Sometimes, it takes big names to put a big spotlight on treats we never knew we were missing out on. When someone cool likes something, that thing becomes the next top trend. Celebrities can get entire hairstyles popular and redefine fashion. For those looking to indulge in the cocktail Frank Sinatra called his favorite, they need less than a handful of ingredients to make that happen.
The drink in question is called a Rusty Nail, and it was the beverage of choice when Sinatra was most popularly associated with the Rat Pack, the musical group of A-list business friends who would appear together on stage and in film, while also enjoying lively house parties where the liquor would keep on flowing. Sinatra, in particular, was known to have quite the thirst and when he was craving a cocktail, he didn’t have to fight hard to make his favorite.
Frank Sinatra’s favorite cocktail, the Rusty Nail, required just two ingredients
According to Page Six, Sinatra would down at least bone bottle of Jack Daniels a day. If he wanted to whip up his other favorite spirit, however, all he needed was Scotch and Drambuie, mixed at a 2:1 ratio, and finished off with some lemon zest – although sometimes Angostura bitters could be added. The ratio may change, however, depending on the drinker’s preferences for sweetness or smokey spice.
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Regardless, the mixture in any ratio requires a good amount of food in the stomach before being consumed.
The origins of the name aren’t well-documented but Daily Meal theorizes it is tied to the “rusty” amber color of the drink. Although, the outlet notes, another theory also suggests the drinks were stirred using rusty nails – because some people love playing with fate as much as possible. As for the rest of the drink’s origin, one theory dates it back to 1937 New York, an early first appearance for the Rusty Nail before it hibernated until the ‘60s, reawakening at Manhattan’s Club 21. Another fable claims that the concoction was first brewed for an artist named Theodore Anderson in a Hawaiian bar in 1942.
Frank Sinatra’s other beverages of choice
While the Rusty Nail was Sinatra’s favorite cocktail, he delighted in many different alcoholic drinks – far beyond the recommended amount. In the book Frank Sinatra, Miriam, and Me, author Mitchell Fink explores Sinatra’s relationship with alcohol and theorizes that it was the bottle, not Alzheimer’s, that ended Sinatra’s life in 1998 at the age of 82.
“Sinatra was drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels a day until he was 80,” said Fink. “When his doctors told him that he needed to stop drinking, he did what a lot of alcoholics do in similar circumstances: He switched to wine.”
His drinking also led to some destructive antics, such as when he, Robert Mitchum and Broderick Crawford got drunk and destroyed Stanley Kramer’s dressing room. Even Sinatra’s close friend, songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen, warned that when Sinatra was drunk, it was “best to disappear.”
Maybe the Rusty Nail was too easy to concoct.