Black Russian

Black Russian Cocktail
Patrick Spears / Supercall
Patrick Spears / Supercall

Though its cream-spiked counterpart usually hogs the spotlight, the Black Russian was the original vodka-and-Kahlua concoction, created in the late 1940s at the start of the Cold War. Gustave Tops, a bartender at the Hotel Metropole bar in Brussels created the vodka-based cocktail for his patron Perle Mesta, the American ambassador to Luxembourg. While meant to allude to the dark times following World War II, the drink ultimately inspired a slew of easygoing classics, from the White Russian to the Mudslide, which leads us to suspect that those drinks might be double agents. They’re happy—too happy.

Black Russian

FLAVOR PROFILE
Dry
STRENGTH
DIFFICULTY
easy

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 oz Vodka
  • 1 oz Kahlua

INSTRUCTIONS

Step one

Add all ingredients to a rocks glass filled with ice.

Step two

Stir gently.

Contributed by Supercall