Bobby Burns (Craddocks recipe)
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 25.4% ABV ∙
The Bobby Burns is a stirred, spirit-forward whisky cocktail of Scotch, sweet vermouth, and Bénédictine, served up in a coupe. Honeyed and spiced from the Bénédictine, with soft vermouth sweetness wrapped around the whisky's malt, finishing warm and slightly herbal — a fireside sipper.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: Blended Scotch whisky 45 mlRosso vermouth 45 mlBénédictine D.O.M. liqueur 10 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and discard
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry on a skewer
Tips
- Stir with plenty of large cubes for 25-30 seconds until the mixing glass feels ice-cold; this equal-parts whisky-vermouth build has no citrus to hide behind, so it needs both the chill and the dilution.
- Measure the Bénédictine carefully since its 10 ml pour is small relative to the 45 ml whisky and vermouth, and a heavy hand will overpower the balance.
- Express the lemon twist's oils over the drink's surface and discard the peel, then add the maraschino cherry last so it doesn't bruise while stirring.
- Chill the coupe glass in the freezer beforehand since this stirred, spirit-forward drink has no ice in the glass to keep it cold after straining.
History
The Bobby Burns is an early twentieth-century Scotch-based riff on the Manhattan and Rob Roy, distinguished by a dash of Bénédictine liqueur. Its earliest known printed formula, credited to W. J. Burke of Litchfield, Connecticut, appeared in The National Police Gazette in 1899, followed by a version called the "Baby Burns" in the 1900 Fancy Drinks guide published by Bishop & Babcock. The name "Robert Burns" surfaced in Jack's Manual (1908) and other guides using Irish whiskey, vermouth, and absinthe, before the more casual "Bobby Burns" name took hold. The drink is popularly linked to the Scottish poet Robert Burns and is traditionally served on Burns Night, though sources note it may instead honor a New York cigar salesman, or the Robert Burns cigar brand, said to have frequented the old Waldorf-Astoria bar; no version is confirmed. Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, published in London, fixed the widely referenced formula of equal parts Scotch whisky and Italian vermouth with three dashes of Bénédictine, calling it one of the best whisky cocktails and a fast mover on Saint Andrew's Day. This Craddock build is the version most modern bars cite as the classic Bobby Burns, distinguishing it from Albert Stevens Crockett's differently proportioned 1931 "Robert Burns," which used orange bitters and absinthe instead of Bénédictine, and from later 1948 adaptations that substituted Drambuie for the Bénédictine.
