An ode to the White Russian

The White Russian is my favorite cocktail. To me, it represents grace and simplicity. It seems like an extremely easy cocktail to make, but making a perfect White Russian takes skill — a fact I have been testament to from trying really, really badly made White Russians all over Kathmandu. Some simply don’t have the right coffee liqueur, some have stuff that only has the label “kahlua” but does not resemble anything like it. Most of the time, however, they just don’t get the proportions right. Sometimes there’s too much vodka, and sometimes there’s not enough. I once even had a White Russian that was shaken so vigorously that the cream and the kahlua mixed completely with one another to make what ended up looking like your plain milk-tea. As far as Kathmandu is concerned, I guess the best White Russian I have had has been in Maya Cocktails (Thamel) and 1905 (Jamal). Those and a few other places are where I have had the chance to have White Russians that actually looked, tasted and felt like what a White Russian is supposed to look, taste and feel like.

You have a “pseudo-hobby” (a term I just coined two minutes ago) when you think that you would really like to do something, but you never seem to get the energy to get around to doing it. It is a common trait for procrastinators like me. Mixing drinks, then, is a pseudo-hobby of mine. In an attempt to turn it into a proper hobby, I have been thinking that the White Russian is the perfect place to start — since it is supposedly a relatively simple cocktail to make. I’ve actually tried it a few times but to no avail. It is only when you actually try to do something that you earn new-found respect for people who do it every single day and make it look so mundane. Respect, therefore, to all the bartenders out there.

Anyway, the White Russian has been a good friend to me. Let this text, then, serve as homage to the drink, to whoever made it for the first time, and, once again, to all the hard-working bartenders out there that make it every day of their lives.

For those of you who want to know more about the White Russian, here it is in a nutshell:

Ingredients:
5 parts Vodka (preferably Smirnoff)
2 parts Kahlua
3 parts Fresh cream (or milk)

Preparation:
Pour kahlua and vodka directly into glass filled with ice. Float cream on the top and stir in slowly.

For more details, check out White Russian @ Wikipedia.

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