Bobby Burns (Craddock's recipe)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (112 ratings)
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    Bobby Burns (Craddock's recipe)

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Bobby Burns (Craddock's recipe) image

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 oz Blended Scotch whisky
1 1⁄2 oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
1⁄4 oz Bénédictine D.O.M. liqueur
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. Express lemon zest twist over the cocktail and discard.
  6. Garnish with skewered maraschino cherry.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 4/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Rich and slightly sweet, laced with spice liqueur - an excellent dram to enjoy alongside the ritualistic serving of haggis.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Bobby Burns (Crockett's 1931 recipe)
Bobby Burns (Embury's 1948 recipe)
Bobby Burns (Difford's recipe)

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book which calls for equal parts rosso vermouth and scotch whisky with three dashes of Bénédictine. Craddock adds that this is "One of the very best Whisky Cocktails and "A very fast mover on Saint Andrew's Day."

BOBBY BURNS COCKTAIL.*
½ Italian Vermouth.
½ Scotch Whisky.
3 Dashes Bénédictine.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.
*One of the very best Whisky Cocktails. A very fast mover on Saint Andrews Day.

Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

Bobby Burns cocktail history

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Nutrition:

One serving of Bobby Burns (Craddock's recipe) contains 194 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.6 standard drinks
  • 22.77% alc./vol. (22.77° proof)
  • 22.2 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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Showing 10 of 11 comments for Bobby Burns (Craddock's recipe).
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Werd Bmocsil’s Avatar Werd Bmocsil
11th June at 21:05
For me, definitely better with Johnnie Walker Red than with Monkey Shoulder. Nice & Simple.
0
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John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
25th January at 14:44
Easy to make and easy to drink. Simple, rich and delicious. I went with Glenfiddich and carpano but the variations are, of course, endless. A timeless classic.
2
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Rik de Boer’s Avatar Rik de Boer
9th July at 10:02
Indeed easy to make and easy to drink. You can taste the three components -- when you know them. But more importantly, the end result has complexity and you discover more as you sip it.
2
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Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
18th March 2024 at 03:39
Not really sure which "blended scotch" to use in cocktails yet, so just used Johnnie Walker Black. The herbal notes with the scotch are interesting. I could see how this would pair well with something like haggis!
2
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Ben S’ Avatar Ben S
10th March 2024 at 00:01
A barspoon of heavily peated whisky helps add a little more depth to this classic.
0
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Olga María Gómez Henderson’s Avatar Olga María Gómez Henderson
21st January 2024 at 13:36
Is this the correct photo? In the recipe, it says that the garnish is a lemon zest twist, but in the photo is a maraschino cherry.
1
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
22nd January 2024 at 09:44
Thanks for pointing this out. I've corrected to say that the zest should be expressed and discarded before garnishing with the skewered cherry.
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Avatar

Anonymous

27th January 2022 at 01:53
Very nice cocktail even with out the short bread. The Benedictine adds another flavourful layer to the cocktail.
2
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Fernando Yu’s Avatar Fernando Yu
26th January 2022 at 16:36
Wow.. Fantastic Scotch cocktail.. The Benedictine enhances the cocktail rather than dominates, unlike Drambuie.
3
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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
26th January 2022 at 01:12
This was the last of the 4 for us to try. We had it on Burn's Night as our aperitif before the Haggis. We had also made a load of fresh shortbread, so we had the garnish. All 4 are outstanding.
1
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Nathan Kando’s Avatar Nathan Kando
23rd December 2021 at 20:07
What do you do with the lemon?
1
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
24th December 2021 at 18:21
Express the oils from a lemon zest twist over the surface of the drink and then discard twist.
1
reply
Nathalie O'Flynn’s Avatar Nathalie O'Flynn
27th March 2021 at 13:13
Just had this one for the lunch aperitif for the International Whiskey day. Tonight it'sMint Julep... oh my I must put mint on my shopping list...
1
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