White Russian Cocktail

Not named for the country of its origin, but rather for the vodka used in the recipe, White Russians have recently made a booming resurgence in part due to the cult movie classic The Big Lebowski. The movie’s main character, The Dude, drinks a steady stream of White Russians throughout the film.

The use of the word Russian in the name of this drink was mostly due to the fact that when it was first invented sometime in the 1930s, prior to the huge vodka marketing campaign of the 1950s, when vodka was a little-known liquor in the United States usually directly associated with its nation of origin, Russia.

The White Russian did not get its current recipe (the drink combines equal parts cream, vodka and Kalhua) or moniker until the 1960s. In 1961, the Diner’s Club Drink Book, gave a recipe for a “Black Russian” without cream, implying that the same cocktail with cream would, therefore, be named a White Russian.

Today White Russians have inspired a drinking game among college students, who try to keep up with The Dude in their consumption of the cocktail while watching The Big Lebowski.

The drink is also the favourite drink of lightweights and lushes, as White Russians effectively obfuscate the hefty dose of alcohol in them that they go down the hatch with ease. That’s great for those who rarely drink or for those who drink a little too much (i.e. The Dude, who gets most of his daily nutrition from these creamy little cocktails).