Drambuie is the first Scottish whiskey-based liqueur.

Could Karl Edward, also known as Handsome Prince Charlie, imagine that in 270 years, more than 3,000 kilometers away, in another country, his secret would be discussed with great interest by completely different people to whom he told it? ..

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1. This is the secret recipe for Drambuie, the first Scotch whiskey-based liqueur that we had a chance to try and learn about its legendary history. This story was told to us by Stepan Balabanov.

2. In a close company of Moscow bloggers, we learned that in 1745 Prince Charlie started a campaign and landed in Scotland, raising an uprising there, which went down in history as “the forty-five” (the Forty-Five). However, having been defeated, he was forced to flee and hide from his pursuers on the Isle of Skye, disguised as a servant.

3. But it was not this secret that became the subject of discussion, but the recipe for the prince's personal elixir, which he gave to the head of the MacKinnon clan, John MacKinnon, in gratitude for his help and courage.

4. According to legend, the Drambuie recipe was developed by Bonnie Prince Charlie's personal royal apothecary. For the preparation of the invigorating healing elixir, natural ingredients of the highest quality were used - after all, it was served to a noble representative of the royal family.

5. Scotch malt whiskey, heather honey, saffron, cloves, nutmeg and other herbs and spices are carefully blended in specific proportions to achieve an exceptionally refined and balanced taste.

6. For a century and a half, the recipe was kept secret on the Isle of Skye, remaining a family heirloom of the MacKinnon clan, and passed down from generation to generation, until in 1900 Malcolm MacKinnon decided to move from Skye to Edinburgh and take the secret recipe with him.

7. In 1914, MacKinnon founded The Drambuie Liqueur Company, and since then, for three generations, the MacKinnon family has been manufacturing and distributing Drambuie, keeping the original recipe a closely guarded secret.

8. But McKinnon is not the only one famous for Drambuie. This drink became iconic thanks to the Rusty Nail cocktail.

9. An attentive viewer who loves TV shows probably noticed that in the first episode of “Better Call Saul” (Better Call Saul), the main character mixes a couple of alcoholic drinks, the first of which is whiskey, and the second is just Drambuie. This is the very cocktail that will be discussed.

10. The progenitor of Rusty Nail appeared in 1937. Then it was called BIF, after F. Benniman, and it was a mixture of Drambuie and Scotch. And although the classic 2 to 1 combination had not yet been achieved - Benniman served his creation as three parts whiskey to one part liquor, with a dash of Angostura beater - it was still a start.

11. It took another generation for the drink to get its classic taste and shape, and in that time he tried on several masks. Here it was known as D&S (if brandy and Benedictine form B&B, then ...), there as Little Club No. 1 (the place where representatives of show business met). At the US Air Force Officers' Club in Thailand and Vietnam, pilots yelled "MIG-21" and in the US Midwest they asked the bartender for Knucklehead. But in the end, it was in the legendary Club 21 in Manhattan that Rusty Nail began to be served somewhere in the early 60s, and the head of Drambuie, Gina McKinnon, fixed its name in an interview with The New York Times in 1963.

12. The story goes that Rusty Nail's real fame came from the Rat Pack. They were stars, a team of American show business figures of the 1950s and 1960s: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis - they all often performed in clubs in Las Vegas and on television with impromptu comic and musical numbers and enjoyed Rusty Nail ' at every opportunity.

13. In 1960, Lewis Milestone filmed members of the "rat pack" in the heist film Ocean's Eleven. Young actresses Angie Dickinson and Shirley MacLaine, who took part in the filming, often spent time in the company of Sinatra and even had the nickname "mascots of the rat pack."

14. So slowly, over a glass of Rusty Nail, we soaked up all these stories and enjoyed the excellent taste of Drambuie - a liqueur that, after 270 years, never ceases to amaze connoisseurs of beauty with its taste, aroma and rich color.