Slippery Nipple
A Slippery Nipple is a layered shot of sambuca and Irish cream: 25ml of chilled white sambuca at the bottom of a shot glass and 25ml of Irish cream layered on it, poured gently over an upturned spoon. A drop of grenadine, sunk to the base before the cream goes on, is an optional extra that shows as a red dot under the clear sambuca. It is usually placed among the novelty shots of the 1980s. Nobody has claimed it, and the name was plainly chosen for the laugh at the bar. The drink is better than the joke: aniseed under cool cream tastes something like a liquorice sweet. It is taken in one, so both layers arrive together. A shot holds about 1.4 UK units, and the Irish cream contains milk.
Glassware: Shot Glass
Garnish: Grenadine one drop sunk to the base (optional)
Ingredients
25ml
White sambuca, an Italian anise liqueur usually bottled at 38 to 42% ABV. It is clear, so the line between the layers shows, and denser than the cream, so it stays underneath.
25ml
The top layer. Baileys, at 17% ABV, is the usual choice. It weighs less than sambuca and floats when poured gently. Irish cream is made with milk, which matters for anyone avoiding dairy.
1 drop
Optional, one drop. Made from pomegranate and sugar, it is the heaviest thing in the glass and sinks through the sambuca to sit as a red dot at the base.
Instructions
Chill the sambuca, the Irish cream and a shot glass of 50 to 60ml.
Pour 25ml of sambuca into the glass.
If using grenadine, add one drop and let it sink to the base.
Hold a spoon upside down against the inside of the glass, just touching the sambuca, and pour 25ml of Irish cream slowly over it.
Serve straight away, to be drunk in one.
Our version
Recipes range from equal parts to a little more sambuca than cream. Ours is 25ml of each, with one drop of grenadine as an optional extra.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Chill both bottles. Cold liqueurs are thicker, and the cream settles on the sambuca instead of sinking into it. A shot glass from the freezer helps too. If you want the grenadine, add it straight after the sambuca and wait a few seconds for it to reach the bottom. Added after the cream, it drags a pink streak through the top layer. Pour the cream over a spoon held against the inside of the glass, just touching the surface, and keep the stream thin. Equal measures put the line exactly halfway up.
Behind the Slippery Nipple
Flavour Profile
Two Layers, One Mouthful
The Slippery Nipple is sambuca underneath and Irish cream on top, poured so the line between them stays sharp. It is meant to be drunk in one, and that is when it works: aniseed and cream reach the tongue together, and the cream softens the sambuca’s heat.
Sipped, it splits into two separate drinks, sweet cream first and then aniseed on its own.
Where It Comes From
Nobody has a recorded claim to it. It is usually grouped with the layered novelty shots of the 1980s, alongside the B-52, and its name explains much of its staying power. What can be said with confidence is the recipe, which has barely changed: sambuca and Irish cream in equal parts, the grenadine drop optional.
Why the Cream Floats
Sambuca is heavily sweetened, which makes it denser than Irish cream. Poured gently, the cream fans out over the sambuca and settles. Cold makes it easier, because chilled cream is thicker and less likely to break through.
Grenadine is heavier than both. One drop, added before the cream, sinks straight through the clear sambuca and rests at the base as a red dot.
Three cream-topped layered shots
Slippery Nipple
- Bottom layer
- 25ml white sambuca
- Top layer
- 25ml Irish cream
- UK units
- 1.4
Baby Guinness
- Bottom layer
- 30ml coffee liqueur
- Top layer
- 10ml Irish cream
- UK units
- 0.8
B-52
- Bottom layer
- 15ml coffee liqueur
- Top layer
- 15ml Irish cream, then 15ml Grand Marnier
- UK units
- 1.2
| Shot | Bottom layer | Top layer | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slippery Nipple | 25ml white sambuca | 25ml Irish cream | 1.4 |
| Baby Guinness | 30ml coffee liqueur | 10ml Irish cream | 0.8 |
| B-52 | 15ml coffee liqueur | 15ml Irish cream, then 15ml Grand Marnier | 1.2 |
Of the three, the Slippery Nipple is the strongest, because half of it is a liqueur at around 40% ABV. The Baby Guinness is the gentlest.
Choosing the Sambuca
White sambuca is the right bottle. It is clear, so the layers show, and its aniseed is sharp enough to stand up to the cream. Black sambuca is darker and heavier, and it hides the line and the grenadine.
Check an opened bottle of Irish cream before using it. One that has thickened or separated will not float cleanly, and it tastes stale against the aniseed.
How Strong It Is
With white sambuca at 40% ABV and Irish cream at 17%, one Slippery Nipple holds about 1.4 UK units in 50ml. It tastes like a sweet, and a round of them adds up faster than it seems.
Make it at home
The Spirit
SambucaSambuca is a clear Italian anise liqueur, and GB law defines it on its own terms: colourless, flavoured with distillates of anise, star anise or other herbs, with at least 350g of sugar a litre and at least 38% ABV. Most bottles sit at about 40%. It is usually taken neat after a meal, often with coffee beans in the glass, and forms the heavy bottom layer of our Slippery Nipple.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Slippery Nipple?
How strong is a Slippery Nipple?
How do you layer a Slippery Nipple?
Why did my layers mix?
Should I use black or white sambuca?
Is a Slippery Nipple the same as a Baby Guinness?
Does a Slippery Nipple contain dairy?
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Baby Guinness
A Baby Guinness is a shot of coffee liqueur with a layer of Irish cream floated on top, so it looks like a tiny pint of stout: 30ml of cold coffee liqueur in a shot glass, then 10ml of Irish cream poured slowly over the back of a spoon. There is no Guinness in it. The name comes from the look. It is drunk in one, so the cream and the coffee arrive together. It tastes of sweet coffee and cream with little burn, because the two liqueurs are around 20% and 17% ABV, and the shot holds about 0.8 UK units. No one has a documented claim to it. It became a standard round in Irish pubs and beyond, and the only skill in it is the float: cold liqueur and a slow pour keep the head sharp.
B-52
A B-52 is a layered shot: 15ml of coffee liqueur, then 15ml of Irish cream floated on it, then 15ml of Grand Marnier floated on that, built in a chilled shot glass and taken in one. About 1.2 UK units. The Irish cream contains milk. Its origin is not well documented. The usual account credits Peter Fich, head bartender at the Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, who named his new drinks after bands, albums and songs he liked; this one, the story goes, after the B-52’s. It is also traced to the Keg Steakhouse in Calgary in 1977, and to Maxwell’s Plum in New York. The three settle in that order because each is lighter than the one under it. Cold bottles, a bar spoon and a slow hand are all the build needs. Drunk in one, the top layer arrives first: orange, then cream, then coffee.
Pickleback
A Pickleback is two shots taken one after the other: 25ml of whiskey, then straight away 25ml of cold dill pickle brine. The brine’s salt and sourness take over the palate, so the whiskey’s burn seems to stop almost as soon as it starts. Ours uses Irish whiskey, the usual pour, with both glasses chilled. It began at the Bushwick Country Club, a bar in Brooklyn, in March 2006. The bartender Reggie Cunningham was eating pickles when a customer asked to drink the brine, and he paired it with a shot of Old Crow bourbon. The brine was McClure’s, made by a neighbour three buildings along. He named it a pickleback two days later. Irish whiskey, Jameson in particular, became the common pairing as it spread. Together the two shots come to about 1.2 UK units.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 11 October 2026