Black Russian Black Russian The Black Russian is a cocktail of vodka and coffee liqueur. It contains five parts vodka to two parts coffee liqueur, per IBA specified ingredients. Traditionally, the drink is made by pouring the vodka over ice cubes or cracked ice in an old-fashioned glass, followed by the coffee liqueur. This combination first appeared in 1949 and is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in honor of Perle Mesta, then United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. The cocktail owes its name to the use of vodka, a typical Russian spirit,
Tales of the Cocktail Tales of the Cocktail Tales of the Cocktail (sometimes shortened to Tales or TotC) is an annual trade conference, festival, and gathering of cocktail and spirits industry professionals in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference was founded in 2003 by cocktail enthusiast Ann Tuennerman, and as of 2016 hosts between 15,000 and 17,000 ticketed attendants. Tales of the Cocktail began in 2002 as the New Orleans Original Cocktail Tour, a walking tour of historic New Orleans bars hosted by local cocktail aficionado Ann Tuennerman (née Rogers). In September 2003, Tuennerman celebrated the first anniversary of the tour by hosting Tales of