I love Scotch as much as Ron Burgundy, which is why I don’t just drink it on National Scotch Day (which was July 27, by the way). You don’t need a special occasion to break into that bottle of single malt you’ve been saving, and you don’t necessarily have to drink that whisky neat. Scotch makes a wonderful cocktail base, especially that bottle of blended Scotch that’s been lurking behind the bourbon.
“Blended scotch is the most common type of Scotch to use in cocktails,” says Glenfiddich Brand Ambassador David Allardice. “The base is a grain spirit that’s slightly more mellow and typically lighter and less complex. Blends are typically a bit easier to mix.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t mix single malts. It’s a common misconception that you can’t mix single malts, especially those with an older age statement,” he says. “But why not? If you’re going to put an aged whisky on the rocks, why wouldn’t you put it in a cocktail?”
Rob Roy
The Rob Roy is, at its simplest, a Scotch Manhattan. It was pulled together to celebrate the debut of Reginald de Koven’s 1894 operetta Rob Roy, and brings a bit of smoke to its rye-based cousin.
Ingredients
1 dashes Angostura bitters
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 oz. Scotch
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir vigorously for 15-20 seconds or until slightly chilled.
Rusty Nail
A combination of Scotch and Drambuie, a Scotch-based liqueur, first appears in cocktail literature in 1937 as the B.I.F. It took a while for it to assume its current name and form; By most accounts, it wasn’t publically called the Rusty Nail until 1963.
“The Rusty Nail is one of those [cocktails] that we’ve started making again,” says Allardice. “It’s so simple, and it works well with pretty much every Scotch I’ve tried.”
Ingredients
1 oz. Drambuie
2 oz. Blended Scotch
Directions: Combine Drambuie and Scotch over ice in a rocks glass. Stir to mix.