The Cabinet: Drambuie

"After three nights drinking neat Drambuie with nothing but custard creams to soak it up, I was too fusky to ride..."

~ DRAMBUIE ~
Scotch-based honey liqueur / 40% ABV / c.£28 for 700ml
Friends with: Scotch, duh. But actually most of the principle spirits, notably rum. Lemon, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, passion fruit. Cream, oats, honey.

Before we get on to the cocktails, or the Jacobite Rebellion, or Drambuie-induced visions of giants by the A14, or the ever-shifting parameters of this most protean of liqueurs - I’m going to show you how to make your own Drambuie.

It’s not going to be quite the real thing. It’s not the exact recipe gifted to Captain John McKinnon by Bonnie Prince Charlie while the pair were lying low following the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in 1746 and which would subsquently become the basis for the most loved of all Scottish liqueurs.

But the recipe is not a million miles away, either. It will work in most Drambuie contexts and it will save you £28. Use a proper wildflower honey if you can (as opposed to a generic mass-produced one) and a half-decent Scotch. A small splash of Islay sets it all off nicely but if you’ve a fairly smoky blend such as Johnnie Walker Black, you may prefer to omit.

~ DRAMBU…ISH ~

200ml blended Scotch (Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker etc)
Dash Islay Scotch (Laphroaig, Ardbeg, etc)
50ml wildflower honey
50ml water
Lemon zest
Rosemary
Fennel seeds

In a pan, lightly toast the fennel seeds. Now add the zest from a lemon, a couple of sprigs of rosemary, plus the honey and water. Warm gently until everything is dissolved. Combine this elixir with your Scotch and leave it in a jar in a cool dark place overnight. Taste it after 24 hours. You can strain and decant at this point, but if you want a more pronounced herbal flavour, you can leave the rosemary and fennel seeds to infuse for three or four more days - I would take the lemon out sooner, however, otherwise it will become overdominant.

And that’s all there is to it. Oh except to say that the Scottish liqueur Glayva is in the same basic ballpark. Glayva means: “Good enough” in Scots Gaelic. Apparently some fellas were trying to make imitation Drambuie too and after a few attempts they said: “Ah that’s good enough.”

And now I’ll tell you why I started making my own Drambuie.