Rob Roy

After dinner/digestif · Classic/vintage · Hall of Fame and must know/try

4.7 139 ratings

Ingredients

How to make

Flavour profile

25.2% alc./vol. · 1.6 standard drinks · 179 calories

History

The Rob Roy is Scotch whisky's answer to the Manhattan. While classically made with Angostura Bitters, David Embury, in his 1948 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, footnotes his recipe by attesting that "Peychaud, somehow, seems to blend better than Angostura with Scotch." However, Abbott's Bitters combines more harmoniously with the whisky in this cocktail. Alternatively, one dash of Angostura-style aromatic bitters and one dash of Peychaud's/creole bitters can be used. Regardless of the bitters chosen, they are essential for the balance and complexity of this cocktail.

The Rob Roy cocktail is named after the operetta of the same name, which focused on the Scottish folk hero and outlaw Robert Roy MacGregor. The operetta premiered on Broadway on 29th October 1894, near the former location of New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, now the site of the Empire State Building. It is believed that the cocktail was invented at the hotel to cater to operagoers, substituting Scotch whisky for the American whisky typically used in the popular Manhattan cocktail of that era, thereby creating the Rob Roy. The New York Times, in its review on 30th October 1894, described "the latest work of Harry B. Smith and Reginald De Koven" as "clean, frank, manly, bright, and winesome." These descriptors could equally apply to the cocktail. Before cocktail historian David Wondrich conducted further research, this narrative served as a straightforward origin story. However, research has revealed that a cocktail named "Rob Roy" was created approximately 20 years earlier by Edward F. Barry, a bartender in New York. This information comes from an interview with Barry published in the New York Sun on 22nd August 1873. "The Rob Roy cocktail is made with a little gum syrup, two dashes of Angostura, a few drops of oychette cordial [orgeat], in a tumbler filled with fine ice, strained." The base spirit for this earlier cocktail is not specified in the newspaper report. If it was Scotch whisky, it might be considered the precursor to the modern Rob Roy, but it is also possible that it was an unrelated recipe that did not achieve lasting popularity. It is noteworthy that the first documented recipe for a "Manhattan" made with Scotch whisky (what is now known as a Rob Roy) appears in Charlie Paul's American and other Drinks, published in London in 1884. This recipe does not mention the cocktail also being called a Rob Roy. MANHATTAN COCKTAIL. Fill tumbler with chipped ice; put in three or four drops of angostura bitters, ditto of plain syrup; and half a liqueur glassful of vermouth, half wine glassful of scotch whiskey; stir well with spoon and put a small piece of lemon on top. The earliest recipe explicitly named "Rob Roy" and based on Scotch whisky is found in James C. Maloney's 1900 publication, The 20th Century Guide For Mixing Fancy Drinks, which was published in Chicago, Illinois. However, this recipe includes lemon juice and other ingredients that differ from the modern Rob Roy. ROB ROY COCKTAIL. Fill mixing glass two-thirds full fine ice. ¼ teaspoon of lemon juice. 1 teaspoon of syrup. 2 dashes of orange bitters. 1 dash Peychaud's bitters. 12-3 wine glass Scotch whisky. 1-3 wine glass French Vermouth. Stir well and strain into cocktail glass and serve. Just one year later, a "Rob Roy" recipe appeared in the anonymously authored 1901 book, The Cocktail Book a Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen, published in Boston, Massachusetts. This recipe is the first to resemble the Scotch whisky-based Manhattan, although it uses orange bitters instead of aromatic bitters. Rob Roy Cocktail. Use Mixing Glass. Two dashes orange bitters; two-thirds Scotch whiskey; one-third Italian vermouth. Fill with ice, mix, and strain into a cocktail glass. Serve an olive in the glass. Significantly, a similar Rob Roy recipe, with identical proportions and ingredients, is featured in the "New And Up-To-Date Drinks" section of Thomas Stuart's 1904 book, Stuart's Fancy Drinks And How To Mix Them. Rob Roy Cocktail. 1 dash orange bitters. ⅔ Scotch whiskey. ⅓ Italian vermouth. The 1909 edition of The Cocktail Book a Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen, published in London, England, presents a revised recipe that specifies Angostura Aromatic Bitters. The only distinction from contemporary versions in this 1909 recipe is the garnish, which calls for an olive instead of the currently preferred cherry. Rob Roy Cocktail. Use Mixing Glass. THREE dashes Angostura bitters; two-thirds Scotch whiskey; one-third Italian vermouth. Fill with ice, mix, and strain into a cocktail glass. Serve an olive in the glass. By 1909, the modern conception of the Rob Roy as a Scotch whisky-based Manhattan was established. This would hold true if not for the inclusion of apple brandy, vermouth, and gomme syrup in the "Rob Roy Cocktail" recipe found in Paul E. Lowe's 1909 book, Drinks: How To Mix And How To Serve, published in London, England. This is likely a variation, or what is now termed a "riff," and is generally disregarded. Rob Roy Cocktail 2 dashes gum syrup. ½ jigger apple brandy. ½ jigger Vermouth. Stir; strain into cocktail glass and serve. Regarding who first created a Scotch whisky-based Manhattan named the "Rob Roy," David Wondrich may have found the answer in a letter published on 24th March 1941 in the New York Sun, within G. Selmer Fougner's "Along The Wine Trail" column. The writer, identified as the brother of Henry August Orphal, a bartender at Duke's House in New Jersey, described how his brother was challenged by a representative of Usher's to create a cocktail using their blended Scotch whisky. The salesman, pleased with the new drink, reportedly named it the Rob Roy.

Also known as Scotch Manhattan