After doing the Robert Burns Cocktail, I thought I'd try the Drambuie with another whiskey and something with chocolate and coffee. The combination sounded appealing to me so I grabbed some Templeton Rye, Caffe Borghetti, and some Creme de Cacao and set about working out the balance. At the very end I added some orange bitters to counterbalance the richness and spices of spirits used and hit the sweet spot. Gaz Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6 are the best for this because they bring the most brightness from the orange to the party.
What I ended up with reminded me of a drinkable chocolate orange spice truffle spiked with whiskey, lots and lots of whiskey.
The
1-1/2 Oz. Rye Whiskey
1/2 Oz. White Cream de Cacao
1/2 Oz. Drambuie
1/2 Oz. Coffee Liqueur
2 Hearty Dashes Orange Bitters
2 large Ice Cubes
GARNISH: Orange Twist, Bordeaux Cherry
GLASS: Old Fashioned (Rocks)
DIRECTIONS:
Chill your glass in the freezer while you get your ingredients together. Add two large ice cubes to the glass then pour in the whiskey, the creme de cacao, Drambuie and the coffee liqueur and stir until chilled. Tap in the bitters, garnish and serve.
My little personal bit of Drambuie history:
When I first started drinking Drambuie the bottle looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
I like the old bottle much better, it looks like a good liqueur. The new bottle makes it look like cheap whiskey. I kept the last old one I had and I pour my refills into it. It's a little quirk that is an ode to my sister, who introduced me to Drambuie (as she did many other spirits) way back when. Dear Drambuie, go back to the old bottle, it's just classier.
