Name: Haystack Cocktail
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Bourbon whiskey; 25 ml Gentian liqueur; 15 ml Apricot liqueur; 15 ml Lemon juice

Haystack Cocktail
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Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 oz	Bourbon whiskey
⁵⁄₆ oz	Gentian liqueur (e.g. Suze, Salers etc)
¹⁄₂ oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of dried apricot.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
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:

Zesty, bittersweet and sweet 'n' sour, this Haystack will make you salivate – a tasty bittersweet & sour aperitivo. John didn't specify a garnish and although a dried apricot doesn't particularly suit the name, it goes well with the drink (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."

Nutrition:

One serving of Haystack Cocktail contains 152 calories

Alcohol content:

1.2 standard drinks
19.9% alc./vol. (19.9° proof)
16.9 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 13 comments for Haystack Cocktail.
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Florian Ruf

26th June 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.

Howard Griffin

27th May 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 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.

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.

Nathalie O'Flynn

25th April 2022 at 15:41

Made this today but should have read the comments first. I found it too bitter but perhaps could try this again and reduce the Suze. Perhaps add a bit of sugar syrup

Calvin Grant

23rd November 2021 at 02:44

This cocktail is fantastic! I love Suze.

SOUTH NORTH

1st November 2021 at 14:27

I cut the suze from 30 to 15ml, perfect balanced with all flavours.

Simon Difford

8th November 2021 at 18:41

I've just re-tried this cocktail and Suze is a huge part of its DNA and structure. Hence, such a large reduction in volume produces a quite different cocktail that deserves a new name. However, I have reduced Gentian a tad as hopefully will appeal to a wider audience.

jesper Kling

13th August 2021 at 06:06

As a great lover of this cocktail I changed the Bourbon to Rye. Just for the fun of it. And whent from 3 cl to 4,5 cl. Then I cut the Gentian from 3 to 2 cl. It turned out realy lovely with a spicy kick from the Rye and with the Gentian stil present with intesity.

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