Name: Black Russian
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Vodka; 22.5 ml Coffee liqueur

Black Russian
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Photographed in an Urban Bar Ice Savouring Tumbler

Ingredients:
2 oz	Ketel One Vodka
³⁄₄ oz	Galliano Espresso Coffee liqueur

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of skewered lemon slice wheel and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry sail. (Skewer through either side of lemon with cherry skewered in the centre.)
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
Garnish with skewered lemon slice wheel and maraschino cherry (sail).

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This popular cocktail is simple but tasty. Try with just a splash of cola (rather than also with the cream that makes a Colorado Bulldog).

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Variant:

1. Served straight-up in a coupe glass.
2. A float of cream turns this into a White Russian.
3. Topped with cream and cola this becomes a Colorado Bulldog.

History:

Created in 1949 by Gustave Tops, a bartender at Metropolitan Hotel in Brussels, for Perle Skirvin Mesta, the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg (1949-1953). She was a rich American socialite famous for her lavish parties, and as well as the cocktail, Perle was the inspiration for Irving Berlin's Broadway musical Call Me Madam and she appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in March 1949. She was the original "Hostess with the Mostess."

Nutrition:

One serving of Black Russian contains 204 calories

Alcohol content:

1.7 standard drinks
29.35% alc./vol. (29.35° proof)
24.2 grams of pure alcohol

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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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Simon Difford

10th November 2023 at 09:37

Many thanks, Joe. I'll be sure to add a Brave Bull (with tequila and coffee liqueur) and also a Brave Cow (with gin and coffee liqueur).

Joe Cornwall

10th November 2023 at 02:29

This classic was quite popular in the 1970's and 80's. I recall mixing quite a few of them. White Russians, too. Something that's missing here is mention of this drinks more interesting cousin, the Brave Bull. Substitute a quality blanco tequila for vodka and you'll have a better cocktail by far.

Maho Lomez

14th December 2022 at 02:13

I don't dislike it with Kahlúa, but I also prefer this with a less sweet, higher end coffee liqueur, for a more pronounced coffee flavour.

Lorenz Kock

14th February 2022 at 20:29

I once loved this but I switched from a pretty good coffee liqueur to Kahlua and it ruined evrything. I can´t stand Kahlua

Jo Smeets

8th May 2020 at 17:29

Gustave Tops was barman in the bar of the Metropolitan Hotel in Brussels... a very prestigeous and splendid hotel, owned privately and not by a international hotel-chain... sadly it had to close its doors last week due to the Corona-crisis... a very great loss... look at my Pinterest-page on the Hotel Métropole...

Simon Difford

9th May 2020 at 07:48

Many thanks for the extra info. I've added the Metropolitan Hotel to the history above.

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