LAYERED COCKTAILS: HOW THEY WORK AND HOW TO MAKE THEM

Layered cocktails are stunning drinks, where each layer of color represents a different flavor, creating an alluring treat. These are not just cocktails; they're science experiments right in your glass!

The science of layering revolves around the concept of density and how different ingredients interact with each other. So, let's get into all things layering!

Layering is used in cocktails to look good, separate flavors, and sometimes for special cocktails like flaming cocktails, like the Flaming Dr. Pepper Shot, where the overproof rum needs to be layered at the top, so the drink can catch on fire.

What creates those magical layers in cocktails? The answer is density. Density refers to how much 'stuff' is packed in a certain volume of a substance. In the case of cocktails, denser ingredients (those with more sugar or alcohol) sink to the bottom, while lighter ones float on top.

The trick to a layered cocktail is understanding and manipulating these densities to achieve the desired effect. Now, we'll go into specific qualities of different liquids, and how they impact their densities.

Alcohol Content

You may think that higher alcohol content means more density, but in fact, the opposite is true. Alcohol is lighter than water, which means that spirits with higher alcohol content will float atop those with less alcohol.

This property allows us to create layers in cocktails by carefully selecting and ordering ingredients based on their alcohol content. Try this out with the Mind Eraser, where vodka (~40% ABV) is layered on top of coffee liqueur (~20% ABV).

Sugar and Syrups

While alcohol content plays a role in determining a liquid's density, sugar content is equally important. Syrups, with their high sugar content, are denser than most alcoholic beverages.

This is why you'll often see sugary elements, like grenadine, at the bottom of a layered cocktail. An example of this (although not strictly from layering) is how the grenadine falls to the bottom of an Alien Brain Hemorrhage, causing the unique "hemorrhage" effect.

Layering a cocktail isn’t just about understanding the densities of your ingredients, but also about mastering the technique of pouring. The pouring technique is critical in creating the layers without mixing the ingredients.

Tips For The Best Layering

• The Slow Pour: The first rule of layering is to pour slowly. A slow pour reduces the force of the liquid hitting the layer beneath it, which helps to prevent the layers from mixing.

• The Spoon Trick: Using a spoon, particularly a bar spoon with its long handle, is another essential tool in your layering arsenal. The spoon helps to diffuse the force of the pour. To do this, place the spoon upside down in your glass, just touching the surface of your bottom layer. Pour your next liquid slowly over the back of the spoon.

• Chilled Ingredients: Another tip to get those perfect layers is to use chilled ingredients. When liquids are chilled, their viscosity increases, making them pour slower and mix less.

• Clean Pouring Edges: Make sure the edge of your pourer (be it a bottle or a jigger) is clean. Drips can disrupt the layers, so wiping off the pouring edge after each ingredient can make a difference.

• Using a Speed Pourer: Despite the name suggesting speed, these pourers offer better control of the flow rate of the liquid, allowing you to achieve that desired slow pour. These work best when using the spoon trick.

Practice Makes Perfect

Like many aspects of bartending, practice is key. Start with a simple two-layered cocktail. As you become more comfortable with the pouring and layering, you can advance to cocktails with more layers.

The technique of layering can seem intimidating at first, but with understanding, patience, and a bit of practice, you'll be creating visually stunning layered cocktails that are sure to impress.

If you're serious about perfecting your layered cocktails, you might want to consider a cocktail layering tool. These devices can make the process easier, especially for complex cocktails with several layers.

A layering tool is an attachment which you can fix to the top of your serving glass. It's like a funnel, with a movable rod through the middle. The rod has a small ball on the end of it.

To see how density works in action, you can conduct a simple and fun experiment at home. You'll need four different liquids: honey, whole milk, dish soap, and vegetable oil.

Here are the steps for your experiment:

1. Gather Your Supplies: For this experiment, you'll need honey, whole milk, dish soap, vegetable oil, and a clear glass or jar. The clear container allows you to see the layers clearly.

2. Start with the Honey: Honey is the densest liquid in our experiment, so it goes first. Pour about an inch of honey into your glass.

3. Add the Milk: It's less dense than honey, so it should float on top. To pour it, place a spoon with its backside up into the glass, just above the honey layer, and slowly pour the milk onto the spoon. This helps diffuse the milk and prevents it from disturbing the honey layer. Pour enough milk to form a clearly visible layer above the honey.

4. Pour in the Dish Soap: Dish soap is less dense than milk but denser than vegetable oil, so it's our third layer. Repeat the slow pouring technique you used for the milk.

5. Top with Vegetable Oil: Finally, add the least dense liquid, vegetable oil. Using the same spoon technique, gently pour the oil into the glass.

After these steps, you should have a glass with four distinct layers, showing the different densities of these common household liquids. This experiment illustrates the science behind layered cocktails, albeit without the delicious result.

The same principles apply when layering drinks. Just remember - always check the densities of your ingredients and pour from most to least dense!

This experiment is an enjoyable way to visualize and understand the concept of density. Plus, it's a great activity to do with kids. It can help spark their interest in science and, who knows, maybe even inspire a future bartender!

Mixing Up The Densities

The most crucial part of making a layered drink is ensuring that the ingredients are poured in order of density.

Pour the most dense (the heaviest) liquids first, so they sit at the bottom of the glass.

Then, go in descending order of density, leaving the least dense (the lightest) liquids to go in last, so they sit at the top of the drink.

Otherwise, no matter how well you pour the ingredients, they will inevitably begin to mix with each other, ruining your layering efforts.

To prevent this, plan your ingredients before beginning to make the layered drink, and look up the densities of each ingredient so you can get the order right!

Using Ingredients With Similar Densities

While it's okay to use ingredients with similar densities for layered drinks, you have to be very careful pouring and handling these drinks.

This is because the liquids that are close in density will easily mix with each other, leaving you with a "bleed" between the layers. This doesn't look nice, so try to limit the usage of ingredients with similar densities, especially when you're starting out.

Now that you're familiar with the tools, techniques, and theory required for layering shots and cocktails, why not try out a few!

The B-52 Shot is one of the most popular layered drinks of all time. Let's go through it together:

1. Start off with a coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua. This is a sweet, syrupy liqueur, with 20% ABV. Note that, like we looked at before, this is a dense liqueur, due to the high sugar content, and low alcohol content.

2. Next, add Irish Cream Liqueur, such as Baileys. This is relatively light, due to the high alcohol content. That means it'll easily sit on top of the coffee liqueur.

3. Finally, add orange liqueur, like Grand Marnier. This is even less dense than Irish Cream, since it's not creamy. Therefore, it'll sit easily right at the top of the drink.

Now, if you've done this right, you should end up with something looking a bit like this:

If it looks right, congrats! Be sure to check out these other layered shots for even more practice:

1. Mind Eraser Shot

2. Alien Brain Hemorrhage Shot

3. Flaming Dr. Pepper Shot

4. Blow Job Shot