B-52
ClassicCoffee, cream, and orange in three neat layers.
Sweet and rich, sip by sip. Roasted coffee at the base, silky Irish cream in the middle, bright candied orange on top — a whole dessert in three swallows.
Ingredients
- 0.5 oz Coffee Liqueur
- 0.5 oz Irish Cream
- 0.5 oz Grand Marnier
- None · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Pour the coffee liqueur into a shot glass to fill the bottom third.
- 2
Rest a bar spoon just above the surface and slowly pour the Irish cream over the back of it to float a second layer.
- 3
Float the Grand Marnier over the back of the spoon the same way, forming the top layer.
- 4
Serve at once, before the layers begin to blur.
The Story
A layered shooter from the disco-and-Reagan era, usually credited to bartender Peter Fich at the Banff Springs Hotel in the early 1980s, who named his creations after aircraft — this one for the B-52 bomber. Three liqueurs of ascending density stack into distinct bands of brown, cream, and amber.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
