The Black Russian cocktail is made with vodka and coffee liqueur, typically Kahlúa, and is served over ice. The White Russian cocktail is made with vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream, and is also served over ice. The addition of cream transforms the Black Russian into a White Russian.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the term “White Russian” described ethnic Russians living in the area between Russia and Poland (today this includes Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Moldova).
The cocktail owes its name to the use of vodka, a typical Russian spirit, and the blackness of the coffee liqueur.
In 1949, the story goes that Tops created the Black Russian—a White Russian sans cream—at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels to honor Perle Mesta, then U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. Somewhere in the 1950s, when sweet, milky drinks were in their heyday, the cream was added and the White Russian was born.
A White Russian is swirled with heavy cream, while a Black Russian...isn't. It is simply coffee liqueur and vodka, no white in sight, making it less like a dessert and more like an alcoholic wake-me-up.
Russia, as the largest country in the world, has great ethnic diversity, is a multinational state, and is home to over 190 ethnic groups nationwide.
During and after World War II, many Russian émigrés moved to the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, South Africa and Australia – where many of their communities still exist in the 21st century.
The Russians were formed from East Slavic tribes, and their cultural ancestry is based in Kievan Rus'. Genetically, the majority of Russians are very similar to their East Slavic counterparts, unlike Northern Russians, who belong to the Northern European Baltic gene pool.
Russian Civil War
The warring factions included the Red and White Armies. The Red Army fought for the Lenin's Bolshevik government. The White Army represented a large group of loosely allied forces, including monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism.
Until it became independent in 1991, Belarus, formerly known as Belorussia or White Russia, was the smallest of the three Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union (the larger two being Russia and Ukraine).
In 1858, a black - golden yellow - white horizontal tricolor was adopted as the civil flag. Black and yellow were the Imperial colors; the white stripe was added to distinguish this flag from the Imperial Austrian "Reich" and war flag, which was a black-yellow horizontal bicolor.
At present, most often unofficially, the interpretation of the flag colors of Russia are as follows: the color white means peace, purity, perfection, the blue is the color of faith and fidelity, constancy; the color red symbolizes energy, strength, blood shed for the Fatherland.
Occupied by Nazi Germany, Belarus was retaken by Stalin's Russia in 1944 and remained under Soviet control until declaring its sovereignty on July 27, 1990 and independence from the Soviet Union on August 25, 1991.
Aside from being anti-Bolshevik and anti-communist and patriotic, the Whites had no set ideology or main leader.
Sometimes they're referred to as “White Russians,” other times, jokingly, “Caucasians.” Usually they're made with cream, but occasionally, in a pinch, powdered non-dairy creamer. Nevertheless, “The Dude abides” — even when he drinks the one with the mickey slipped in.
A genome-wide sequence analysis of Russian populations by Zhernakova et al. 2020 found that the population of Russia primarily descended from the early Slavic peoples, which diverged from other Indo-Europeans, and migrated to Eastern Europe.
Once the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.; commonly known as the Soviet Union), Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Russia is a land of superlatives.
In the 2021 Census, roughly 81% of the population were ethnic Russians, 19% of the population were ethnic minorities.
While perhaps lesser known relative to its milky counterpart, the White Russian, the Black Russian is a celebration of coffee made boozy. Made by simply mixing coffee liqueur with vodka, this cocktail presents the flavor of coffee in full force, without the presence of any additional milk or sweeteners.
There are a number of traits that distinguish Russians from other ethnicities, but by and large, they reflect common characteristics of other Europeans, including fair skin, blond hair, blue eyes, thin lips, and a rounded nose.
The Russian Empire, also known as Imperial Russia, was the final period of the Russian monarchy from its proclamation in November 1721, until its dissolution in late 1917.
Russia is home to as many as 190 different ethnic groups, making it one of the most diverse countries in the world. Around 20% of the population is comprised of ethnic minorities. There are many indigenous ethnic groups scattered across the country.
An estimated 9 million Central Asians reside and work in Russia, and almost every major city in the country is dependent on their labour. It's a marriage of convenience but beneficial all around. Russia gets modernised infrastructure, while remittances bring in much-needed capital to Central Asia.
The Russian Orthodox Church has been the dominant religious institution for almost a millennium and continues to be the most popular religion in Russia.