White Russian...

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Have you tried one?

What cocktails do you like?

I drank them back in the day.

I'm rather partial to an espresso martini these days.

Black Russians are pretty good.

I invented a mix drink once. Bought a wine cooler once (already a mix of various citrus juices with white wine) and spiked it with some vodka. Thought it would be like a screwdriver, only better. And it was! So I had to invent a name for the new discovery. Wine coolers are associated with California, and vodka with Russia. So to combine the two things I dubbed it "a Siberian Surfer".

I, too, prefer Black Russians to white.

In a similar fashion, I made a modified one:

Canadian vodka
Chilli Chocolate Kahlua (was available the last 2 Christmases, but this year they released Vanilla instead - dunno if you can get it anymore)
Twist of fresh lime
Rocks

Black Russian with lime?? No, no.. I call it a "Snow Mexican."

Howbout calling it a "Leon Trotsky"?

The exiled Russian Bolshevik lived his final years in Mexico, before Soviet agents finally whacked him!

And your drink sounds killer!

That is an excellent name for a cocktail, good alliteration and snappy, though I wouldn't try to order one later in the evening, too many S's to slur, lol.

Garnish with a lime wedge impaled on a cocktail spear, for the ice axe...

Those are super heavy, so I don't drink them often, and when I do I make them long with a lot of ice to dilute the dairy down; on the plus side, they get better as you sip and the ice melts into the drink, so they're good if you want to nurse something for a while. Of course, they're mandatory while watching The Big Lebowski, in which case you have to call them "Caucasians", and maybe burn a few J's while drinking them. I would highly recommend never ordering one of these in a bar unless it's a nice cocktail bar where they're likely to have fresh dairy on hand, I once saw a bartender at a casino pour one of these from a gun, she punched a number into some sort of automated drink kiosk, and then vodka, Kahlua, and some kind of cream all came out of the bar gun in sequence, it was horrifying to watch.

At home, I like Tiki drinks, made the old school way with a dozen carefully measured ingredients and fresh juices, they're amazing when made right, where as when I'm out I try and read the vibe of the place and order accordingly, Jack and Coke in dives, Martinis in steakhouses, Johnny Black on the rocks if the place is slammed and I don't want to make them mix, etc.

An archaic name for a Belarusian is a "White Russian."

It's not entirely archaic since it's also the literal translation, Bela means white and in this context means either western or northern.

How to make a "Leon Trotsky": (1) Pour 2 ounces of Russian vodka into a glass. (2) Dump it into your Mexican neighbor's yard.

Hurricane Sandy: Mix a Manhattan with ten ounces of water.

Quarantini: (1) Mix a Martini. (2) Drink it with no one else in the room.

Hops-Scotch: Equal parts beer and whisky.

Tupac Cocktail: Start with six shots . . .

Last edited by Fnord on 23 Mar 2022, 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It is considered an "archaic literal translation" for Belarusian.

I grew up with Belarus referred to as the "Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic." When it became independent from the USSR/Russia, the name was changed to "Belarus."

I believe it is an insult to call a Belarusian a "White Russian."

Definitely as an English speaker there's no reason to translate it when Belarusian is preferred.

The Bin Laden Cocktail: Two shots and a splash of water.

Its not an "insult". Its just confusing.

Confusing because the phrase "White Russian" has two meanings ( in addition to being the name of cocktail). It can mean the ethnic group "Byelorussian" (or any person from Belarus). Or it can mean "an anti Communist Russian".

In the early 20th Century the Bolsheviks were "Reds", and the Russians who were loyal to the Czar and fought them during the post World War I Russian civil war were "Whites". Russian aristocrats who fled to America, or to England, in the interwar era that my parents' generation grew up were known in the English speaking world as "White Russians" even though most them were not "White Russians" in the older sense of meaning "from Belarus". So the phrase can mean either thing.An ethnic group, or an unrelated one time political faction.

Back in the middle ages when the Slavonic tribes began become civilized and to form rival kingdoms - there emerged a "Little Russia" (Ukraine), a "Great Russia" (Russia), "White Russia"( now Belarus), and oddly enough there was also a "Black Russia" ( a region of what is now eastern Belarus) for a couple of centuries before the "Black Russians" got absorbed into White Russia (or Byelorussia). Why the two neighboring ancient Slavic tribes were called Black and White no one knows. One theory is that the "Black" Russians were called that because they hadnt yet converted to Christianity and still worshipped the Pagan Slavonic gods of old.

Actually the article I linked earlier explains it pretty clearly. The colour references are related to direction; using colour to indicate direction is common in much of Eurasia as well as among indigenous American peoples.

This is how the Black Sea (Karadeniz) and Red Sea got their names, it's also the source of the Turkish name for the Mediterranean (Akdeniz), it's how the Golden Horde and the Yellow River got their names and it shows up in lot of ethnonyms in the area (Aq Qoyunlu) White Sheep Turkomen, White and Red Croats, Black Hungarians, Qara Khitai (Black Khitan), etc.

Historically there was also an attempt to create 'Green Ukraine' a separate state in Russia's Far East formed by deported Ukrainians.