Name: Saturn
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 75 ml Gin; 15 ml Falernum liqueur; 15 ml Orgeat syrup; 15 ml Passion fruit syrup; 30 ml Lemon juice; 1&frasl;4 barspoon Xanthan gum (E415)

Saturn
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Glass:

Serve in a Sling glass

Ingredients:
2 ¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Difford's Falernum liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Almond (Orgeat) Syrup
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Passion Fruit Syrup
1 oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ barspoon	Xanthan gum (E415)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a SLING GLASS.
Cut a thick lemon slice wheel and remove the inside to leave a round ring of zest. Skewer the ring and a Luxardo Maraschino Cherry to form a cherry planet encircled by a lemon zest ring.

How to make:

DRY BLEND (without ice) first 5 ingredients (all but Xanthan gum) on a slow setting and then gradually add Xanthan while continuing to blend.
Add 7oz scoop of crushed ice and BLEND some more.
POUR into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Garnish with pre-prepared skewered cherry planet encircled by a lemon zest ring rested across the rim.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Orgeat (almond) sugar syrup (2:1) - Nuts

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A Tiki-influenced frozen gin sour with passion fruit and almond.

View readers' comments

History:

Created in 1969 by J. "Popo" Galsini, a bartender at Palms In The Jungle restaurant in Anaheim, California, this was his winning cocktail in that year's International Bartender's Association World Championship.

Originally named X-15, after the North American Aviation rocket spaceplane, he renamed his creation after the third of the experimental planes crashed on 15th November 1967. The pilot who died that day, Major Michael J. Adams, was posthumously awarded astronaut wings as his flight, prior to the in-flight breakup, exceeded the altitude that NASA recognises as the edge of space.

The Saturn is known to modern bartenders thanks to Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, who copied the recipe from a commemorative glass he found in a Californian thrift shop. After researching the cocktail and its creator, he published the Saturn in his 2010 book Beachbum Berry Remixed.

More cocktails by J. “Popo” Galsini

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 11 comments for Saturn.
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Simon Sedgley

19th January at 13:31

Such a luscious cocktail. We also enjoy a rum version, substituting 60ml light gold rum and 15ml rum agricole for the gin. If you want to make your own passionfruit syrup, here's what we do. Combine 1/3 cup each of white sugar and hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the pulp of 3 or 4 passionfruit and stir. Strain into an airtight glass or plastic container. No cooking, 5 minutes of effort...perfect. It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, even longer if you add a shot of vodka.

Rob de Santos

16th December 2025 at 20:40

A couple of peripheral comments on this drink. The X-15 is referred in Jeff Berry's books as built by Douglas Aircraft. This is a rare error by the Beachbum. It was a North American Aviation [later Rockwell Int'l] product. The plane that crashed on Nov. 15, 1967, was the X-15-3, the third of the experimental models built. The pilot who died that day, Major Michael J. Adams, was posthumously awarded astronaut wings as his flight, prior to the in-flight breakup, exceeded the altitude that NASA recognizes as the edge of space. Maj. Adams is listed on astronaut memorials. The Saturn was popular at the tiki themed parties I tended in the 90's and early 00's. During my aviation career, I had the pleasure to meet several of the pilots and engineers who worked on the X-15.

Simon Difford

17th December 2025 at 07:27

Many thanks, Rob. I've amended above to remember Major Michael J. Adams, the first American killed during a space mission.

Steven Jepson

28th November 2025 at 22:28

Very nice though maybe a touch more Orgeat and Passion Fruit to counter the ICE COLD.
Looks amazing in the glass though

Nicola Adams

8th June 2024 at 00:36

This is such an amazing tasting cocktail, it’s up there with the classics in my book. For an even brighter, even zingy-er taste, instead of passion fruit syrup I use the contents of @ 1/2 a fresh passion fruit - seeds and all - along a dash of simple syrup, and as this is usually ends up being rather more than 7.5ml, I adjust the amounts of everything else to keep the same ratios. I can't always be bothered crushing ice, but luckily made as a regular shaken cocktail it’s still truly STELLAR!

Jose Cruz

3rd December 2023 at 04:47

5 oz of ice was too diluted even thought i went 10ml orgeat/passion/faler. To make up for this i added another 20 ML orgeat syrup (total 10+20=30) awesome drink after that, spicy and rich.

Jose Cruz

26th December 2023 at 05:42

Okay. This proportions land this drink as the best cocktail i recall ever tasting or making. The key is not to over-blend it, for me just a pulse or two. I am using special edition Etsu Yuzu Japanese Gin, which with the lemon and the orgeat balance in ever evolving waves of flavors that keep changing as the ice leftovers dynamically transform each sip. 12/10

Jose Cruz

3rd December 2023 at 04:54

it did also make it sweeter, but not cloying. a less dry alternative, maybe even medium sweet.

Michael From Canada

2nd June 2023 at 22:21

It was good but too diluted with 8oz of ice. Next time I will try with 6oz

Simon Difford

3rd June 2023 at 06:05

Agreed. I usually use a 7oz scoop and I have reduced the size above to reflect this.

Matthew Clark

13th January 2023 at 22:17

This drink is absolutely delicious. Make big batches in the blender and you will delight party guests. I add a few dashes of grenadine syrup to give the drink a more Saturnine color.

Damian Cibor

10th September 2022 at 11:00

Wondering will shaking with crushed ice and straining on fresh crushed ice will be as good as blending? I hate cleaning my blender :)

Alex Grieb

8th July 2023 at 20:24

I use an immersion blender in a shaking tin, which gives me great results but a lot less cleanup and the ability to make individual servings.

Simon Difford

10th September 2022 at 11:35

I'd try shaking with a mix of cubbed and crushed ice then straining over fresh crushed ice. Best to take ice from -18 freezer and then crush to ensure does not overly dilute the cocktail.

Gregory Allen

10th June 2022 at 19:37

I love this drink, it was one of the first I ever wanted to reproduce at home. I used John Taylor's velvet falernum and a passion fruit nectar reduction to replace store bought syrup. I could sip this all day! Cheers everyone.

John Hinojos

5th May 2022 at 00:25

This was very refreshing and fruiting. Used passion fruit liqueur instead of the syrup to lessen the sweetness. It had the perfect amount of sweetness for us. The bending of the ingredients gives it a wonderful hint of grapefruit. Loved it.

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