According to their website “The taste of Drambuie is the result of infusing a unique blend of aged Scotch whisky with a secret combination of spices, heather honey & herbs. Its origins can be traced to a secret recipe created for Bonnie Prince Charlie by his Royal Apothecary in the 18th Century.”
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A Drambuie mini (50 ml) looks like a short, fat, clear plastic beer bottle with a pale golden yellow liquid that I would hesitate to describe as caramel colored. Oh yep, there it is, the bottle says it “contains caramel and saffron color”. So yes, more yellow than gold. Once I get past the alcohol smell there is something warm in it’s scent. Must be the herbs and spices since I don’t think it’s honey I’m smelling. A sip of it is, oh God, wow, whoo! I took too big of a sip there, dang! Okay. Once I’m past what must be the whiskey bit of it there’s quite a bit of flavor here. But I can only take the tiniest of sips, just enough to wet my tongue. I can absolutely taste the honey, it’s nice with just enough sweet to not be overwhelming. There’s definitely some other flavors there that I can’t identify but they’re good, perhaps a hint of anise? I wonder if this is what they mean by a sipping whiskey?
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Next step, on the rocks, since I like my drinks cold. That’s good too. Cuts down on the whiskey part of it, or maybe I’m just getting used to it, hee, hee… still a lot of flavor in spite of being watered down a bit by the ice. Curious as to what sort of drinks a person would put this in I turned to their website and found these, with more fun names!
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Hootenanny
1 part Drambuie
Cubed Ice
2 parts Grapefruit Juice
4 Mint Leaves
3 parts Weissbier
Lightly shake Drambuie, grapefruit juice and mint leaves together, then add beer to the shaker before straining over ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.
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Elixir
3/4 part Drambuie
1 Large rock of ice
3/4 part Pink Grapefruit juice
3/4 part Strong Brewed Coffee
3/4 part Tequila
Build into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
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Modern Manners
3/4 part Drambuie
3/4 part Gin
3/4 part Kirsch
1/2 part Lime Juice
garnish with a Maraschino Cherry
8-10 Tarragon leaves
Shake all ingredients and fine strain into a small fluted wine or grappa glass. Maraschino cherry to garnish.
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Allrighty then. Since several of their recipes call for grapefruit juice I’m going to try it tonight, here goes… Maybe 1/3 ruby red grapefruit juice to my Drambie mini goes into my rocks glass and I stirred it with my McDonalds straw like the classy lady I am. A sip through said straw proves that the ruby red was a good choice. I don’t taste the honey so much now or the whiskey hardly at all but the herbs and spices are still there. It’s not an amazing drink but it would be good to have every now and again. Probably not a keeper for me though…
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For the scoring:
Bottle Esthetics: Another “Meh”. Nothing special here.
Scent: The alcohol hits me first, then the herbs and spices. It’s a warm scent with a little sharpness and a hint of sweet.
Viscosity: Water thin with just a tiny bit of essential oil-like slipperiness.
Versatility: This is a very distinctive flavor that while it could probably be used in a lot of drinks will definitely make an impact on the overall flavor sooooo pretty versatile but bear in mind it’s always going to be a major player in any drink you use it in.
Overall Score: 6 out of 10
