White Russian ( cocktail ) - wikipedia White Russian ( cocktail ) This article is about the cocktail. For other uses, see White Russian ( disambiguation ). White Russian Cocktail A mixed White Russian cocktail Type Cocktail Primary alcohol by volume Vodka Coffee liqueur Served On the rocks ; poured over ice Standard drinkware Old Fashioned glass Commonly used ingredients 5 cl ( 5 parts ) Vodka 2 cl ( 2 parts ) Coffee liqueur 3 cl ( 3 parts ) fresh cream Preparation Pour coffee liqueur and vodka into an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice. Float fresh cream on top and stir slowly. An unmixed White Russian A White Russian is a cocktail made with vodka, coffee liqueur ( e.g., Kahlúa or Tia Maria ), and cream served with ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Often milk will be used as an alternative to cream. Contents 1 History 2 Preparation 2.1 Variations 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading History The traditional cocktail known as a Black Russian, which first appeared in 1949, becomes a White Russian with the addition of cream. Neither drink is Russian in origin, but both are so named due to vodka being the primary ingredient. It is unclear which drink preceded the other. The Oxford English Dictionary refers to the first mention of the word `` White Russian '' in the sense of a cocktail as appearing in California 's Oakland Tribune on November 21, 1965. It was placed in the newspaper as an insert : `` White Russian. 1 oz. each Southern, vodka, cream '', with `` Southern '' referring to Coffee Southern, a short - lived brand of coffee liqueur by Southern Comfort. Though long regarded as a boring and unsophisticated drink, the White Russian saw a surge in popularity after the 1998 release of the film The Big Lebowski, throughout which it appears as the protagonist 's beverage of choice. Literary critic Craig Owens has examined the drink 's role in the film, observing that its name and casual preparation reflect what he saw as the protagonist 's New Left politics and `` castrated masculinity ''. Preparation As with all cocktails, various modes of preparation exist, varying according to the recipes and styles of particular bars or mixologists. Most common varieties have adjusted amounts of vodka or coffee liqueur, or mixed brands of coffee liqueur. Shaking the cream in order to thicken it prior to pouring it over the drink is also common. Sometimes the drink is prepared on the stove with hot coffee for a warm treat on cold days. Variations Many variants of the cocktail exist, both localised and widely known, such as a Blind Russian ( which substitutes the cream with Baileys Irish Cream ), a Mudslide ( a Blind Russian with added cream ), White Canadian ( made with goat 's milk ), an Anna Kournikova ( named after the tennis player, made with skimmed milk, i.e. a `` skinny, low - fat '' White Russian ), a White Cuban ( made with rum instead of vodka ), or a Dirty Russian ( made with chocolate milk instead of cream ). See also Liquor portal List of cocktails Black Russian Coffee portal List of coffee beverages References Jump up ^ Sicard, Cheri ( August 6, 2007 ). `` Featured Cocktails -- Black Russian and White Russian ''. FabulousFoods.com. Retrieved June 8, 2010. Jump up ^ `` 10 Famous Cocktails and Where They Were Born ''. bootsnall.com. Retrieved February 9, 2017. Jump up ^ `` June 2007 Update : Oxford English Dictionary ''. oed.com. Retrieved February 9, 2017. Jump up ^ `` The History of the White Russian ''. nicoledigiose.com. August 10, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2017. Jump up ^ `` White Russian, n. and a. ''. Oxford English Dictionary. June 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2010. Jump up ^ `` An Enthusiast 's Guide to Cocktails : the White Russian ''. The Alcohol Enthusiast. May 11, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011. Jump up ^ Kurutz, Steven ( 2 December 2008 ). `` White Russians Arise, This Time at a Bowling Alley ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 January 2014. Jump up ^ Owens, Craig N. ( 2009 ). `` On the White Russian ''. In Comentale, Edward P. ; Jaffe, Aaron. The Year 's Work in Lebowski Studies. Jump up ^ Garner, Dwight ( 29 December 2009 ). `` Dissertations on His Dudeness ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2017. Jump up ^ `` The Snows of Revolution ''. The Boise Weekly. 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2010. Jump up ^ `` White Russian ''. Conan 's Pub. 2006. Retrieved May 6, 2010. Further reading Wikimedia Commons has media related to White Russian ( cocktail ). Steven Kurutz ( December 2, 2008 ). `` White Russians Arise, This Time at a Bowling Alley ''. The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2011. The Dudely Lama ( June 14, 2009 ). `` The White Russian Revolution ''. The Dudespaper. Retrieved July 16, 2012. 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Coffee and doughnuts Coffee cup Coffee cup sleeve Demitasse Tasse à café Coffee leaf rust King Gustav 's twin experiment Coffee vending machine Demitasse spoon Single - serve coffee container Third wave of coffee Coffee portal Category : Coffee Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Russian_(cocktail)&oldid=843471451 '' Categories : Cocktails with vodka Cocktails with coffee liqueur Coffee culture Alcoholic coffee drinks Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from October 2012 Articles with hRecipes Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from March 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית Magyar മലയാളം Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 10 more Edit links This page was last edited on 29 May 2018, at 10 : 49. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. 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Question: what's the difference between a black russian and a white russian
Answer: the addition of cream