Hoot Mon

A Bobby Burns-adjacent classic that trades Scotch malt for blended whisky and lets a touch of Benedictine add warm herbal depth to sweet vermouth.

The Hoot Mon appeared in Harry Craddock's The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), the most comprehensive inter-war cocktail reference in the English language, taking its name from the Scottish interjection hoot or hoots mon — an expression of surprise, disapproval, or emphasis used in Scottish speech and widely recognized internationally as a stereotypical Scots phrase through stage, film, and literary representations of Scottish characters. The drink combines Scotch whisky with sweet vermouth and Bénédictine — the 27-botanical herbal liqueur produced at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy since 1863 — in a structure that closely parallels the Bobby Burns, another Savoy Scotch classic that also uses Scotch, sweet vermouth, and Bénédictine. The Bénédictine's warm herbal sweetness — whose dominant aromatics include vanilla, honey, and various Mediterranean herbs and spices — complements Scotch whisky's grain and malt character in a way that plain sweet vermouth alone does not achieve, adding a botanical depth that makes the Hoot Mon one of the more complex stirred Scotch preparations in the pre-Prohibition canon. Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book documented hundreds of recipes that were in active service at the American Bar during his tenure, preserving many drinks that would otherwise have been lost.