03
The Perfect Serve
Rusty Nail
OVERVIEW
Perfect serve continued
with a ‘low’ and ‘spirituous’
drink, the Rusty Nail. This is
an often overlooked drink
of great complexity, much
like the more acclaimed old
fashioned and it’s many var-
iants.
KEY POINTS
We use a rocks glass for a few reasons here, first
of all the shorter glass will allow the drinker
to better control the rate of imbibe whilst the
wider rim naturally causes smaller sips which is
important for stronger drinks.
2nd, the drink is smaller in volume as are rocks
glasses usually*
3rd, the drink has no bubbles to prevent from
escape
The larger the ice cube the slower it will melt. We
used a large ice cube in this serve to allow it to
maintain temperature and balance for a longer
period of time. It is worth considering, that
due to melting ice adding water to the drink it
will have a continually shifting balance and the
bartender needs to serve all iced drinks with a
consideration both to the balance when serving
and the balance, adjusted for dilution throughout
the guest experience. This is complicated further
RECIPE
GLASS: Rocks METHOD: Build
ICE: One large cube GARNISH: Lemon zest
INGREDIENTS: CL ML
Blended Scotch Whisky 4 40
Drambuie 2 20
OPTIONAL: Godfather: Replace Drambuie with Amaretto
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as palates generally acclimatise to alcohol as we
drink while the opposite is true of sweetness.
In this drink the liqueur, drambuie, provides
both the sweetness and the complex herbal
notes.
Drambuie has a Scotch whisky base making it
an obvious pairing for scotch whisky which is
notoriously hard to mix with.
This drink is often served without garnish but a
disc of lemon zest with the oils expressed over
the top play well with the sweet honey from the
Drambuie.
Lemon zest has a surprising amount of flavour
contained within it’s oil (as does lime, grapefruit
and orange zest). This is expressed by squeezing
the yellow side outwards over the drink and
intensified by wiping round the rim of the glass
and even on the outside or stem where the
drinker will get it on their lips and hands.
OZ
1 1/2
3/4
*Some double old-fashioned glasses
can be larger in volume than some
smaller highballs.
03
The Perfect Serve
Rusty Nail
HISTORY

The rusty nail has gone

through many name chang-
es throughout the years but
the recipe has been around
since at least 1937. Back
HACKS
Could be served ‘equal parts’ for a sweeter and
lower ABV drink, in which case the drink might
benefit from regular cubed ice rather than a large
cube.

To decide how to personalise a drink like this or

a similar ‘old fashioned’ style drink for a guest
INGREDIENTS
Scotch whisky
This is a whisky that is made in Scotland from
grain, most commonly Barley. It is the world’s
largest whisky category and is dominated by
two main sub-categories; Blended whisky
and Malt whisky. Blended whisky is named as
such because it blends grain whisky from large
then it was called a ‘D.I.F’,
trying it for the first time, maybe ask what the column stills which strip much of the flavour
later it was known as a ‘MIg-
guest usually drinks – if they reply, “Whisky, neat” from the base ingredient (grain) with malt
21’ a ‘D&S’ and my personal
or something similarly strong my ratio could be whisky which is produced using smaller more
favourite the ‘knucklehead’.
3:1 in favour of the spirit. If they respond with any traditional pot stills which produce heavier
fruity, juicy, sweet or refreshing drinks I would be more flavourful spirit. All Scotch whisky must
It was popularised and ce-
drawn to go as far as a 1:1 ratio, a ‘gateway rusty be aged (kept in an oak barrel) for a minimum
mented as a modern classic
nail’ if you will. of three years but most spend much longer than
in the 60’s where it firmly
this. The aging process gives whisky much of its
became known as a rusty
It is rarely the case but there is no reason this flavour and all of its colour.
nail after featuring in the
drink can’t be stirred with ice and strained into
New York Times as such.
an empty, chilled rocks or coupe glass. This Drambuie
The drink was popular at
completely erases the variable of further dilution This is a liqueur. Liqueurs in general contain a
Manhattan’s famous ’21
and shifting balance. base spirit, sweetener and flavouring. In the case
club’ during the early 1960’s
of Drambuie the base spirit is Scotch whisky,
and around the same time it
Switch the Drambuie for Amaretto for a the sweetener is honey and the flavour is a mix
was the choice drink of the
‘Godfather’, this will be a less complex, easier of secret herbs and spices. Many proprietary
famous crooner trio ‘the rat
drink for the uninitiated and taste quite heavily of liqueurs closely guard their recipes.
pack’.
almond or apricot stones All the same principles
and variables can be applied

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