According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, “the Rusty Nail took a while to find its proper place in the world.” The combination of Drambuie-“the world’s most distinguished Scotch-based liqueur”-and the whisky it is made from first appears in 1937 in the form of the B.I.F., credited to one F. Benniman and ostensibly named after the British Industries Fair. Wondrich goes on to note that “it took another generation or so for the drink to assume its classic name and form, during which time it tried on several identities. Here it’s a D&S…there a Little Club No. 1 (the Little Club being a rather swank sort of joint on East Fifty-fifth Street much haunted by showbiz types); at USAF Officers’ Clubs in Thailand and the Republic of Viet-Nam, it’s a Mig-21, while in the upper Midwest it’s a Knucklehead.”