Alaskan Duck Fart (Yucky Name, Yummy Shot) Recipe

OK, we know what you're thinking: "Why would I consume anything with the word fart in it?" We get it. And despite what it looks like (you know, a duck bill is orange.. a duck body is white...you get the picture), this shot is delicious.

Made up of coffee liqueur, Irish cream, and whiskey, it's a potent but sweet shot that goes down easily. As you can imagine, the mixture of the three liquors is a dangerous one — first, the sharp taste of whiskey is followed by the super-sweet flavor of Irish cream, then complemented quickly with the last few drops of coffee-flavored liqueur. The magic in this shot (and what separates it from a white Russian) is that it is layered in a shooter glass, gently poured down the spine of a good bar spoon. The shot takes on a surprisingly striking composition and is a perfect mix of familiar flavors.

If you don't want to scream "duck fart" across a crowded bar, our recipe with Michelle McGlinn should help make it easy to whip up at home. And honestly, despite the name, it's a pretty cool party trick to try in front of friends. Who knew?

The shot only requires three ingredients that you may already have in your bar at home. First, you'll need coffee liqueur. It is most common to use Kahlúa, though any coffee flavored liqueur will do the trick. Next is Baileys Irish Cream, which again, can be swapped for another Irish cream liqueur but there's hardly any reason to. The final layer is whiskey, which is the most versatile layer as far as swaps go. Any fairly smooth, neutral-tasting whiskey will work here, but to stay authentic to the traditional Duck Fart, we recommend using Crown Royal, a Canadian whiskey.

Pour Kahlúa into a shot glass.

Align a bar spoon diagonally into the glass, resting just over the Kahlúa. Pour the Irish cream over the spoon and into the drink.

Keep the bar spoon in the same position and pour the whiskey onto the spoon and into the glass, layering over the cream.

Serve immediately.

So you've just poured your second and third layers and you're left with a sort of ugly, muddy looking shot glass. Yep, we've been there; it's not as easy as it looks. If this happens to you, don't scrap the drink entirely, just transfer it to a rocks glass and add ice to serve as a cocktail. 

The trick to layering the liqueurs is holding the bar spoon at just the right angle so that the liquid is dispersed over a larger surface area and floats over the previous layer instead of sinking into it. To do this in such a small glass, hold the bar spoon at a diagonal angle, touching the tip of the spoon to the side of the glass and just slightly inside the previous layer. Pour the liquid as slowly as possible over the back of the spoon so that it drizzles down the back and across the drink. As long as you're pouring slowly, steadily, and over the back of a spoon, the layers will form easily. And don't try to switch the layers around – the floating layers also depend on the density of each liquid, which varies greatly in alcohol.

There are many theories and stories about where, exactly, the duck fart was invented. Surely, such a simple shot had been made by bartenders before, but in Alaska the tradition stuck, as did the funny name. According to Anchorage Press, the shot was formulated by bartender Dave Schmidt at a bar called Peanut Farm on a snowy December day in late 1987. It's rumored that a 70-year-old woman came in and sat at the bar, and because of the slow day, began experimenting with Schmidt to create new drink combinations. When she drank the layered, whiskey-topped drink, she let out a distinct noise, a muffled burp that sounded almost like, well a duck fart.

And so as simple as that, the name was created, or so they say; some Oregonians still lay claim to the name, though with much less interesting stories. As for us, we think we'll let Alaskans take this one.

While it's possible you've never encountered an Alaskan duck fart in the wild (what a bizarre statement!), you might be more familiar with a similar shooter known as a B-52. Just like the Alaskan duck fart, a B-52 shot is composed of three distinct layers. In fact, two of the three layers are the same: You start by pouring in the Kahlúa (or other coffee liqueur), then carefully floating the Baileys Irish Cream over it. The final ingredient in a B-52 is not whiskey, but rather Grand Marnier, an orange liqueur blended with cognac. The result is a shot that's a bit sweeter than the Alaskan duck fart, with a citrus note that can complement the coffee and vanilla notes found in the other two ingredients.

A common B-52 variation is a flaming B-52, in which the bartender will float some overproof alcohol over the shot and set it ablaze for some added dramatic flair. You could follow suit and throw fire into the mix with this concoction as well, but a "flaming Alaskan duck fart" sounds, well, horrifying.