Kenneth Vanhooser is not any stranger to layering liqueurs. In Nashville, the place he bought his begin within the mid-aughts, layered photographs are nonetheless an essential a part of the bargoer’s food plan. Vanhooser has made hundreds of ’90s-style “classics” for the Vanderbilt crowd, from B-52s and Rattlesnakes to Buttery Nipples and Bear Hugs. After an schooling in pre-Prohibition classics on the NoMad and elsewhere, Vanhooser is handily geared up to revive the unique layered shot: the Pousse Café.
The Pousse Café didn’t start as a layered affair. As a substitute, it was merely a normal time period—actually “push espresso” in French—for a combination of varied liqueurs, to be served after dinner with, or, extra usually, following, the espresso course. By the 1860s, some examples of the shape mirrored a rigorously striped aesthetic. In The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, Robert Moss suggests this rainbow-like presentation might have come about with the inflow of German immigrants, who imported their very own liqueur-layering traditions.
Jerry Thomas’ 1862 bartender’s information provides 5 recipes for drinks that fall below the Pousse Café umbrella. One of many drinks depicted, the Pousse l’Amour, options maraschino liqueur, vanilla cordial and an egg yolk with brandy dashed on prime, illustrated with 4 distinct layers. Although one drink is explicitly stirred earlier than serving, the remainder have been doubtless additionally layered.
Provided that Thomas’ guide was so foundational to the idea of bar manuals, most subsequent authors parroted his inclusion of the Pousse Café till Prohibition. Newer recipes for the drink known as for all method of liqueurs, spirits and cordials, with point out of anisette, inexperienced and yellow Chartreuse, kirschwasser, Bénédictine, Cognac, raspberry syrup, kümmel, Curaçao and extra. Layering turned a requirement, and these kaleidoscopic compositions doubtless owed their reputation to their elaborate presentation.
Some Pousse Café recipes known as for egg, as with the Pousse l’Amour, whereas others known as for dairy. These made with cream turned related to the “angel” subgenre, which included such examples because the Angel’s Kiss and Angel’s Tit. That individual cream-laced fashion of Pousse Café presaged the layered photographs of dive bars and bachelorette events, proper all the way down to the titillating naming conference. From the bawdy names to the inclusion of opaque, dairy-adjacent elements like Baileys, there’s one thing that screams Nineteen Nineties in regards to the Pousse Café. Vanhooser’s model is not any exception.
At Le Loup in Nashville, the place Vanhooser is beverage supervisor, his cocktail brings collectively parts from throughout the drink’s historical past. The construct begins with a base of Calpico (or “Calpis”), an uncarbonated, fermented dairy drink in style in Japan. He likens its taste to that of White Thriller Airheads—one other, maybe unintentional, nod to the ’90s. Its milky look supplies instant distinction with the translucent layers that observe.
On prime of the Calpico, Vanhooser provides a layer of inexperienced Chartreuse, chosen not just for its signature shade and taste, however for its density. “The thickness of inexperienced Chartreuse acts as a filter,” he says, “so if you’re pouring, relying on the load of every liqueur, it’ll sit on prime of the Chartreuse or simply drop beneath it.”
Vanhooser follows the inexperienced Chartreuse with blue Curaçao and bitter, vibrant purple Campari, which each slip beneath the Chartreuse. Subsequent is Licor 43, which lends an amber shade to the drink’s rainbow, in addition to notes of vanilla, spices and orange. Due to its density, the Spanish liqueur sits atop the inexperienced Chartreuse.
For the highest layer, Vanhooser needed one thing that mirrored the unexpectedness of his chosen backside layer. He settled on aquavit that’s been shaken with ice and a bit of lemon peel. “It’s an exclamation level on the underside and the highest,” he explains. However it’s not simply the component of shock that induced him to decide on this ultimate layer. Full-proof spirits (from Cognac to kirsch) in addition to savory liqueurs (most notably kümmel) have lengthy had a job within the Pousse Café, and Vanhooser has lengthy been a devotee of the Scandinavian spirit and its nutty, spicy taste. Chilling and aerating the spirit—in addition to brightening its profile with a regal shake—makes for a layer that sits properly atop the composition.
The bar’s model is rigorously constructed by first measuring every of the weather into mini copper Yarai jiggers, then utilizing a spoon that’s been bent to a 90-degree angle to help in layering the drink. For glassware, Vanhooser makes use of a classic Mikasa glass, with a textured pink stem harking back to a mermaid’s tail, that he discovered at a swap meet. Lastly, earlier than the drink is served, oils from a second lemon peel add a final brightening flourish.
Individuals seated on the bar watch with rapt consideration as Vanhooser and his bartenders rigorously layer the drink. These courageous sufficient to order the bizarre cocktail are usually happy with their alternative. Although patrons don’t know precisely what to anticipate from the little-known drink, there’s one thing acquainted about it. Possibly it reminds them of these layered ’90s photographs. Possibly it’s simply caught in some far nook of the American psyche, with its vibrant rainbow presentation. Both manner, says Vanhooser, the Pousse Café toes the road between cheesy and alluring. “It’s cheesy-sexy. It’s a novelty,” he says. “We’ve by no means had one despatched again.”
