The Story Behind the Absolut Haring Signature Cocktails

In celebration of the 2025 Absolut Haring artist edition release – a collaboration between Absolut Vodka and artist Keith Haring – the Absolut Drinks Team crafted three Haring-inspired cocktails to mark the occasion.

In this post we chat to Ricardo ‘Rico’ Dynan, Bartender and Absolut Vodka Global Brand Ambassador to learn more about the Absolut Haring Fizz and take a look at the Absolut Haring Collins.

So then…

What is the Absolut Haring Fizz?

Much like Haring’s art, the Absolut Haring Fizz stands as a masterpiece in its own right. This drink is a bold East-meets-West fusion: crisp apple, zesty orange and toasted sesame with a kick of ginger, while its golden yellow hue mirrors Haring’s original Absolut artwork.

What is the Absolut Haring Collins?

The Absolut Haring Collins is a shake-and-serve cocktail that mixes Absolut Vodka, fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice, spicy ginger syrup, and crisp, effervescent soda water. Best of all, the Absolut Haring Collins is an easy-to-make drink. Simply shake the ingredients with ice in a shaker, then double strain the cocktail into a Collins glass before topping up with soda water and garnishing with orange zest. The result is a drink that’s citrusy, clean, bubbly and spicy. These characteristics perfectly represent Haring’s lively works and boundary-pushing style.

Inspiration behind the Absolut Haring Fizz

Where the Absolut Haring Collins can be made in just minutes, the Absolut Haring Fizz requires a bit of prep, including allowing some of the ingredients to refrigerate overnight. Like great art, some creations are simply worth the wait – just like Warhol’s Milk Punch, which Rico created for the 2024 Absolut Warhol limited edition release. Despite their obvious differences, we asked Rico about how the creation of the Absolut Haring Fizz differed from the process for Warhol’s Milk Punch.

“With Warhol’s signature cocktail, we created to celebrate the rediscovery of his blue painting, we devised a drink that we thought he would like. We were fortunate, as there were plenty of stories about his sweet tooth and his love for cornflakes, which were the inspiration behind Warhol’s Milk Punch,” explains Rico.

“With Keith Haring, such information wasn’t as readily available and so we started to delve into his art,” continues Rico. “His drawings are brilliantly simple and so we looked at simple ingredients – oranges, apples and lemons, but explored how we could create something a little more complex with them. We also wanted to include ingredients that would be a nod to his love of Asian food.”

Making the Absolut Haring Fizz

The Absolut Haring Fizz is a truly unique cocktail made with sesame-washed Absolut Vodka, orange and lemon sherbet, apple and ginger foam, soda water, and is garnished with black sesame seeds.

“Creating new cocktails is always a case of trial and error, but we ended up with a drink using a lemon and orange sherbet that unintentionally came out almost the exact color of Haring’s original Absolut painting,” says Rico.

This drink from scratch requires two days, where the ingredients need to sit in the refrigerator overnight. But like great art, patience is part of the process.

“The orange and lemon sherbet is basically an oleo saccharum, which is Latin for an oily sugar. It’s made using equal parts orange and lemon zest and sugar, which you cover and leave overnight so the sugar draws in the oil,” explains Rico. “By the morning, the sugar has melted and once strained, you are left with a very intense, phenomenal tasting citrus-flavored oil that is made from everyday ingredients.”

Start by mixing apple juice, ginger syrup, lemon juice, and egg whites, then transfer the blend into a Nitro Siphon Canister. Charge it up with two N₂O cartridges and let it chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Once day two arrives, it’s time to bring the Absolut Haring Fizz to life. But before we dive in, there’s one more crucial component of the drink that deserves our attention.

Absolut Haring Fizz: An Asian Inspired Cocktail

“Given Haring’s connection to Asia, we were very keen to add some sesame flavor,” shares Rico. “We initially looked at using a sesame paste and sesame oil, but we decided to revert to a ‘fat washing’ technique because we wanted the flavor, but without the oiliness or thick paste.”

“Fat washing is a process where you typically add fat to alcohol, let the fat solidify and take it away. In this case, we used sesame oil instead of fat,” explains Rico.

“When you take the mixture of sesame oil and alcohol out of the freezer, you’re left with a spirit that has a luxurious taste of sesame. It was then simply a case of combining all the elements, shaking the sesame vodka with the sherbet, applying foam on top and garnishing with a thick black sesame line.”

You can find the full cocktail recipe for the Absolut Haring Fizz on AbsolutDrinks.com.