A black nail

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

is a mixture of

Irish Mist Irish Mist is an Irish whiskey-based liqueur produced in Tullamore, Ireland, by the Irish Mist Liqueur Company Ltd. In September 2010 it was announced that the brand was being bought by Gruppo Campari from William Grant, only a few months afte ...

and Irish whiskey in roughly equal portions, and is typically garnished with

orange zest Zest is a food ingredient that is prepared by scraping or cutting from the rind of unwaxed citrus fruits such as lemon, orange, citron, and lime. Zest is used to add flavor to foods. In terms of fruit anatomy, the zest is obtained from the fl ...

. A black nail can be served in an

old-fashioned glass The old fashioned glass, otherwise known as the rocks glass and lowball glass (or simply lowball), is a short tumbler used for serving spirits, such as whisky, neat or with ice cubes ("on the rocks"). It is also normally used to serve certain ...

on the rocks, neat, or "up" in a stemmed glass. It is most commonly served over ice. A black nail served without ice is sometimes called a straight black nail.

History

The black nail cocktail was invented sometime between 1947 and 1952. The black nail cocktail drink started as a

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

specialty in New York, following the invention of the Irish Mist brown whiskey liqueur in 1947.

Preparation and serving

The black nail cocktail consists of 3/4 ounce Irish whiskey and 3/4

with orange zest twist to garnish. Fill a rocks glass with ice cubes and then add the Irish whiskey and then

. Garnish the cocktail with the orange zest twist and then serve immediately. Some variations of the classic black nail cocktail recipe have been made including Difford's Guide's black nail #1 and black nail #2.

References

{{reflist Cocktails with whisky Cocktails with liqueur Two-ingredient cocktails