 'n' Bull Restaurant; one was John G. Martin, president of G.F. Heublein Brothers Inc. of Hartford, Conn., and the third was Rudolph Kunett, president of the Pierre Smirnoff, Heublein's vodka division. As Jack Morgan tells it, "We three were quaffing a slug, nibbling an hors d'oeuvre and shoving toward inventive genius". Martin and Kunett had their minds on their vodka and wondered what would happen if a two-ounce shot joined with Morgan's ginger beer and the squeeze of a lime. Ice was ordered, limes procured, mugs ushered in and the concoction put together. Cups were raised, the men counted five and down went the first taste. It was good. It lifted the spirit to adventure. Four or five later the mixture was christened the Moscow Mule...

As suggested above and evidenced by an article run in Insider Hollywood the Moscow Mule was most popular in Los Angeles: "There is a new drink that is a craze in the movie colony now. It is called 'Moscow Mule.'" (Gwynn, 27 December 1942).
The Nevada State Journal reinforced the Mule's popularity in reporting: "Already the Mule is climbing up into the exclusive handful of most-popular mixed drinks" (12 October 1943).
In 2012, a Moscow Mule kit that included Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer was included as part of Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things list.

Besides the classic Moscow mule, many bars are making the Moscow mule by substituting the ginger beer with ginger ale.

        After discovering the two different recipes, I decided to make to both versions of the Moscow mule.  With the classic Moscow mule, I decided to use the Fentimans Ginger Beer.  For the hybrid version of the drink, I chose to use Canada Dry Ginger Ale.  When tasting both of the drinks, there is difference in taste of the cocktail.  The ginger beer provided a spicy ginger kick to the drink, while, the ginger ale provided sweetness and effervescence to the drink.  Both versions are tasty.  It all depends on whether if you like sweetness or a spicy ginger kick to your drink.

        This is where the idea of the Ginger Russian Donkey cocktail came to mind.  I wanted the cocktail to have the sweetness and a ginger kick.  For the sweetness, I decided to use the N.E.O. Professional Ginger Syrup (a Japanese product), Fentiman's Ginger Beer, vodka, and lime juice.  The ginger syrup provides a sweet ginger kick to the drink that balances out the ginger beer.  The addition of lime juice to the cocktail provides a hint of sour citrus that cuts through the ginger and sweetness of the syrup rather nicely.

Here is the recipe of the Ginger Russian Donkey!! 
 Put ice in a cocktail glass.
150 ml of vodka
50 ml of lime juice
25 ml of ginger syrup
Top with ginger beer
Garnish with a lime wedge