Layered Cocktails
Explore 168 Layered cocktail recipes.
Layered cocktails ask the bartender to do something most builds don't — slow down and let physics carry some of the work. By pouring each liquid carefully over the back of a spoon, you get separate bands of different densities sitting on top of each other rather than mixing. The B52 is the textbook example: Kahlúa on the bottom, Baileys in the middle, Grand Marnier on top, served in a shot glass.
The Tequila Sunrise layers from the inside-out as the grenadine slowly settles through the orange juice. The Pousse Café takes the format to its limit with five or six bands of differently coloured liqueurs. The New York Sour swaps the format around — a layer of red wine floated on top of a Whisky Sour, the wine sinking slowly into the foam.
What you'll notice across the list is how much of the drink's appeal is visual. The flavours can be straightforward — sweet liqueurs, sometimes a cream, sometimes a spirit base — but the layered build asks you to drink them as the bartender meant: through the top down rather than mixed. Most of these are short rather than long, most are sweeter than the average cocktail, most reward steady hands and decent glassware, and most don't survive a stir.
Build them just before serving, pour them slowly, and let the drink do its theatre before the first sip.
Our top Layered cocktail
B52
Orange liqueur, Bailey's, Coffee liqueur
Top Layered cocktails
Tequila Sunrise
Tequila blanco, Orange juice, Grenadine
New York Sour
Bourbon, Red wine, Sugar / simple syrup, Lemon juice, Egg
Long Distance Reviver
Dry gin, Coffee liqueur, Double Dutch Cranberry & Ginger Tonic, Orange bitters
Remember the Alimony
Gin, Cynar, Sherry (dry)
Pousse Café
Overproof rum, Bourbon, Coffee liqueur, Creme de menthe, Triple sec, Grenadine
Waldorf
Bourbon, Aniseed liqueur, Red vermouth, Aromatic bitters
Brain Haemorrhage
Peach schnapps, Bailey's, Grenadine
Baby Guinness
Coffee liqueur, Bailey's