Widow's Laurel (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

There's an old calvados recipe called the Widow's Kiss that I'm sure I've made in all my years of blogging. Can't find it right now, but I'm sure it will turn up. This variation is supposedly less boozy, but you can't really tell. It is intensely bitter and spicy with sweet vermouth, allspice dram and Drambuie together in one cocktail. 

Almost like an apple brandy Manhattan, this is a long and deep drink that will take you a while. It is perfect for a cold evening after dinner...or before.

• 2 oz. calvados (Laird's applejack 86 used)
• 1/2 oz. Drambuie
• 1/2 oz. Antica formula vermouth (Cocchi dopo teatro used)
• 1 tsp. allspice dram (homemade used)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 3 brandied cherries on a pick

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the cherries. 

Prince's Coffee

 I don't know if there's a name for this drink, actually. It's an old classic since the invention of Drambuie, which, from what I can tell, came about sometime before the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. It's not so much an issue as to whether Drambuie existed, (which it probably did in some form not unlike that which exists today) but whether or not coffee was at hand. It was probably difficult to score some Joe in the Scottish Highlands. 

So here is a cocktail that is so simple, you can make it while reloading a musket. 

• 1 1/2 oz. Drambuie
• coffee
• whipped cream

Pour Drambuie in a warmed coffee mug and top with coffee. Stir and float whipped cream on the hot beverage.

 

Scottish Dram

 

Pretty much any cocktail you make with Drambuie will be good--and it will taste Scottish. That is because Drambuie is a liqueur with teroir. It is made from aged scotch, heather honey and Scottish botanicals. It's pretty amazing stuff. From putting it in your coffee to a few drops in your cocktail, it has the potential to change your whole experience.

This cocktail is a take on the Rusty Nail, a common drink for scotch enthusiasts from way back before the single malt craze. Usually an inexpensive scotch is used to spread the Drambuie flavor around in a rocks glass full of ice. This time it is up, neat and dry, in a recipe almost as simple as the Rusty Nail.

• 2 oz. scotch (Speyburn 10-year-old used)
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 1/4 oz. Drambuie
• 1 dash Pechaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe glass. 

Prince Street Cocktail (Original Recipe)

Old Town Alexandria needs its own cocktail associated with its colonial history, something classic and regal to contrast it from New York's Manhattan and Chicago's Southside. I give you the Prince Street Cocktail, named after one of Old Town's more pristine cobblestone streets.

This cocktail is based on the Bonnie Prince, a gin, Lillet Blanc and Drambuie cocktail of similar proportions. For this cocktail, I really upped the amount of Drambuie to add richness--look at that honey color! The flavor then becomes one of spiced wine, heather and old whisky. For the gin, I chose northern Virginia's ImaGination gin from MurLarkey Distillery. There's so much spice (Drambuie and ImaGination) and orange flavor(from Lillet and the twist), that Prince Street tastes as decadent as the Royal name it carries. 

• 2 oz. MurLarkey ImaGination Gin
• 1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 1/2 oz. Drambuie
• orange twist

Combine all ingredients except for orange twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist.

Jolly Roger

On paper, I love this drink. It has the promise of greatness, and like so many citrus-forward Drambuie drinks, it fails a little at that promise.

The Jolly Roger refers to the scull and crossbones (or swards) pirate flag, which is no coincidence since rum is piratical and scotch the native spirit of many pirates, or so I've heard. The trouble is that Drambuie is sweet but not sweet enough to offset the tartness of the lime juice (also a pirate necessity to combat scurvy.) I feel that a flavored soda or tonic would up the game a little and make the drink less like a spicy Rum Rickey.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. Drambuie
• 1 oz. lime juice
• club soda
• 1/4 tsp. scotch

Combine all ingredients except soda and scotch in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Float scotch on top.

