An 'Irish' Rusty Nail

(Drambuie, one of the few Scotch-based Liqueurs.)

With St. Patrick's Day now behind us, I thought it would be a perfect time to talk about an Irish Whiskey cocktail. As far as I can tell, I have no Irish blood in me (though plenty of Scottish), so with the shamrock holiday behind us, I felt the need to instill something Irish in my bloodstream. Like our entire wannabe Irish culture, for one day of the year I felt Irish, but the holiday left me desiring something typically Irish, yet preferably drank in a similar fashion to the Manhattan or Rusty Nail.

See Also: The Manhattan Returns to the Bottle Opener

I've done some reading this morning, and discovered that single malt Irish Whiskies have been used to make Rusty Nails, and that the Irish Whiskey spin on the Manhattan can be called the Emerald, or Blarney Stone (depending on whether it has Orange, or Angostura bitters, respectively). This left me desiring to find a happy balance in between. An Irish Whiskey cocktail that uses Drambuie - similar to the Rusty Nail - but lacking a single malt. The obviously immediate problem is that standard Irish Whiskey is not at all like Scotch, and mixing it with Drambuie may not be the first choice of action for how to make such a cocktail as what I'm looking for. Nevertheless, it has to be done. As you may have noticed, I'm somewhat of a laymen scientist, and experimentation is of the utmost necessity in matters such as these.

(An 'Irish' Rusty Nail.)

The hypothesis - Drambuie can mix well with Irish Whiskey if you use something to transition the flavor. The experiment will consist of bravely mixing an ounce and a half of Bushmills with half an ounce of Drambuie, and two dashes of Angostura bitters. The potion will not be poured until the inside of a snifter has been washed with a few drops of Talisker single malt Scotch, at which point it will be strained from the ice into the glass, and garnished with a slice of lemon peel. All that's left are to begin the test, and generate a conclusion.

See Also: Bitter me this, bitter me that

My biggest concern off the bay was that I'd have to decrease the amount of Drambuie as it may be too sweet. It was indeed sweet, but the amount seemed to work [at least with Bushmills]. The sweetness was balance with the fairly sized citrus peel and bitters du jour. there was a hint of smoke, but for the most part it was smooth, lightly lemony, and aromatic. I was happy with the end product, and will find myself drinking more Irish Rusty Nails.