Black Russian Cocktail History and Recipe

The Black Russian is a simple vodka cocktail made up of roughly two parts vodka to one part coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua. Here’s the history behind it.

The International Bartenders’ Association recommends a ratio of 2.5 to one, but it’s a matter of personal taste and you don’t have to be precise about it. It depends whether you like your Black Russian to have a stronger coffee kick or to be a bit boozier. This recipe, for example, recommends using equal parts of vodka and coffee liqueur.

Kahlua itself is made up of rum, sugar, and arabica coffee, so the result is more potent than just slinging vodka and coffee together.

Black Russian Cocktail History

Which came first, the Black Russian or the White Russian? It was the Black Russian, which was created in 1949 by a Belgian bartender at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, Gustave Tops. There was a special guest at the hotel, Perle Mesta, who had recently become the US Ambassador to Luxembourg.

Perle Mesta on the cover of TIME Magazine

She’s not such a well-known name today but in 1949 she was famous for her lavish parties in Washington DC where the worlds of politics and entertainment mingled. Her nickname definitely lingers, as she was the original ‘Hostess with the Mostess’. She was so well-known that she made the prestigious cover of TIME Magazine in March 1949.

She was also the inspiration for the comedy musical Call Me Madam, by Irving Berlin, which premiered in 1950. President Harry Truman played the piano at one of her parties, and it was Truman who appointed her to her position in Luxembourg.

So, she was definitely a VIP at the time and as she was a regular visitor to the bar at the Hotel Metropole, Tops wanted to create a signature cocktail for her so he came up with the Black Russian. Mesta took the recipe and name back to Washington with her, and with all her influential friends to help circulate it, the cocktail became a standard.

The name helped too. In 1949 the Cold War between the USSR and the west was starting, and the name Black Russian conjures up the mysterious world behind the Iron Curtain that surrounded Russia. The White Russian may now be better-known, but the Black Russian was the original.

Black Russian Cocktail Variations

There are numerous riffs on the original Black Russian recipe, as well as the White Russian version. Add some cola and you’ve got a Dirty Black Russian or a Tall Black Russian. Add lemon juice and a twist of lemon and it becomes a Black Magic. Add ginger ale and you have a Brown Russian. Add some Irish cream liqueur and you’ve got a Blind Russian… and a drink that now has elements of vodka, rum, and whiskey too.

Black Russian Cocktail Recipe

The official recipe from the International Bartenders’ Association is this:

5 cl Vodka
2 cl Coffee liqueur

Preparation
Pour the ingredients into an old fashioned glass filled with ice cubes. Stir gently.

It’s generally served as an after-dinner drink but they’re so delicious that there’s nothing stopping you drinking it any time. However, as they’re also very more-ish, perhaps it’s safest to wait till you’ve got some food inside you!