My Bar, Your Bar

On a recent trip to visit my grandmother she asked if I was interested in any of the seemingly hundreds of bottles of liquor that my grandfather had stockpiled over the years. It appears that my grandpa preferred collecting alcohol over consuming it. I suppose that’s healthy, but after looking through the cabinets, closets, and cupboards with my wife and grandmother, I starting thinking that this may have evolved into an accidental obsession. We found every kind of liquor under the sun, from bourbons, whiskeys, and scotch to rum, gin, vodka, and cognacs. There were also many, many bottles of specialty liqueurs, most of which I had never seen before. I imagine the oldest bottles were many decades old. When my grandmother noticed my interest of a bottle of Drambuie, she offered it to me.

I was excited to finally give Drambuie a try. It’s not like its hard to find, I just hadn’t gotten to that part of my drinking ‘to do list’ yet. But since the liqueur seemed to randomly fall into my lap, I just assumed it was destiny. Speaking of which, the history of Drambuie is once seemingly rich with destiny. When Bonnie Prince Charlie was fleeing England in 1746, he made his way to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. There he was given sanctuary by a Scottish Captain named Mackinnon. Upon leaving the captains’ estate, the prince gave him the secret recipe for Drambuie. The liqueur consists of aged malt whiskey with honey, herbs, and spices. Like another special recipe (yes, I’m referring to Kentucky Fried Chicken ), it’s the blend of herbs and spices that is closely guarded. The recipe has stayed in the hands of the Mackinnon family who waited until 1910 to start commercially producing the liqueur and until 1980 to actually begin advertising it.

The liqueur is certainly sweet, due to the honey; much sweeter than bourbon. It has a unique feel. It’s mellow and smooth. You can easily pick out the ingredients. It tastes just like whiskey, honey, herbs, and spices should taste blended together. It was actually a little too sweet for me, but when I tried two recipes from the official Drambuie website I began to appreciate how well the liqueur works with other flavors.

Drambuie Press:

1 1/2 parts Drambuie with club soda and a splash of lemon-lime soda. Garnish with a lime wedge.

The Libertine:

This is simple, just muddle 3 or 4 lime wedges in the bottom of an old fashioned glass, fill with ice and pour the Drambuie.

Both drinks turned out nicely. The Press was light and very refreshing. Similar to a Crown and 7 but with more complexity and depth. The Libertine won me back to the liqueur by just adding lime. That extra flavor was enough to offset the the ultra sweetness of the honey and make for a nice warm highball.