ETHANOL

BLACK RUSSIAN

Hotel Metropole, Brussels, 1949.

ROCKS GLASS
ETHANOL 23 G163 KCAL FROM ETHANOL3.45 OZ SERVED

SPEC

2 oz · 60 mlVODKA40 %
1 oz · 30 mlCOFFEE LIQUEUR20 %

1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.

METHOD

  1. 01BUILD VODKA + COFFEE LIQUEUR OVER ICE IN A ROCKS GLASS
  2. 02STIR ONCE

1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.

STRENGTH // WORKED

Pre-batch3 oz mixed with ice, 1 oz of it pure alcohol
MeltStirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.45 oz of water
Served3 + 0.45 = 3.45 oz in the glass
Strength1 ÷ 3.45 = 29.0 % ABV as served
Ethanol1 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 23 g · about 163 kcal from the alcohol alone

IN THE GLASS

FURFURAL

FROM VODKA GRAIN TRACE · the toasted/caramel note

Formula
C₅H₄O₂
Mass
96.08 g/mol
IUPAC
furan-2-carbaldehyde

The toasted-almond / caramel note in aged port, madeira, and amontillado sherry, formed when sugars in the wine slowly oxidize during long oxidative cask aging. Also in roasted coffee, baked bread, and any food that's been browned through Maillard chemistry. The deeper the toast on a bourbon barrel, the more furfural extracts into the spirit; the longer the madeira sits in the estufa, the more accumulates.

PUBCHEM ↗

ALSO IN Vodka Soda · Vodka Cranberry · Screwdriver · Bloody Mary · Bloody Caesar · White Russian · Lemon Drop · Kamikaze

CAFFEINE

FROM COFFEE LIQUEUR · the alertness molecule

Formula
C₈H₁₀N₄O₂
Mass
194.19 g/mol
IUPAC
1,3,7-trimethylpurine-2,6-dione

A purine alkaloid that blocks adenosine receptors in the brain, so the tiredness signal never lands. Coffee, tea, cocoa, mate, guarana, kola: all unrelated plants, all evolved caffeine independently as an insecticide. Humans inherited a tolerance for what bugs can't handle.

PUBCHEM ↗

ALSO IN Espresso Martini · Captain & Coke · Whiskey & Coke · Irish Coffee · Bahama Mama · White Russian · Long Island Iced Tea · Irish Coffee Float

CHEMISTRY

Vodka and coffee liqueur: two ingredients. The caffeine load is faint (about 3 mg, from the coffee liqueur's bean extract), with chlorogenic acid as the bitter backbone. ABV is about 30%.

PROVENANCE

Created by Gustave Tops, head bartender at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, in 1949 in honor of US Ambassador to Luxembourg Perle Mesta. The 'Russian' refers to vodka; the 'Black' to the coffee liqueur. Mesta was the daughter of an Oklahoma oil baron and a noted Washington hostess; her European tour was widely covered. The White Russian variant (adding cream) appeared in print by 1965 but became famous through the Coen Brothers' 1998 film The Big Lebowski.

VODKA // NEARBY

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