Black Russian
50 ml Vodka, 20 ml Coffee liqueur
Photo: A screwdriver drink with ice · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 600 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 600 ml line. Vodka
- 1200 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 1200 ml line. Orange juice - Freshly squeezed if you possibly can - it is half the drink
- 12 slices Orange slice (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Vodka over ice, orange juice on top, stir once.
Method
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 1.8 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Pour in the vodka.
- Top with the orange juice and stir gently for a few seconds.
- Add a slice of orange, and a straw if it is that sort of morning.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Screwdriver
Two ingredients, no technique, and a name that comes from a story about engineers in the Middle East in the 1940s stirring their orange juice with whatever came to hand. Whether or not the story is true, the drink is undeniably the simplest thing in this book, and the one that most reliably appears at brunch.
Getting it right
Simple is not the same as careless. Squeeze the oranges - a screwdriver made with good juice and a screwdriver made with carton juice are two different drinks, and only one of them is worth the vodka. Keep the ratio at roughly one part spirit to two parts juice, add ice until the glass is nearly full, and stir rather than shake, because shaken orange juice goes cloudy and flat. Chill everything first if you can; there is nothing else in the glass to hide a warm drink behind.
Tasting notes
Sweet orange, with the vodka arriving late and leaving a warm, faintly peppery trail. Bright, clean and easy - the sort of drink that goes with breakfast, and shouldn't do so too often.
For a Screwdriver with a bit more interest, add a splash of grenadine for a Tequila Sunrise's cousin, or a dash of Angostura, which is a very good idea indeed.
More Vodka cocktails
Bloody Mary
50 ml Vodka, 120 ml Tomato juice, 15 ml Lemon juice, 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 2 dashes Tabasco, 1 pinch Celery salt, 1 pinch Black pepper, 1 Celery stick
Cosmopolitan
40 ml Vodka, 20 ml Triple sec, 30 ml Cranberry juice, 15 ml Lime juice, 1 Orange slice