Drink Doctrine

Manning the bar last Saturday night I enjoyed one of those great quirky customer exchanges you sometimes have as a bartender, the kind that tease a smile on your face for the rest of the shift and keep you reminded this profession is so often about the small experiences that stick with you…

So in came this ordinary enough looking middle-aged couple, who quickly assumed prime real estate at the bar and took ownership of two bar stools. I offered menus but this was futile, these two had already made their minds up way before they were even in earshot of my bar. It was late, digestif hour perhaps, no campari and sodas for these two! The gent took lead on the ordering, first up a tawny port and then a request for a Rusty Nail, yep, remember those?! It’s not often those rusty words are whispered over the mahogany these days, and not only uttered but this adventurer was twisting this very classic. His order called for a Rusty Nail but with Talisker 10yr, and a 2:1 ratio with Drambuie. He was specific to how it was made, I first opted to build/stir over ice as is the norm but was promptly interrupted, the order came through for a quick stir, strain, straight up into a large balloon – knotted orange twist. Different?.. sure, but I approved. Then he got me, I gestured the port for the lady and the ‘Nail for him, but he switched it and all along it had been for her, she had never said a word the whole time I was fixing their drinks but then suddenly it’s apparent that I’ve been sending my admiration in the wrong direction. I’d felt like the victim of the candid-camera moment, the butt of the joke, but I was happy to be surprised as it’s not often a fine fair lady sips a Rusty Nail at any bar I guess…

This little episode got me thinking about the Rusty Nail and how a 1950’s rat pack drink has survived all these years with such endurance. It is thought to have been invented during this time at New York’s 21 Club, a former speakeasy and now celebrity favourite haunt. This place has a great history and I urge readers to nerd up on it, my ramblings about it I will save for future posts.

Wherever you order a Rusty Nail almost all bars will reach for the Drambuie, this is the crucial link in the drink. The heather honey flavour provides not only the sweetness but the herbal notes that make this oh-so-simple cocktail, well, not that simple really. Heather incidently was once a flavouring ingredient in the brewing process of beer and mead during the middle ages, all before the use of hops took over of course. This unlikely shrub is synonymous with Scotland and is often referred to as ‘the carpet of the highlands’, as it coats and meanders over the hillsides unabated.

The big variable in the Rusty Nail cocktail is the type of scotch you opt for, and this can spur a myriad of choices. Most still stick with a blend I notice, probably largely due to cost and maintaining the bar’s margins, but ultimately a blend works perfectly fine in this mix and offers its own pluses. For the extravagant and those without margins to obey, a smokey, peppery malt like Talisker certainly lends a little more warmth to the drink and adds a whole other dimension due to its volcanic nature.

Out of the office:

Next week I’m off on some travels, part of which will include wading through peat bogs and flattening heather fields in the highlands of Scotland. I look forward to sharing my bias to all things whisky in the next few posts… ’till then.

Slainte.