White Russian (cocktail)

White Russian

IBA official cocktail
An unstirred White Russian cocktail with fresh milk
Type	Cocktail
Base spirit	Vodka Coffee liqueur
Served	On the rocks: poured over ice
Standard drinkware	Old fashioned glass
IBA specified ingredients†	50 ml Vodka 20 ml Coffee liqueur 30 ml fresh cream
Preparation	Pour coffee liqueur and vodka into an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice. Float fresh cream on top and stir slowly.
† White Russian recipe at International Bartenders Association

A White Russian is a sweet cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueurs (e.g., Kahlúa or Tia Maria), and cream served with ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Other ingredients are often substituted for cream, the most common of which are milk, half and half, Baileys Irish Cream, and vanilla soymilk.

Name origin

The traditional cocktail known as a Black Russian, which first appeared in 1949, becomes a White Russian with the addition of cream. It was invented by Jamie Bowers in 1926. Neither drink is Russian in origin, but both are so named due to vodka being the primary ingredient. It is unclear which drink begat the other.

The Oxford English Dictionary refers to the first mention of the word "White Russian" in the sense of a cocktail as appearing in California's Oakland Tribune on 21 November 1965. It was placed in the newspaper as an insert: "White Russian. 1 oz. each Southern, vodka, cream."

Preparation

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. 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.

Variations

Many variants of the cocktail exist, both highly localized and widely known, such as a White Canadian made with goat's milk; a Blind Russian made with Baileys Irish Cream instead of cream–the "Blind" comes from the drink being made with all alcoholic ingredients; a White Mexican made with horchata; an Anna Kournikova–a skinny, low fat, white russian–made with skimmed milk; a White Cuban, made with rum instead of vodka; and a White Indian, made with gin instead of vodka.

In popular culture

The White Russian is the favorite drink of Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, the main character of the 1998 film The Big Lebowski. Lebowski is frequently shown drinking a White Russian, which Lebowski refers to as a "Caucasian." Its presence in the film is said to have led to a revival for the White Russian, bringing it to "icon status", according to a 2008 article in The New York Times.

The White Russian is also the drink of choice of Maurice Moss, an IT guy on the British sitcom The IT Crowd.

Lawrence Maddox's signature drink is a White Russian in the film "How to lose friends and alienate people". It is the means to his being discovered by the protagonist as having an affair.

See also

• Black Russian
• List of cocktails

Further reading

• Steven Kurutz (December 2, 2008). "White Russians Arise, This Time at a Bowling Alley". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2011.