Rusty Nail Cocktail

The Rusty Nail cocktail combines Scotch whisky with Drambuie, a honey-sweetened herbal liqueur made with a base of blended scotch.

Though the cocktail’s origins are vague, drinks historian David Wondrich has traced the first mention of a drink that combined scotch and Drambuie to the British Industries Fair in Birmingham, England in 1937. It remained fairly obscure through the 1940s and '50s, going through various names and iterations. It would take a few more decades to firmly land on cocktail menus with an equal parts build and a provocative name that stuck. 

In the 1960s, the drink was a favorite of Frank Sinatra’s and was popularized after he and other Rat Pack members were seen drinking it at New York City’s 21 Club. In 1963, Drambuie trademarked the Rusty Nail moniker.

Fashionable well into the 1970s, the Rusty Nail fell out of favor in the decades that followed. The drink saw a slight resurgence in the mid-2000s when Drambuie was acquired by William Grant & Sons, and rebranded with a new bottle design and marketing push.

Why the Rusty Nail Works

Drambuie uses a blend of Scotch whiskies as the base for its heather honey-sweetened liqueur flavored with a proprietary mix of herbs and spices. It has a big flavor profile and a little goes a long way. 

The classic build for a Rusty Nail is equal parts Scotch whisky and Drambuie. However, this renders the drink too sweet for many. The recipe featured here pulls back considerably on the liqueur so the whisky can shine and the herbaceous flavors of the Drambuie can come through. The resulting drink has a robust scotch flavor profile, translating into some of an herbaceous, honey-sweetened scotch Old Fashioned.

Ratios can be played with depending on the drinker’s preference, and for further complexity, aromatic bitters and/or a lemon twist can be added.