Bobby Burns

Cocktail Story

The Bobby Burns is a pre-Prohibition cocktail with a complicated history and myriad printed interpretations that appear throughout the years. Harry Craddock’s Bobby Burns recipe in 1930’s Savoy Cocktail Book most closely resembles a Rob Roy with Bénédictine, however a year later, a Robert Burns appears in the Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, penned by Albert Stevens Crockett. This cocktail features dashes of absinthe instead of Bénédictine. While Craddock’s recipe suggests the drink was invented in England, perhaps in honor of the famed Scottish poet, the Waldorf Astoria’s Robert Burns seems more to be an homage to the New York City-based cigar manufacturer. While the peculiar similarity in names between the two cocktails may have simply been in the interest of laying local claim to the drink, ultimately, they both yield distinctly different results. Later recipes even suggest substituting Drambuie for Bénédictine, however, the original Savoy recipe is largely considered to be the superior preparation of the cocktail, whether you spell it Bobby, Bobbie, or even Robert.