The non-alcoholic Moscow mule

The classic Moscow mule is about 2 oz vodka, half an ounce of lime and 4 to 6 oz ginger beer, built over ice in a copper mug. It's a highball, so it's really a delivery system for ginger beer. Each part has a job:

• Ginger beer brings nearly all the flavor: sugar, ginger heat and fizz. It's the part that makes or breaks the drink.
• Lime cuts the sugar and makes it taste fresh. Bottled lime juice tastes flat here; squeeze it.
• Vodka adds no flavor you'd notice, but it dilutes the sweetness, adds a little weight, and brings the alcohol warmth that makes the ginger feel hotter than it is.
• Ice and the mug keep it very cold. A mule tastes best at the edge of freezing, and a metal mug helps with that.

So a zero-proof Moscow mule has to do three things to make up for the missing vodka:

• Pick a hotter, less sweet ginger beer. Without alcohol to cut through it, sugar takes over. The more real ginger burn, the less you'll miss the vodka.
• Add bite from somewhere else. A spirit alternative with ginger, pepper or capsicum puts back the warmth. So does a thin slice of fresh ginger muddled in the glass.
• Add a little more lime than usual. Three-quarters of an ounce, not a half, keeps it sharp.

If you want a non-alcoholic Moscow mule in a can or bottle, there are now a few proper mules to choose from, plus a rum mule and a ginger apéritif that do a similar job.

Sir James Ginger Mule is the most classic of them: a lightly sparkling bottled mule from the Netherlands, with ginger up front, fresh lime and moderate sweetness. Pour it into a copper mug over crushed ice with a lime wedge.

Recess Zero Proof Ginger Lime Mule is the lightest: real ginger kick and a little lime, sweetened with agave to 30 calories a can. It also has guayusa, L-theanine and lemon balm in it, so it carries a small amount of caffeine.

Lapo's Melograno Mule is a pomegranate mule: bright ginger with tart-sweet pomegranate, plus lemon, hibiscus, cardamom and rosemary. It's fruitier than a classic mule, and good with a squeeze of lime.

Lyre's Rum Mule is a canned mule made with Lyre's dark cane spirit: gently spiced ginger, tart lime and a toffee note. That toffee note makes it rounder and a little sweeter than a vodka mule. In practice it sits between a Moscow mule and a Dark and Stormy. Pour it over plenty of ice and squeeze in a fresh lime wedge, which sharpens it up and makes it taste less like a canned drink.

Ghia-Ginger isn't a mule, but it scratches the same itch. It's Ghia's bitter apéritif with ginger and soda, and it's sharper, drier and less sweet than any ginger beer. If you find standard mules too sugary, this is the can to try. Add lime and a mint sprig and it drinks like a bitter, grown-up mule.

The ginger beer

This is the single most important choice. Ginger beer is a soft drink, not an alcohol alternative, but it does most of the work in a mule, so we now list the main ones.

• Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer is the default: brewed from three gingers, so it's warm and earthy rather than just sweet. Start here.
• Q Ginger Beer is the one for a zero-proof mule. It's made with ginger and chili peppers and not much sugar, so the heat is the point, and it's very fizzy, which keeps it lively over ice.
• Reed's Extra Ginger Beer has twice the ginger of Reed's Original, plus honey and spices. Medium heat and a fuller body.
• Top Note Ginger Beer uses date sugar and cane sugar for a rich, dried-fruit depth and a savory snap.
• Bundaberg Ginger Beer is cloudy, sweet and gingery rather than fiery. It's the sweetest here, so pair it with a dry spirit and extra lime.

Whatever you buy:

• Look for heat, not sweetness. If a ginger beer tastes mostly of sugar on its own, it will taste even sweeter in a mule without vodka.
• Ginger beer, not ginger ale. Ginger ale is lighter, sweeter and much less spicy. It makes a pleasant drink, but not a mule.
• Keep it cold and freshly opened. Flat ginger beer ruins a mule. Small cans or bottles beat a big bottle that's been open since Tuesday.

If your ginger beer isn't hot enough, there are two good fixes in the catalogue:

• Tenneyson Black Ginger is a concentrated, unsweetened botanical spirit: ginger first, then dandelion, gentian, lemon balm, bergamot and yerba mate. A quarter of an ounce adds serious heat and a bitter edge with no sugar at all. It's the single best fix for a sweet ginger beer.
• Giffard Alcohol-Free Ginger is a bartender's ginger liqueur alternative: sweet, with a warm ginger bite. It's made to go into a zero-proof mule. Because it's sweet, it's best for boosting a dry, mild ginger beer, or for building a mule on plain soda water: half an ounce of Giffard, lime and soda gets you most of the way there.

