Russian

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (8 ratings)

Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
1 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
23 oz Ketel One Vodka
12 oz Dutch Cacao white crème de cacao
2 drop Chocolate bitters
2 drop Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of coin-sized orange zest twist.
  3. SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

Gin and vodka with a sweet hint of chocolate.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

RUSSIAN COCKTAIL.
1/3 Crème de Cacao.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Vodka.
Shake well, strain into cocktail glass, and tossitoff quickski.

Harry Craddock, 1930

Nutrition:

One serving of Russian contains 152 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.3 standard drinks
  • 27.06% alc./vol. (27.06° proof)
  • 17.6 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
8th January 2022 at 01:29
Had this on 7 January for Russian Christmas. It is very nice. Did find it a bit on the sweet side so we added 3 drops of orange bitters. Many would not find it sweet. Loved the hint of chocolate and went great with the orange bitters. May try again substituting dry Curacao for the liqueur.
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
8th January 2022 at 22:37
Thanks John. Agreed, the recipe was too sweet and also had too much volume. Hence, I've reformulated with smaller measures for a Nick & Nora glass, reducing the percentage of white cacao liqueur and adding chocolate bitters and saline. A step away from Craddock but hopefully a better cocktail. I'll update the pic as soon as I'm able.