| IBA Official Cocktail | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| An unstirred White Russian cocktail made with fresh milk | |
| Type | Cocktail |
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | On the rocks; poured over ice |
| Standard drinkware |
 |
| IBA specified ingredients† |
|
| Preparation | Pour coffee liqueur and vodka directly into old fashioned glass filled with ice. Float fresh cream on the top and stir in slowly. |
| †White Russian recipe at International Bartenders Association | |
A White Russian is a sweet cocktail made from vodka, coffee liqueur (e.g., Kahlúa or Tia Maria), and cream served in an old-fashioned glass with ice. Milk or Half & Half or Baileys Irish Cream are often used as substitutes for cream. In recent years, since the release of the cult film The Big Lebowski, White Russians have seen a resurgence amongst the current youth culture.[1]
Contents |
Origin of the name
The drink is not traditionally Russian, but is so named due to vodka being the primary ingredient. The "White Russians" were an anti-Bolshevik group from the Russian Civil War.
The Oxford English Dictionary online refers to the first mention of the word "White Russian" in the sense of a cocktail as appearing in the Oakland (California) Tribune on 21 November 1965. It was placed in the newspaper as an insert: "White Russian. 1 oz. each Coffee Southern, vodka, cream." However, origins are speculative. It is also perceived to have been introduced as a dessert cocktail after World War I. This may actually be a misunderstanding of people incorrectly relating the drink to the anti-Bolshevik group.
The drink is sometimes called a Caucasian.
Preparation notes
As with all cocktails, various modes of preparation exist, varying according to the recipes and styles of particular bars or mixologists. Most common varieties have adjusted amounts of vodka or coffee liqueur, or mixed brands of coffee liqueur. Shaking the cream in order to thicken it prior to pouring it over the drink is also common. It is important to note that Kahlúa is the brand of coffee liqueur most commonly associated with White Russians, mostly because it has become something of a genericized trademark for coffee liqueur. In Ireland a popular variety of the drink consists of one part vodka, one part Kahlúa and four parts full cream milk shaken with ice and served in a tumbler glass on the rocks. Many variants of the cocktail exist, both highly localized and widely known, such as a White Canadian (made with goat's milk instead of cow's milk), a White Mexican (made with horchata instead of cream), and a White Cuban (made with rum instead of vodka).[2]
White Russians in Popular Culture
In the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges' character drinks White Russians throughout the movie. During the movie the character refers to the drink as both a White Russian and a Caucasian.
In The IT Crowd, Maurice Moss usually responds with "White Russian" when asked what he'd like to drink, which is a reference to Linux-based firmware for cheap routers - OpenWRT - whose one specific version was codenamed White Russian.
References
External links
- White Russians Arise, This Time at a Bowling Alley New York Times article about the revival of the White Russian
- The White Russian Revolution An article about White Russians and lactose intolerance
See also
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
