Black Russian

6 cl Vodka, preferably Russian
3 cl Coffee liqueur, preferably dark

Mixing Technique: Cocktail shaker or build
Glass: Cocktail, or Old-Fashioned
Decoration: None
Method: Shake vodka and coffee liqueur with ice cubs and strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass, or optionally in an old fashioned glass filled with cracked ice.

Historical Perspective

In the late 1940’s the American ambassador to Luxembourg, Mrs. Perle Mesta, was a regular guest at Gustave’s bar at the Metropole Hotel, situated in the basement of the hotel. It was here that bartender Tops is reputed to have mixed his signature drink Black Russian for the first time, in Mrs. Mesta’s honor. Around 1949 the Cold War just about to start and in those days vodka only being associated with Russia, the name for the Black Russian – is a mixture of Russian vodka and dark coffee liqueur – was well chosen. The name contributed to its gain of worldwide popularity, in later years. At the time of its invention and the later during the early years, the Black Russian started off as a balanced mixture and was initially shaken by Gustave Tops, before serving them in chilled cocktail glasses. However, a blend of two-to-one (two parts vodka and one part dark coffee liqueur), sometimes even a formula of three-to-one, has become more common in recent years. Nowadays Black Russians are usually served on-the-rocks, in old-fashioned glasses.

Gustave Tops

Bartender

Luxembourg

Legend has it that the Black Russian appeared for the first time at the Hotel Metropole, in Brussels, where bartender Gustave Tops created it in 1949. The Hotel Metropole was built in 1895 and is the only nineteenth-century hotel in Brussels, still in operation today. Gustave Tops was a legendary bartender in his days. Born in Luxembourg, he would become one of the founders of the association for Luxembourg bartenders, eventually becoming its first President. While making a career for himself in later years in Belgium, Gustave Tops ended up at one point as the President of the Belgian Bartenders Union. In the late 1940’s the American ambassador to Luxembourg, Mrs. Perle Mesta, was a regular guest at Gustave’s bar at the Metropole Hotel, situated in the basement of the hotel. It was here that bartender Tops is reputed to have mixed his signature drink Black Russian for the first time, in Mrs. Mesta’s honor. Around 1949 the Cold War just about to start and in those days vodka only being associated with Russia, the name for the Black Russian – is a mixture of Russian vodka and dark coffee liqueur – was well chosen. The name contributed to its gain of worldwide popularity, in later years. At the time of its invention (1949) the Black Russian started off as a balanced mixture and was initially shaken by Gustave Tops, before serving them in chilled cocktail glasses. But a blend of two-to-one (two parts vodka and one part dark coffee liqueur), sometimes even a formula of three-to-one, has become more common in recent years. Nowadays Black Russians are usually served on-the-rocks, in old-fashioned glasses.