Name: Haystack
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 40 ml Bourbon whiskey; 20 ml Gentian liqueur; 20 ml Apricot liqueur; 20 ml Lemon juice

Ingredients

1 1/3 fl oz

Bourbon whiskey

2/3 fl oz

Gentian liqueur Gentian liqueur (e.g. Suze, Avèze, Salers)

2/3 fl oz

Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur

2/3 fl oz

Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

How to make

Glass

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

Method

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.

FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with lemon zest twist.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Haystack contains 179 calories

Alcohol content:

1.6 standard drinks
20.59% alc./vol. (41.17° proof)
22.1 grams of pure alcohol

Gallery

Comments & Discussion

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Loïc Pierre 6 months ago

Tried it with Salers and a 46% alc Bourbon. Found it really interesting but the bourbon taste was dominant, I would like to try it with a smoother one.

Jacques Gaudin 10 months ago

This one requires precision. Whilst the haystack effect is definitely there, it's a bit of a niche flavour. Not a crowd pleaser but I personally liked it for its uniqueness.

Loz Horner 1 year ago

God yes. Dial down the suze and dial up the apricot brandy. It’s astringent. But good.

Colby Scott 8 months ago

Try it at 1.5oz 100 Proof Bourbon, .75oz Apricot Brandy, .75oz Suze, .5oz lemon juice.

Colby Scott 6 months ago

Follow-up - the quality of the Apricot Brandy definitely matters here. The first run I made used Giffard Apricot Brandy and it was delightful. I skimped on my second batch and got a $12 bottle of lower quality brandy and it threw the balance way more in the Suze direction. Use quality ingredients for this one.

John CARR 1 year ago

Yes, I did stir and serve on a Rock. Found this one tricky to balance, ended up adding a touch more apricot liqueur (what a sacrifice) and bourbon to roughly 40ml. No apricot garnish to hand so used a Cara orange wheel (kind of half way to a blood Orange) and was very happy. Ultimately inspired by Last Word but nothing like it. The Suze takes it vaguely in the direction of a white negroni - a white boulevardier?!? Very delicious either way.

John CARR 1 year ago

Retried: shook and served on a Rock. Delicious and highly moreish. Could easily sink a couple in a row. Keep ‘em wanting more.

Florian Ruf 1 year ago

Tried this cocktail stirred (I know ...) and found the Suze a bit too dominant. Next time I will try to balance it better in relations to bourbon. Simon's idea to serve it on the rocks might be perfect.

John CARR 1 year ago

Yeah I bumped up both bourbon and apricot.

Howard Griffin 1 year ago

I used Salers which definitely brought this cocktail down to earth.

Andrew Gelb 2 years ago

Excellent and complex, we really like it. I use a full 1 measure of the Suze. Cheers!

Andrew Gelb 1 year ago

And now, with a little passage of time, I think the slightly less than 1 part Suze works better. Once again, Simon proves correct!

Charl Engela 2 years ago

Really nice drink. I was tired after a long drive so I made this on the rocks in a 2:1:1:1 ratio (bourbon being 2) direct in the glass with big ice and stirred. Lovely. Quite sour in this ratio but both apricot and gentian are noticeable in the mix. A keeper.