0:00 Coming Up – World Cup Cocktails
0:27 Belgium: Black Russian
1:01 Dickey’s Black Russian Debate w/ Ferbalicious
1:56 Black Russian Verdicts
2:11 Canada: Blueberry Maple Gimlet
3:12 Dickey’s Blueberry Maple Gimlet Debate w/ Ferbalicious
4:02 Blueberry Maple Gimlet Verdicts
4:15 Morocco: Moroccopolitan
5:24 Dickey’s Moroccopolitan Debate w/ Ferbalicious
5:55 Moroccopolitan Verdicts
6:10 Croatia: Monastery
7:15 Dickey’s Monastery Debate w/ Ferbalicious
8:22 Monastery Verdicts
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BELGIUM – BLACK RUSSIAN
The Black Russian is a simple, two-part cocktail combining vodka and Kahlúa, a coffee liqueur that’s made with rum, sugar and arabica coffee.
From Liquor.com: The drink was created in the late 1940s by bartender Gustave Tops at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels. As the story goes, he made the drink for Perle Mesta, the American ambassador to Luxembourg, who was hanging out at the bar. The name is a simple reference to the ingredients: Kahlúa is black, while vodka is commonly associated with Russia. (Ignore that Kahlúa is produced in Veracruz, Mexico.) The dark and mysterious drink would have been emblematic of the time, with the Cold War having been just starting.
These days, the Black Russian is less known than its successor, the White Russian, which adds cream to its originator. The White Russian was invented sometime in the 1960s but was forever immortalized in the 1998 movie “The Big Lebowski.” The Black Russian has not enjoyed a similar fate over the decades, but it remains a classic that has spurred countless innovations. The Colorado Bulldog is essentially a White Russian with cola. The Mudslide is a White Russian with Irish cream. Perhaps none of these drinks would exist today if Tops hadn’t combined vodka and Kahlúa all those years ago.
CANADA – BLUEBERRY MAPLE GIMLET
Is there a more Canadian cocktail than one with blueberries and maple syrup?
MOROCCO – MOROCCOPOLITAN
When pomegranates come into season in Marrakesh, there will be a cart on every street corner selling the delicious flesh-covered seeds, which inspired our Moroccopolitan cocktail.
CROATIA – MONASTERY
Travel through Eastern Europe or the Balkans, and you’re bound to come across rakia, fruit brandies of all sorts from different distillers. They have different names and often use different fruits, but one such example is slivovitz, a clear plum brandy that is especially popular in Balkan countries like Serbia and Croatia.
Baba’s in Arlington, Virginia features a few Eastern European spirits and cocktails, including the Monastery, a drink containing Maraska slivovitz, lime juice, honey syrup, plum jam and fresh basil leaves. Maraska is Croatian and its slivovitz is a kosher spirit made from blue plums that have been fermented for three months. The mash is twice distilled, and the resulting liquor is aged for a minimum of two years in oak casks.
With brandy, citrus and sweetener, the Monastery is similar to classic first date cocktails like the Sidecar or Brandy Crusta.