🥃 Drambuie

Drambuie is a Scotch whisky liqueur made, according to the producer, from aged Scotch whisky, Scottish heather honey, herbs and spices. The brand is fully owned by William Grant & Sons, a fifth-generation Scottish family distiller, which acquired it in 2014.

According to the brand's own story, the recipe was created for Bonnie Prince Charlie, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and after his defeat at Culloden in 1746 the chief of Clan MacKinnon, John MacKinnon, was given the recipe as thanks. The brand tells this as a story, not as a documented event. The name comes from the Gaelic An Dram Buidheach, meaning “The Drink that Satisfies”.

The dated events given by the brand are these. John Ross, a hotelier at the Broadford Hotel on Skye, received the recipe from the estate of Alexander MacKinnon, and his son James later refined it with a Scotch whisky base. In 1893 James Ross registered a patent for the name Drambuie. In 1909 his widow Eleanor took the recipe to Edinburgh, where Malcolm MacKinnon began producing Drambuie, and in 1914 Malcolm MacKinnon and Georgina Davidson created the Drambuie Liquor Company Ltd. In 2014 William Grant & Sons acquired the brand.

The best-known cocktail with Drambuie is the Rusty Nail. The brand's recipe is 40 ml of Scotch whisky and 20 ml of Drambuie over ice, stirred and garnished with a lemon zest.

Why this matters to you. Drambuie is a liqueur, so it is sweeter than whisky, but it still contains alcohol: check the strength on the label. The honey in it does not make the drink “light”. The legend of the prince is best taken as part of the brand's history rather than as proven fact. The WHO reminds us that no level of alcohol consumption is safe.