The first liqueur to be introduced to the House of Lords in England has now launches its whisky 15 year old edition in Malaysia.
Drambuie has an over 260 year of history, story has it that it was the personal liqueur belonging to Prince Charles Edward Stuart of Scotland. He gave it away as a gift to the chief of the Highland Clan, John McKinnon who aided him during his escape to The Isle of Skye in 1746.
Rusty Nail is a famous cocktail that uses a combination of Drambuie and Scotch whisky. Its origin is uncertain but the name first appeared on the menu of an infamous club in New York, the ‘21’ Club. There are now many classic cocktails that use Drambuie in replacement of the original base are adding “rusty” into their titles. In the launch dinner, the Rusty Caipirinha used Drambuie to replace Cachaça.
Rusty Caipirinha: Drambuie, lime and sugar
The Global Brand Ambassador for Drambuie, Jamie Stephenson spent a day in Kuala Lumpur to provide training to the local bartenders in using the two varieties as base for drinks. He gave an insightful history on the creation of some classic cocktails, the brand and the spirit world. A lot about the prohibition was in his presentation because many great recipes were designed in that period of time.
The dinner - from the writer’s point of view:
Drambuie Original (liqueur) and Drambuie whisky 15 year old were introduced to the dinner hosted for two tables of 12 guests. Rusty Caipirinha was the starter drink and was paired with a choice of either cauliflower soup or mushroom soup. The citrusy in the drink cut through the creaminess of the soup that opened up one’s appetite.
Main course was pan-seared sea bass on cream peas with leek and beef bacon OR roast black Angus beef tenderloin with Yorkshire pudding, potato and gravy. Drambuie Original on the rocks was the drink for this course. It had a winter feel about having Yorkshire pudding and liqueur at the same time. The liqueur’s floral and honey sweetness and the not overly powering maltiness went smoothly with the fish or the beef, it could have been any food in that matter.
Dessert was date pudding with vanilla ice cream and paired with Drambuie whisky with coke or soda. The distinctive Speyside character in the whisky was apparent and that was brought out by the ice cream. If I had a choice, I would drop the ice cream into a neat Drambuie whisky in root beer style but that would have made an expensive dish.
Drambuie Original (40% ABV) and Drambuie 15 (43% ABV) 750ml bottle will be available from 1st of December onwards in most liquor stores and supermarket in the Klang Valley.
The distributor for Drambuie in Malaysia is Fortier Wines and Spirits Sdn Bhd.