IBA official cocktail | |
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A black Russian cocktail | |
Type | Cocktail |
Base spirit | |
Served | On the rocks: poured over ice |
Standard drinkware | ![]() |
IBA specified ingredients ![]() |
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Preparation | Pour the ingredients into the old fashioned glass filled with ice cubes. Stir gently. |
Commonly served | After dinner |
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The black Russian is a cocktail of vodka and coffee liqueur. It contains 50 ml vodka and 20 ml coffee liqueur, per IBA specified ingredients.[1]
The drink is made by pouring the vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes or cracked ice in an old-fashioned glass and stirring.[2] The black Russian is often garnished with a lemon slice and a Luxardo maraschino cherry on a stick.[3]
The black Russian cocktail first appeared in 1949 and is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in honor of Perle Mesta, then United States Ambassador to Luxembourg.[4] The cocktail owes its name to the use of vodka, a typical Russian spirit, and the blackness of the coffee liqueur.