Spirit Of Scotland

This cocktail features Drambuie, the proprietary "spirit of Scotland." It is Scotland's answer to Irish Mist, Southern Comfort, and Chambord (or maybe Chartreuse). So the Spirit Of Scotland is lemon juice, scotch and a liqueur that is made of old (reportedly 15-year-old) scotch and heather honey and spices. You can use a pretty uninspired blended scotch for the base liquor--it is really only intended to turn a small amount of Drambuie into a cocktail-sized portion. Johnnie Walker red label will be more than adequate because it has a lot of character. After trying a cocktail with Johnnie Walker black label, I noticed the smoke and reek of red standing out better than the black label did.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 3/4 oz. Drambuie
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Rusty Nail

It's probably the most unappealing name for a cocktail--at least one that is pretty classic and tastes tremendous. (There's plenty of Kamikaze and nipple shots that sound pretty bad, but that's more the fault of the drinker for ordering them.) The other bonus is that the Rusty Nail is easy to make and hard to ruin.

I believe that Drambuie comes to the rescue of inferior scotches. There are some pretty bad blends out there, or just bland ones, but a little Drambuie makes them fade away while aged scotch, heather honey and spices take over. It's the proprietary spirit of Scotland, like Irish Mist and Chartreuse are for the Irish and French.

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. Drambuie

Build drink in an Old Fashioned glass with plenty of ice and stir. 

Scotch Julep

Something about the mint in this drink completely changes the Drambuie and scotch so that it tastes just like a bourbon Julep. It seemed appropriate to use Barrelhound, which is a scotch that self identifies as bourbon.

• 6-8 mint leaves
• 1 oz. Drambuie
• 2 oz. scotch
• mint sprig

Muddle mint leaves in an Old Fashioned glass. Add crushed ice (I used my muddler to crush the ice in a shaker tin), scotch and Drambuie. Stir and add more scotch if necessary. Garnish with the mint sprig.

Prince Edward

The Drambuie company says that their recipe comes from the family of Prince Edward, known as the Bonnie Prince. That is why his name shows up on so many Drambuie recipes. I think I like this one better than the Bonnie Prince (made with gin) because the flavor of orange and scotch are so much more consistent.

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. Lillet blanc (Dubonnet blanc used)
• 1/4 oz. Drambuie
• preserved orange slice (sugar coated slice used)

Mix all ingredients except orange slice in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass (single large cube used). Garnish with orange slice. 

Bonnie Prince

This has been one of my favorites for about a decade. The Bonnie Prince is a gin drink with Lillet blanc and Drambuie. Actually I've seen several recipes that just list white wine as the grape spirit. So I used to make it with whatever I had on hand. I wanted to get Lillet blanc for an official post, but chose Dubonnet blanc instead.  Bonnie Prince is rich and full of citrus flavor, Lillet blanc adds bitter orange aromas. Dubonnet blanc tastes more like a dry herbal wine with a little of orange aroma, so it is a close bet. For now, I will use Dubonnet blanc for medium white aromatized wine in recipes that call for Lillet.

• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin
• 1/2 oz. Lillet blanc (Dubonnet blanc used)
• 1/4 oz. Drambuie
• orange twist

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist.

Prestwick

Prestwick is a region of Scotland on the Atlantic facing Ayreshire. The drink is surprisingly metropolitan and classy. It is rich for a before dinner drink though. Drambuie makes it full of heather honey and Scottish spices.

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• several dashes of Drambuie
• several dashes of Cointreau
• orange peel

Combine all ingredients except orange peel in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange peel.

Campbeltown Joy

This cocktail is a Scottish joy, Campbeltown or Glasgow notwithstanding. Drambuie makes it rich and festive for the holidays with heather honey and spices. My only criticism of the drink is that I would increase the proportions of everything so that I can have more of it.

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. drambuie
• 1 tsp. dry vermouth
• several  dashes orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Dundee Dram

I made the Dundee Dram for a few fans of the blog who came to visit me at the bar. I'm not sure how well this photo represents the drink. I want to make it again once I get my hands on some Drambuie. I used to drink this one a lot several years ago as it is one drink you can do with Drambuie that's not a Rusty Nail.

• 1 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. Drambuie
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• lemon peel
• maraschino cherry

Mix ingredients except lemon peel and cherry in an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Twist lemon peel over the drink and top with cherry.