Name: The Galaxy Magic Mule - A Vodka Moscow Mule
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 6 h 20 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Vodka
Ingredients: 2 ounces vodka; .50 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice; 4-6 ounces ginger beer; crushed ice; Crushed "Magic Blue Ice"; 8 flowers of Butterfly Pea Flower Tea; 2 cups hot water

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Last Updated on June 8, 2023 by Leah Hall

This color changing galaxy cocktail is like science! So neat to see it change color! Check it out, and make it yourself!

Back when we were kids and watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on TV, little did we know that some of those science experiments that we played about with would end up being useful when it comes to making drinks! Seeing some of the results felt like magic (especially when you are a kid!) Now that we are grown, we know it really was just the proper application of science!

Color Changing Cocktail

We saw a cocktail that slowly changed colors as the ice melted at one of our local cocktail bars. We then knew that we were going to have to spend a little time behind our bar figuring out how we could capture a little bit of that magic! The result is our Galaxy Magic Mule, a classic Moscow Mule with a little bit of magic ice to bring a showy flair!

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Eating With Your Eyes

When you talk to great chefs and bartenders, you might hear a common theme about how we not only eat (or drink in our case) with our taste buds, but we also eat with our eyes! We were out with friends a few weeks ago and stopped in at one of the great local cocktail bars here in Omaha that are always trying to make something new and exciting.

This particular evening, Mrs. Nom ordered a cocktail that came with a blue ice cube. It melted slowly changed the drink to a beautiful deep purple.

Everyone in our party was fascinated by the color changing cocktail. It not only looked awesome, but tasted delicious, too! Seeing this sort of excited reaction from our friends (who are not nearly as big of cocktail nerds as we are!) tickled something in our blogger brains which said “MAKE THIS!!!”

Butterfly Pea Flower

The next day we started doing a little research about a color changing galaxy cocktail. We discovered a whole trend of bartenders who were playing with the ingredient that was key to their success, the Butterfly Pea Flower!

Interested in buying some Butterfly Pea Flower Tea to make this at home? Get it HERE!

Science in Cocktails?

The Butterfly Pea Flower is found all across equatorial Asia, where it was used in traditional medicine and as a natural food coloring. Prized for its deep blue color that it is able to impart to food, butterfly pea flower has one other very unique characteristic, it is a natural litmus strip! For those of you that might have dozed off in science class, a litmus strip is a chemically treated strip of paper that is used to determine the pH (acid or base) of a solution.

If You are Looking for More Vodka Cocktails, Try These!

In the case of the butterfly pea flower, when it is exposed to acidic liquids like citrus juice or carbonated water, it will turn purple. This reaction is the key to the magic! The reaction changes creating a colorful swirl of colors that looks like you are peering far into a galaxy! Speaking of a galaxy cocktail, check out this awesome lemonade from our friends at The Flavor Bender!

If You Are Looking for More Beer Recipes, Try These!

Paper Straws / Jigger

Cheers to Color Changing Cocktails

To make the Galaxy Magic Mule, we started out by brewing some Butterfly Pea Flower tea. This tea when brewed is a deep dark indigo color with a very mild (almost flavorless) tea flavor. We wanted to slow the chemical reaction down (when you add acid the reaction is really fast) so we froze the tea into cubes. Then this slows the reaction down significantly as it only reacts once the ice starts to melt. This results in the gorgeous gradient between blue and purple as the reaction starts to take place.

What Ingredients are Needed for the Galaxy Moscow Mule?

Lime Juice
Vodka
Ginger Beer
Butterfly Pea Flower Tea (more info below!)

The primary ingredients of a Moscow Mule (lime, vodka and ginger beer) are all acidic to a various degree. So, when we added the ingredients to the ice filled mugs, the color starts to change, creating a dramatic color changing galaxy cocktail! Normally we would serve a Moscow Mule in the traditional copper Moscow Mule mug. But, in this case, a spectacular color changing galaxy cocktail like this deserves to be shown off, so we used some of our glass double wall mugs from JoyJolt to serve these Galaxy Magic Mules!

These mugs from JoyJolt are perfect for Mules or Coffee!

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Lavender Lemon Gin & Tonic Granita Cocktail

Campfire Mule

Other Butterfly Pea Flower Cocktails

Magical Color Change Cocktails – The Flavor Bender
Spring Fever – Elle Talk
The Maui Mule – The Crumby Kitchen

The Galaxy Magic Mule - A Vodka Moscow Mule

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Freeze Time: 6 hours

Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes

A color changing cocktail, a twist on the classic Moscow Mule, and so pretty!

Ingredients

Magic Blue Ice

8 flowers of Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
2 cups hot water

Galaxy Magic Moscow Mule

2 ounces vodka
.50 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
4-6 ounces ginger beer
crushed ice
Crushed "Magic Blue Ice"

Instructions

For the Galaxy Magic Mule

Partially fill the mug with crushed clear ice.

Top with crushed Magic Blue Ice.

Add lime juice.

Add vodka.

Add ginger beer.

Top with additional Magic Blue Ice.

For the Magic Blue Ice

Add hot water to the Butterfly Pea Flowers.

Allow to steep for 3-4 minutes.

Strain out flowers.

Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

Crush ice and use in cocktail.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 173Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 9mgCarbohydrates: 11.1gFiber: 0.1gSugar: 10.1gProtein: 0g

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Ashley

Wednesday 5th of April 2023

When you say “8 flowers of butterfly pea tea” to make the tea - do you mean 8 individual dried flowers. They’re so tiny so I just want to make sure :) Thank you!

The Noms

Ashley, Yes! Just 8, those 8 will pack a punch, and it doesn't take many at all! Good luck and Cheers! Leah

Priscilla Jennings

Tuesday 15th of March 2022

Can you make this ahead of time (for a bridal shower) in a large carafe and add ice when serving? If so, do you have the recipe for a larger scale?

Hey there! You could, but just the vodka and lime juice. The Ginger beer will go flat if combined too far ahead. So, you could do the vodka and lime, and then add the ginger beer and ices when serving! I don't have a large scale recipe, but just make the amount times how many people you will have attending. Cheers!

Shelly

Tuesday 22nd of February 2022

Hi! Been practicing these for an upcoming party. For the first try I hadn't steeped the tea long enough the ice wasn't dark enough. Second try it was really dark but I can't get the layers like in your photo. Do you mix the ingredients and pour them in all at once? or in order of the recipe? Thanks!!

Hey there! The only "layers" that we really have in the pictures are the purple layer - which is all the ingredients together in the glass, and then we topped it with a LOT of the blue ice for the pictures. If you really want it to change color as you pour then switch out the clear crushed ice with the blue ice (like really fill the glass) at the beginning and then pour the ingredients over that. And then you can top it with more blue ice if you want the blue layer on top. Cheers!

Hannah

Thursday 9th of December 2021

Can I make a flavored moscule mule or will it ruin the color changing effect?

Wednesday 15th of December 2021

Hi Hannah, do you mean use a flavored vodka? Or some other kind of flavoring? Using a flavored vodka won't change the color changing effect, but adding other ingredients might. Cheers!

Mike

Sunday 23rd of May 2021

This looks great and I want to try this out but I can only find cloudy ginger beer and I saw in your video that yours is clear. Will this make a difference? What brand of ginger beer did you use in the video?

Thanks

The 'Noms.

Hey there! It shouldn't make much of a difference at all, but if you want the kind we were using, we used Crabbie's Ginger Beer, which has a pretty limited distribution now, I think. Bundaberg and Goslings would work pretty well! Cheers!