Pousse Cafes are a category of drinks that consist of layering liqueurs of varying densities carefully on top of each other; the process is, in my opinion, tedious, though the results are visually appealing (if a bit odd flavorwise). The ABC consists of equal parts Amaretto, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Cointreau. These were relatively easy to layer--I guess this is a beginner's pousse cafe.

I attempted the much more complicated Pousse Cafe that Dale uses to introduce the category, and it has 7 layers. It started out as a beautiful drink but then one of the layers tricked another layer to switch places with it (the result, I guess, of the green Creme de Menthe I used being of a different density than the one Dale uses) Ultimately the drink began to look like a disaster and I scrapped the project for another day.

The ABC Pousse Cafe, with three layers, proved to be much easier than the7-layered Pousse Cafe that is found elsewhere in the book. If I had hit the top layer just right, it would be clear, but my hands proved not to be as steady as I thought they were!

Note: The reason why we decided to do Pousse Cafes last night is because we were out of ice. No ice = no cocktails, an important thing to remember if you plan on embarking on a journey such as this one.