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

Haystack
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Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₃ fl oz	Bourbon whiskey
²⁄₃ fl oz	Gentian liqueur (e.g. Suze, Salers etc)
²⁄₃ fl oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
²⁄₃ fl oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of dried apricot.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Garnish with dried apricot on rim.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A zesty, bittersweet and sweet 'n' sour aperitivo to make you salivate. John didn't specify a garnish, and although a dried apricot doesn't particularly suit the name, it goes well with the cocktail (which, incidentally, we prefer served on the rocks).

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History:

Created in 2017 by John Barraclough, London, England, who describes his drink as "a yellow version of Sam Ross's Paper Plane" that has "the perfume of a hayfield in late summer." John's original recipe called for 30ml bourbon, 25ml gentian liqueur, 15ml apricot liqueur, and 15ml lemon juice.

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

More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Bittersweet (e.g. Negroni) cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 17 comments for Haystack.
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Loïc Pierre

30th January at 21:36

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

28th September 2025 at 00:22

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

2nd August 2025 at 16:14

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

Colby Scott

19th December 2025 at 01:26

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

1 reply

John CARR

29th July 2025 at 15:25

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

2nd August 2025 at 15:50

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

26th June 2025 at 16:42

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

29th July 2025 at 15:26

Yeah I bumped up both bourbon and apricot.

Howard Griffin

27th May 2025 at 04:51

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

Andrew Gelb

12th January 2024 at 02:54

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

Andrew Gelb

24th April 2025 at 19:59

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

23rd August 2023 at 23:01

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.

Calvin Grant

26th October 2022 at 01:02

Tastes great with Salers. Think I'll bump it back up to 30ml next time. Also try a dusting of nutmeg.

Calvin Grant

23rd July 2025 at 00:35

Out of bourbon, only 18ml of JD; made up the difference with Laird's bottled in bond apple brandy. Not bad! (Salers 16%)

1 reply

Dee Stump

26th May 2022 at 03:24

I was 5ml's short on lemon juice and thought to add 5ml's of bottled yuzu. The Suze and Yuzu gave a flavor honestly identical to eating a raw habanero. Herbal, fruity, and floral. A beautiful accident I must say.

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