Despite its name, the White Russian is not actually a Russian invention.
The name is a nod to the vodka base, the same as the Moscow Mule,
which we've also done a video on if faux Russian drinks are your specific area of interest.
This is the direct descendant of the Black Russian, which
was actually invented in Belgium of all places. In 1949 bartender Gustav Tops mixed together vodka
and coffee liqueur in honor of the U.S ambassador to Luxembourg and by the 1960s some bright spark
whose name unfortunately appears to be lost in the mists of time had added cream to it.
However we can see prototypes as far back as the 1930s Savoy Cocktail Book,
which contained both The Russian, a concoction of gin, vodka and creme to cacao,
which sounds so disgusting that Josh will probably make me film it at some point,
and the Barbera, which although it has an entirely different name is actually
almost identical to our White Russian, having vodka, creme de cacao and importantly cream.
The first commercially available coffee liqueur was Kahlua and it started in 1936. It took a while
to become used commonly behind bars but by 1946 The Alexander the Great cocktail appeared in the
Stork Club Bar Book, which combined coffee liqueur, creme de cacao, vodka and cream.
Anyway, that's basically a very long way of saying that it's been pretty obvious for a while now
that these flavors work well together to create a moorish and indulgent cocktail.
Honestly if it weren't for the Big Lebowski this drink would probably have fallen slowly out of
fashion along with many others of its era but The Dude abides and therefore so does his drink.
In Glasgow there's actually even a Lebowski's Bar, with about 30 different variations on the menu.
The original recipe actually calls for cream, although many people will make it with milk,
which obviously makes it less rich. If you're using milk you could definitely
lengthen it out a little bit and it wouldn't overpower the other flavors.
You can shake this cocktail to give it a fluffier texture and integrate it fully,
but I do think that one of the reasons for its popularity is that it's easy to make anywhere,
so whether it's at home or in a pub or like a bar that doesn't normally really do cocktails
but they can whip this out for you because the ingredients are pretty common,
and it's built so let's stick to that method. The vodka here is really just to act as the boozy
backbone, so whatever your cheap and cheerful go to is. Again Ketel One is my rail, which has a
really nice texture to it, so we're gonna do that. For coffee liqueur we're sticking with the classic
Kahlua. It is a little bit sweeter but you know we're not holding back in this drink.
I'm also using Mac by Brookie's macadamia and wattle seed liqueur,
basically because it's delicious and I want to and it adds a beautiful toasted nut dimension, but
it's also entirely optional. Just do equal parts vodka and coffee liqueur if you can't find this or
don't have something similar you'd like to use. I like to think of it as a slow after dinner
sipper and so serve as you would a digestif- on the rocks.
So we're going to start with 30 mls of vodka.
20 mils of the old faithful Kahlua.
About 10 mils of Brookie's macadamia liqueur.
Now at this point you can just add the cream too,
I'm gonna try and do a little bit of a fancy layered effect so we'll just pop in the ice.
You can obviously measure this, I'm just gonna eyeball about 30 ml of the cream.
A little bit more than 30 mls, but we're being indulgent and I just wanted it to form a nice
layer on top of all the liqueurs there. And then a little grate of nutmeg over the top.
And there you have it, creamy and indulgent White Russian, so now you know.
That's really quite delicious. Because I've been drinking a Michelada,
I wasn't actually necessarily really looking forward to drinking this,
because it's quite a departure, um but the nutmeg I think works really well.
Especially with that little um little hint of nuttiness from here,
yeah the cream almost just sort of like rounds it out, it doesn't, it looks a bit intense,
that layer but definitely with the kind of bitter coffee notes coming through and you know just that
nice little kind of punch of booziness from the vodka and you're almost, yeah it doesn't feel,
definitely doesn't feel too rich and and full-on. I've seen it more often with with milk and I've
always found it a little bit weird because it kind of, you know, like obviously,
I don't know, it doesn't necessarily feel like that much of a grown-up drink,
whereas just with the cream it definitely brings it more into the realms of an
Alexander or that or like a Flip or something. Just that really creamy texture, but you're
still definitely very aware that you're drinking booze. So if you do like White Russians and you
haven't tried it this way I would definitely yeah recommend giving it a go, again probably not one
that I would be sitting drinking for hours on end but but a really nice little treat nonetheless.