Black Russian

The Black Russian is one of the simplest of the classic cocktails — just two ingredients, vodka and coffee liqueur, built over ice in a short old fashioned glass. It is a spirit-forward after-dinner drink: dark, glossy and almost black in the glass, with the clean heat of vodka behind a sweet, roasted note of coffee and vanilla from the liqueur. It carries no citrus and no fruit, so it reads rich and bittersweet rather than bright. Add a float of cream or milk and the same drink becomes its famous sibling, the White Russian.