A layered after-dinner shot in which coffee liqueur, Irish cream and orange liqueur settle into three distinct stripes by density — dark at the bottom, pale through the middle, amber on top. Sweet, creamy and warming, it drinks more like dessert than a cocktail, the roasted coffee base giving way to soft cream and a bright orange lift at the finish.
built · Shot glass · Neat
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Pour the coffee liqueur into a shot glass as the bottom layer.
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Float the Irish cream slowly over the back of a cold bar spoon so it rests as a distinct middle layer without disturbing the coffee liqueur.
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Float the orange liqueur (Grand Marnier or triple sec) over the back of the spoon to form the top layer; the three layers separate by density. Serve straight up, no ice.
Where the B-52 began is poorly documented, and two rival stories compete for it. The more repeated one credits Peter Fich, behind the bar at Alberta's Banff Springs Hotel, with devising it in 1977, while another hands the honour to Adam Honigman at Maxwell's Plum in New York. Whoever poured it first, the name salutes the new-wave band The B-52's rather than the bomber. The shot was once counted among the IBA official cocktails and picked up a flaming variation along the way.