Rusty Nail Cocktail

The Rusty Nail cocktail combines Scotch whisky with Drambuie, a honey-sweetened natural liqueur made with a base of blended scotch.

Although the cocktail’s origins are imprecise, drinks historian David Wondrich has traced the primary point out of a drink that mixed scotch and Drambuie to the British Industries Honest in Birmingham, England in 1937. It remained pretty obscure by means of the Nineteen Forties and ’50s, going by means of numerous names and iterations. It might take a couple of extra many years to firmly land on cocktail menus with an equal elements construct and a provocative title that caught. 

Within the Sixties, the drink was a favourite of Frank Sinatra’s and was popularized after he and different Rat Pack members had been seen ingesting it at New York Metropolis’s 21 Membership. In 1963, Drambuie trademarked the Rusty Nail moniker.

Trendy properly into the Seventies, the Rusty Nail fell out of favor within the many years that adopted. The drink noticed a slight resurgence within the mid-2000s when Drambuie was acquired by William Grant & Sons, and rebranded with a brand new bottle design and advertising push.

Why the Rusty Nail Works

Drambuie makes use of a mix of Scotch whiskies as the bottom for its heather honey-sweetened liqueur flavored with a proprietary mixture of herbs and spices. It has a giant taste profile and slightly goes a good distance. 

The basic construct for a Rusty Nail is equal elements Scotch whisky and Drambuie. Nonetheless, this renders the drink too candy for a lot of. The recipe featured right here pulls again significantly on the liqueur so the whisky can shine and the herbaceous flavors of the Drambuie can come by means of. The ensuing drink has a sturdy scotch taste profile, translating into a few of an herbaceous, honey-sweetened scotch Outdated Customary.

Ratios might be performed with relying on the drinker’s choice, and for additional complexity, fragrant bitters and/or a lemon twist might be added.