Layer

Technique

Layering pours a drink's ingredients one at a time so they stay in separate bands, with the heaviest at the bottom.

Also called: layered drink · float · layered shot · floating

Pour order: heaviest first: syrups, then liqueurs, then spirits
Float: the last ingredient, poured onto the surface

What Layer means

Layered drinks are built in bands, and the B-52 is the one most people know. It has coffee liqueur at the bottom, Irish cream in the middle and Grand Marnier on top. Each band stays put because the ingredients do not mix when they are poured in the right order.

Recipes say layer when a drink is built in bands, and you will see it most in shooters and dessert-style drinks. The pour order decides the look, so a wrong order gives a muddy drink. Layers are meant to stay apart while you pour. Whether you mix them before drinking depends on the drink.

One popular idea is that the strongest spirit always floats to the top. Sugar matters as much as alcohol here, and brands and temperature change how a liquid sits. Brands differ, so a float that worked once may fail with another bottle. Test a new bottle before you serve it.

How to layer drinks

You need a bar spoon, a glass and a few ingredients of different weights, so you know which one goes in first.

1.Pour the heaviest ingredient first, which is usually the syrup or the sweetest liqueur.
2.Rest the back of a bar spoon against the inside of the glass, just above the last layer.
3.Pour the next ingredient slowly over the back of the spoon, so it spreads over the surface instead of breaking through.
4.Repeat for each band, keeping the spoon just above the last layer each time.
5.For a float, pour the last ingredient over the spoon onto the finished drink. Cream can float, especially when it is lightly whipped.
6.If you pour too fast, the layers blur together, so take your time.

Layer compared

FloatA float is one final layer poured on top of a finished drink. A layered drink is built of several separate bands.
Pousse-caféA pousse-café is built only of layers, so layering is the pouring method behind it.
BuildBuilding blends the ingredients as they pour. Layering keeps each one in its own band.

Related terms

Ingredients

Put it to use in your next drink

Garçon explains every step as you make the drink.