Rob Roy comes full circle

December 30, 3:07 PMChicago Drinks ExaminerCharles Cowdery

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Earlier this month, I noticed a post from Chicago Theater Examiner Mark Meyer about a new musical based on the legend of the eponymous Scottish hero. That prompted me to tell you about the Rob Roy cocktail, a once popular but now largely forgotten combination of blended scotch whiskey and sweet vermouth.

Now, thanks to international bon vivant Terry Sullivan, I can bring this story full circle.

Terry wrote, "the drink was invented in the first place in honor of a Broadway musical--Rob Roy, the Opera--in 1894. It's cited in the Old Waldof-Astoria bar book. They invented a bunch of cocktails for Broadway shows, almost all of which are now dead, except the Merry Widow, which, come to think of it, is dead too. Sorry--I hate to waste cocktail trivia that's taking up space in my brain."

Though Terry is never to be doubted, his account is confirmed by this Wikitender entry. The drink originally called for bitters, as did most early cocktails, orange bitters specifically. If you are interested in orange bitters, I recommend Reagan's, which was developed by my friend Gary Reagan. (He no longer has that lovely beard.) It is made by Buffalo Trace Distillery, in Frankfort, Kentucky. They also make Herbsaint and Peychaud’s bitters.

Gary is a big fan of bitters. The American parallel to the Rob Roy is the manhattan, which also calls for bitters in most traditional recipes. Most call for a "dash." Watching Gary make a manhattan one time at Kurtz's in Bardstown, I counted 14 dashes.