No bottle to hand? Muddle two thin coins of fresh ginger in the glass before adding ice. It adds a real burn without more sugar.

The vodka

Vodka is the hardest spirit to imitate: it's defined by having almost no flavor, and its main contribution is the alcohol itself. There are now two zero-proof vodkas in the catalogue, and both take the sensible route of adding warmth rather than copying flavor.

• CleanCo Clean V is sold as a straight vodka stand-in: wheat and rye up front, then ginger, pimento and black pepper for the burn. It's sugar-free, and the ginger in it suits a mule.
• Dhōs Vodka Free is deliberately neutral, with a touch of horseradish extract for warmth. Zero sugar and zero calories, so it disappears into the drink and just adds a little bite.

If you'd rather put something in the vodka slot that adds flavor as well as dryness, these work too:

• Seedlip Grove 42 is our pick. Three oranges, lemongrass and ginger, zesty and completely dry. The ginger in it doubles up with the ginger beer, and it adds body without sugar. It's the base of our recipe below.
• Seedlip Spice 94 is the warmer option: allspice, cardamom and oak. Seedlip itself suggests it with ginger ale. It turns a mule darker and spicier, which is especially good in winter.
• Monday Zero Alcohol Gin has a warming tingle built in to stand in for the burn of alcohol, plus juniper, lemon and cucumber. It makes what bartenders call a gin-gin mule: more botanical, still very refreshing.
• Three Spirit Social is a social elixir rather than a spirit: cacao, lion's mane and yerba mate with a warm, herbal, faintly smoky edge. The brand suggests it with ginger beer, and it makes a darker, more savory mule.

If you'd rather skip the spirit entirely, you can. A virgin Moscow mule of just ginger beer and lime is a perfectly good drink. Use the full three-quarters of an ounce of lime and a pinch of salt, which adds body and takes the edge off the sugar.

The lime

Fresh lime, always. Juice it just before you make the drinks; lime juice loses its brightness within a few hours. Squeeze a wedge over the top as well as using juice in the glass, because the oil from the peel is part of the smell of a good mule.

Other ways to add bite

• A sparkling tea top. Tost Sparkling White Tea has white tea, white cranberry and ginger, and it's dry. Use it for half the ginger beer if yours is too sweet.
• A splash of bitter soda. Two ounces of a dry, bitter soda like Hella Classic Dry Aromatic Bitters & Soda (zero sugar, clove and allspice) under the ginger beer gives the drink a longer finish.

This is the one we make most. Grove 42 keeps it dry and adds a second layer of ginger, a splash of Tenneyson Black Ginger adds the burn, and the salt makes it feel less thin.

If it's too sharp for you, drop the lime to half an ounce; if it's too sweet, swap an ounce of the ginger beer for plain soda water. For a closer copy of the classic, use Clean V in place of Grove 42.

For a crowd: the Moscow mule mocktail pitcher

A mule is easy to batch because nothing needs shaking. The only rule: add the ginger beer at the last moment, and keep the ice in the glasses, not the pitcher.

These are the catalogue drinks that fit into a mule, from ready-made cans to the ginger beers and the spirits that stand in for vodka.

Once you have good ginger beer in the fridge, you're one ingredient away from a handful of other drinks.

• Dark and Stormy. Swap the vodka for dark rum and float it on top. It's the mule's darker, richer cousin, and the canned Lyre's Rum Mule is halfway there already.
• Cranberry mule. Add an ounce of unsweetened cranberry juice and garnish with a rosemary sprig. A good holiday pitcher; the tartness means you can use a slightly sweeter ginger beer.
• Gin-gin mule. Use Monday gin, muddle mint in the glass first, and you're close to the modern classic.
• Spicy mule. Curious Elixirs No. 2 is a pineapple margarita crossed with a ginger Dark 'n' Stormy, with chili. Pour it over ice and top with ginger beer for a sweet-hot, tropical mule.
• Mexican mule. Use a tequila alternative like Ritual Agave Spirit Alternative in the vodka slot for smoke and agave. It's close to a Paloma in spirit.
• Kentucky mule. Use a whiskey alternative. Monday Zero Alcohol Whiskey has caramel, molasses and a little heat, and the brand suggests it with ginger ale.

The virgin Moscow mule is one of the most common mocktails on bar menus, but quality varies a lot. It's worth asking which ginger beer they use. These bars take zero-proof drinks seriously: