Though it didn’t have a name then, for some reason. “And while on the Isle of Skye, the prince gave John MacKinnon the recipe for his favorite tipple, which turned out to be Drambuie. “Such a coincidence – MacKinnon being the name of the family that eventually bought the Drambuie recipe and recounted the stirring legend surrounding it. “And on the Isle of Skye the prince enjoyed the hospitality of Clan MacKinnon,” I said. Which must have been a torment to him, since he had to wear a long skirt instead of a short kilt, and thus couldn’t show off his shapely calves.” “He fled to the Isle of Skye, disguised as a lady’s maid. “So the bonnie prince yelled ‘run away, run away,’ which was wise under the circumstances,” said Mrs K R. The British forces probably couldn’t believe their luck.” “He was so clueless that he fought on open ground with no cover. “Despite their assistance, Bonnie Prince Charlie came a cropper at the Battle of Culloden in 1746,” I said. “So he turned to the Scots, many of whom still supported the Stuart cause.” “He needed help though, since most of his experience up to that point involved taking part in family whinging about the lost throne,” said Mrs K R. “Even though it was a lot colder than Rome, where he had been born and raised in exile. “Yup, and in 1745, James II’s grandson, Charles Edward Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie) decided to invade England,” I said. But the Stuarts were highly annoyed and schemed to reclaim the throne.” “William and Mary were happy with their new estate (England being less prone to flooding than The Netherlands). “Return with us now to 1688 and the heady days of the Glorious Revolution, when England turfed out King James II (of the House of Stuart), replacing him with his more pliable daughter Mary and her husband, a Dutch prince named William.” “And the tales surrounding Drambuie are even better.” Since then, the drink’s popularity has declined.But it reached the zenith of its popularity during the 1960s – in large part because it was a favorite drink of the infamous Rat Pack (members of which included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop). How about the history of the Rusty Nail Cocktail? It probably was born sometime during the 1930s.How fortunate! We chat about some of those stories at the end of this post. The tales supposedly derive from family legend – but somehow manage to incorporate well-known figures and thrilling details from Scottish history. Along the way, though, some whopping good tales arose surrounding the origins of the liqueur.Ross’s heirs eventually sold the recipe to the MacKinnon family, who began producing it commercially in 1910. That’s when a Scottish hotelier named James Ross began tinkering with a recipe that he eventually called “Drambuie” (reportedly deriving the name from a Gaelic phrase meaning “the drink that satisfies”). The liqueur supposedly dates to the mid-1700s, though its production can only be traced back as far as the 1880s. So what’s the history of Drambuie? It’s hard to be sure because so much marketing hype has proliferated around the drink (as is often the case with anything alcohol related).Our usual disclaimer: We’re noncommercial and are not compensated for naming brands.The taste is much better (though we think it’s overkill for cocktails). Or you could use an even more expensive single-malt Scotch if you prefer.If you want a more expensive blended Scotch, you could try Monkey Shoulder or Haig Dimple (aka Pinch).They taste much better than you’d expect, given their price. What Scotch to use? We usually opt for a fairly inexpensive blended Scotch when making cocktails – Teacher’s Highland Cream and Famous Grouse are our favorites. It’s sweet, though, so we reserve that pleasure for after dinner.
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