Skip advertisement Advertisement

High Kick

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (21)
Measurements in:
Serves:
1
Ingredients
1 1/2 fl oz Blended Scotch whisky
3/4 fl oz Kummel liqueur
3/4 fl oz Strucchi Dry Vermouth

How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Prepare

  1. Select and pre-chill a NICK & NORA GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of skewered green olives.

Method

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. Garnish with skewered olives.

Flavour Profile

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

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of High Kick contains 190 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 26.77% alc./vol. (53.54° proof)
  • 24.1 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Skip advertisement Advertisement

History

Adapted from a recipe created by Arthur Tarling and first published in his brother's (William James "Billy" Tarling) 1937 Café Royal Bar Book.

HIGH KICK
Invented by A. A. Tarling
1/2 Whisky.
1/4 Kummel.
1/4 French Vermouth.
Good dash of Absinthe.
Mix.

William J. Tarling, Café Royal Bar Book, 1937

Review

Plenty of dilution is key to this caraway and Scotch dominated cocktail that is sure to appeal to Kummel fanciers.

Skip advertisement Advertisement
Skip advertisement Advertisement

Comments & Discussion

Caspian Berggren Premium Member
I'm not sure how to rate this. The scotch gets a bit lost I think. I can see why you'd want to serve this with an olive because it's surprisingly savoury. Almost like a scotch based dry Martini. Interesting but don't know if I'll make another.
score: 1
John CARR Premium Member
Wasn’t sure how this would come out but it really works. Super savoury and you must like dry flavours, although the Kummel adds plenty of sugar and body. I used J&B and was happy with the match.
score: 1
Simon Sedgley Premium Member
We added 10ml elderflower liqueur and sipped it from a rocks glass with a single large block of ice - for the dilution, as our host advises. We think that this adds floral to the herbal complexity and tames the fierce dryness of the original recipe.
score: 1
Jeremy Harrold
My first Kümmel cocktail…intriguing and fascinating. A mixture of flavours; earthy, wood, oil, mint, maybe citrus and liquorice to name a few. A touch sweet to me as well.
score: 2
Soeren
Realy liked it. I am quite fond of Kümmel though. Because of Chris statement that IT would BE top dry, i added about 5ml simple Sirup. Its very boozy but still very nicely balanced.
score: 1
Chris Dimal
Oh no! Maybe I'm too young for this, but it's one of the worst drinks I've had. Super savoury, and mostly not in a good way, unfortunately. It was like drinking iodine-y (probably due to the J&B), herbaceous alcohol. Any balancing sweetness from the Kummel is non-existent.
score: 1