The famous vintage cocktail that Duplin Winery brought back to life

Everyone cool — translation The Rat Pack — in the 1960s drank the Rusty Nail cocktail. It was the signature cocktail of Frank Sinatra and his gang, but the boozy combination didn't get much love when it was created in the 1930s and fell out of favor again on most bar menus after its Rat Pack heyday. We thought it was time to switch up this historic elixir, so it has a better chance of sticking around.

The original Rusty Nail — aka the Mig 21, Knucklehead, Little Club No. 1 and D&S — is an easy drink to make: just two parts scotch and one part Drambuie stirred over ice in a glass in a rocks glass and garnished with a slice of lemon zest. 

We love vintage cocktails, so any chance to revive one is on our radar. And, since the Fussell brothers, Dave and Jonathan, have a Southern swagger all their own, we thought, "Duplin needs a Fusty Nail!" Something sophisticated. A signature drink, you might say, for the Dup Pack. One that we could say, "we made it our way."

Like the original, we kept the Fusty Nail simple: one part scotch to one part Duplin American Port stirred over ice cubes in a rocks glass. The port's caramelly notes caress the scotch like a Dean Martin croon wrapped around a romantic Saturday night. We like to garnish with a slice of orange zest for a kiss of citrus sweetness.

Long live the Fusty Nail!