Bobby Burns (Embury's recipe)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (91 ratings)
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    Bobby Burns (Embury's recipe)

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Bobby Burns (Embury's recipe) image

Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
1 1⁄3 oz Blended Scotch whisky
2⁄3 oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
1⁄6 oz Honey herbal liqueur (e.g. Drambuie)
2 dash Peychaud's or other Creole-style bitters
× 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 lemon zest twist.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

As Embury says, there would seem to be some sense in using a Scotch-based liqueur and although this version of the Bobby Burns is rarely seen, it is worthy of a trial.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Bobby Burns (Craddock's 1930 recipe)
Bobby Burns (Crockett's 1931 recipe)
Bobby Burns (Difford's recipe)

History:

Recipe adapted from David A. Embury's 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. His Rob Roy and Bobbie Burns recipe reference a footnote below, "An interesting variation of these drinks may be obtained by substituting Peychaud bitters for the Angostura. Peychaud, somehow seems to blend better than Angostura with the Scotch."

BOBBIE BURNS
Rob Roy with the addition of 1 dash of Drambuie for each drink. Benedictine is sometimes used in place of the Drambuie. However, the Drambuie is preferable because it is made with a Scotch whisky base.

David Embury, 1948

Bobby Burns cocktail history

More cocktails by David A. Embury

Nutrition:

One serving of Bobby Burns (Embury's recipe) contains 136 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 25.7% alc./vol. (25.7° proof)
  • 16.9 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 (Embury's recipe).
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Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
2nd January at 07:45
Nice drink. I used Johnnie Walker Black & Dolin Rouge. Everything is well-balanced. Great option if you're in the mood for smoke, but not too much.
1
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Miguel Perales’ Avatar Miguel Perales
16th November 2024 at 22:08
Upfront, I thought it was going to be too sweet; however, the Scotch and the bitters soon took over for a nice finish. Very enjoyable
2
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Daniel Jones’ Avatar Daniel Jones
13th May 2024 at 07:22
I didn't know there were at least three variations of this cocktail, and one with Drambuie. I haven't found enjoyable enough cocktails with Drambuie, although I've used half a bottle trying, but this one was very good for me. I used .75 Talisker 10, .75 Monkey Shoulder, 2/3 Carpano Sweet Vermouth, .25 Drambuie, & 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters with a lemon twist & a Luxardo cherry.
1
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Yorey C’s Avatar Yorey C
20th June 2024 at 01:07
i have had the same experience with drambuie and this was also an immediate favorite
1
reply
Erik Maloney’s Avatar Erik Maloney
27th February 2023 at 07:15
There's a minor typo in the "History" section, "Rob Rob" for "Rob Roy." But the drink itself is lovely--this spec, as given or lightly modified, allows the spirit to shine more clearly than many Bobby Burns builds. This might become my go-to for this cocktail when using single malts in general, but especially for subtle or delicate expressions.
4
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
27th February 2023 at 09:38
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a good comment, Erik. I've fixed the typo.
1
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Chris Brislawn’s Avatar Chris Brislawn
25th January 2023 at 05:33
Ok, Angostura is probably wrong here, but instead of Peychaud's I like the way Bitter Truth Creole Bitters play with the Drambuie. I upped the Drambuie a bit to proportions of 6:3:1. This also calls for a Luxardo on a cocktail sword.
1
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Dave Smith’s Avatar Dave Smith
25th March 2022 at 01:40
Very nice cocktail. I adjusted to 1.5 scotch (glenfiddich), .5 sweet vermouth. .25 drambuie, dash peychauds. A good one for experimentation
2
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Dave Smith’s Avatar Dave Smith
3rd November 2023 at 00:48
Enjoying this recipe in honor of Mr Emburys birthday as suggested by the app…
1
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Lynette Clayton’s Avatar Lynette Clayton
12th March 2022 at 00:21
The Drambuie is only nuanced. I could go for a bit more. At least now.
1
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David Brockley’s Avatar David Brockley
14th January 2022 at 11:42
Thanks Simon. You had myslef, my liver and my Dr very worried for a moment! Definitely a great feature though. Tracking units for cocktails is a pain.
2
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
16th January 2022 at 18:15
I'm pleased to report our alcohol counter is now reporting a more moderate level of alcohol as we've now properly accounted for dashes and drips of bitters.
2
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David Brockley’s Avatar David Brockley
13th January 2022 at 17:17
Please tell me these new (are they new) alcohol unit breakdowns are wrong... Otherwise I've massively been underestimating my intake! 50ml of 40%abv spirit is 2 units. So this seems unlikely to be 4.4 units!
1
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
13th January 2022 at 18:37
We've just put live and looks like we have a bug with accounting for drops and dashes. We're taking it down while we fix. Many thanks for your feedback.
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Katie Winder’s Avatar Katie Winder
20th December 2021 at 05:27
Smooth and easy to drink. It's sweeter than I wanted it to be, and I'm not sure I like the herbal flavor with the sweetness (I'm new to Drambuie, so maybe I just don't like it yet).
1
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