Smoked Rob Roy
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 29.1% ABV ∙
The Smoked Rob Roy stirs peated single malt whisky with sweet vermouth and aromatic bitters — a smoky twist on the Scotch Manhattan. Peat smoke rolls through first, met by the vermouth's dried-fruit sweetness, with a bitters-laced finish that lingers long and warm.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: Peated single malt whisky 60 mlRosso vermouth 30 mlAbbott's bitters 2 dashes
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry
Tips
- Fine strain to keep any ice shards out, since the whisky-forward pour is meant to look clear and glossy in the glass.
- Stir for about 30 seconds over ice to properly chill and dilute this spirit-heavy build before straining.
History
Smoked Rob Roy has no documented creation story of its own; it is a modern riff that swaps in peated single malt Scotch for the standard blend, giving the classic Rob Roy a smoky edge. The Rob Roy itself is generally traced to 1894 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, where a bartender is said to have created it to mark the Broadway premiere of an operetta about the Scottish outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor, essentially building a Scotch-based cousin of the Manhattan. Some accounts credit bartender Charles McPherson by name, while others note an 1873 New York Sun interview in which bartender Edward F. Barry described an earlier drink of the same name, leaving the exact origin disputed among several claimants.
FAQ
How do you make a Smoked Rob Roy?
Stir peated single malt whisky with sweet (rosso) vermouth and a couple of dashes of aromatic bitters over ice, then fine strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a maraschino cherry. A classic Rob Roy uses Scotch whisky, but this build calls specifically for a peated single malt to bring smoke to the traditional whiskey-and-vermouth pairing.
How do you make a smoky cocktail?
Use a peated single malt whisky as the base spirit, since the smoke comes from the whisky itself rather than from any glass-smoking technique. This build stirs the peated malt with sweet vermouth and a couple of dashes of bitters, a ratio that lets the smoke come through without masking it.
