All For the Want of a (Rusty) Nail

About a decade ago, I bought a large bottle of Drambuie at the airport duty-free shop while coming back from a work conference. It was too good a deal to pass up, I liked liqueurs, and I had fond childhood memories of Dad wrapping up many a nice meal out with a cup of coffee and a shot of Drambuie on the side. 

And Drambuie, a whisky-based liqueur made with herbs and heather honey, is a darned fine sip on its own, but I began to wonder what else it could be used in and upon researching, discovered it was a key ingredient to one of Frank Sinatra's favourite cocktails, the Rusty Nail.

Like a lot of classic cocktails, it is pretty simple: two parts blended scotch to one part Drambuie, stirred and served over the rocks or crushed ice with a lemon peel garnish. It is a potent drink, since even the liqueur portion is 40% ABV, but as a post-dinner sipper or nightcap it is a genuine treat, with just enough head-loosening properties to engage an appropriate amount of relaxation, reflection or conviviality, as a situation might require.

When I mentioned my (at the time) recent pivot to this beverage to Mum back in 2014, I was elated to discover that it had also been a favourite of my father's, a revelation that delighted me to no end.

I don't always have Drambuie in the house, and sometimes when I do, I don't want to mix it with the whiskeys on hand that are meant for sipping on their own. But I picked up a handle of Dewar's the last time I was at Costco and used an accumulation of Scene points to facilitate the purchase of a bottle of Drambuie shortly thereafter, once I realized hopw long it had been since I had sipped or served a Rusy Nail.

We had company last weekend and I put one together for one of our guests, and they quite liked it, which I have found to be a pretty common reaction from just about anyone who will take their spirits neat on occasion.

Despite the fact they are served cold and over ice, the Rusty Nail is by no means a drink for a warm, sunny day - quenching one's thirst with a Rusty Nail is ill-advised to say the least! But on a cool winter's night, with the majority of the weekend behind you and a full work week only hours ahead, taking one's sweet time unwinding with sips of a vintage cocktail is an experience to be savoured... and shared, if one is lucky enough.

Summer Beverages: The Lunar Caesar

For my birthday, my mum got me a jar of moonshine.

 

The packaging was enough to endear it to me immediately, but I also found 'Ole Smokey' surprisingly smooth for something 100 proof. I just don't come across too many situations where I am inclined to sip strong spirits straight up though, so I started contemplating a potential cocktail application.

 

On a recent shopping trip, I saw a jar of pickled asparagus spears, and having seen them used as drink muddlers before, I got to thinking, what about a moonshine Caesar? I gathered up some additional ingredients and upon returning home, I descended to the lab.

 

Like a lot of people, the allure of the Bloody Caesar eluded me for quite awhile. Not being a fan of tomato juice in the first place, adding vodka to it in order to construct a Bloody Mary was never appealing to me. The idea of adding clam juice to such a cold beverage was not only counter intuitive to me, but actually a little disgusting.

 

But then I discovered a couple of interesting things: first, that the Calgary mixologists who created it did not extrapolate the Caesar from the Bloody Mary, they were inspired to make a cocktail version of Manhattan-style clam chowder. Secondly, someone explained to me how the ingredients themselves are really just a foundation; a delivery system for all manner of spices and garnishes, and how the combination of savoury, salty and spice combine to make a beverage that scratches an awful lot of different itches, especially on a hot summer day.

 

I've only ever constructed Caesars at someone else's place, under experienced direction and supervision, so I was a little nervous about starting from scratch. I was delighted to discover that combining the moonshine above with

 

And a glass rimmed with this:

 

Along with a spoonful of this:

 

And garnished with this:

 

...made an absolutely delightful cocktail, suitable for enjoyment with company on the longest day of the year. I'm not married to Lunar Caesar as a name, but with moonshine as the active ingredient, it fit better than Blue (Moon) Caesar, or perhaps the white lightnin' could make Zeusar a possibility... At any rate, please leave a comment below if you have a better suggestion. Slainte!

 

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