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Holy Joe

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (104)
Holy Joe image
Measurements in:
Serves:
1
Ingredients
1 1⁄2 fl oz Irish whiskey
3⁄4 fl oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
1⁄2 fl oz Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
1⁄4 fl oz Cynar or other carciofo amaro

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

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How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Coupe glass

Prepare

  1. Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

Method

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Holy Joe contains 180 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.5 standard drinks
  • 23.92% alc./vol. (47.83° proof)
  • 21.6 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

History

Adapted from a recipe created in 2016 by John Robinson, beverage manager at The Hive in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Review

An Irish whiskey-based, bittersweet aperitif cocktail that works equally well as a nightcap.

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$2.37 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 16.5 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.


Orders are processed by a licensed Fulproof retailer. The buy now button is added simply for convenience.

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* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

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Comments & Discussion

Peter M Premium Member
1.5 fl oz The Busker Blended Irish Whiskey, 0.75 fl oz Dolin Rouge, 0.5 fl oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur, & 0.25 fl oz Cynar seemed to work well for me. Bittersweet, but leaning more towards the bitter side of the equation. Apricot was subtle, and everything blended together well. I appreciate the fairly unexpected combination of ingredients. I think it could work in an old-fashioned glass with ice, too, especially if you're worried about it being too sweet.
score: 0
Simon Sedgley Premium Member
To nudge this up to five stars, we use Busker Single Pot Still, La Quintinye Vermouth Royal and Merlet Lune d'Abricot. And we split the bitters equally, 5ml each, between Cynar and Campari. We call it the "Jolly Hoe", perhaps the most Irish of agricultural implements.
score: 1
John CARR Premium Member
Some really nice flavours going on here. Consensus seems to be that you’ll need to balance based on your ingredients and taste. As caspian points out, think Manhattan bittersweetness. Jameson black barrel, Dolin rouge. Could up the whiskey for my mood tonight. Would love to try with vermouth Di Torino - in the post, apparently.
score: 1
Caspian Berggren Premium Member
Sometimes I feel like the comments and the drink just don't match at all and this is one of those times. That probably means that it varies a lot based on what you use so just for reference I used West Cork Black Label, Perlino Vermouth, De Kuyper Apricot and Cynar. I don't feel that the drink is too sweet at all compared to something like a Manhattan. The Cynar brings out some really interesting flavours from the Apricot liqueur. The Whiskey is there to provide some buttery and charred notes.
score: 3
Greg Klump
Was concerned that sweet vermouth would overpower/mask the Irish whiskey & liqueur*, so I subbed Bianco**. To my taste, Cynar was a bit too forward so I subbed Nonino on my 2nd go at it. Adding a smidge of verjus brought it to life. Will use my riff as a template with other liqueurs***.

* Sexton, in my case
** Vittore, in my case
*** indeed, I used this as a template with Menaud Camerise. It's not terribly sweet, so I upped it to 3/4 oz to to bring the fruit forward. Cocktail was moreish :)
score: 0
John CARR Premium Member
FYI Diffords team: the image for this cocktail on the 20 best Cynar recipes shows drink in a long glass.
score: 1
John CARR Premium Member
… looks like the jeez Louise and holy Joe images in that page have swapped over. … great names and both great drinks by the way! Both worth trying.
score: 2
Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member
Many thnaks for letting me know, John. Images should now be for the correct cocktails.
score: 2
Ian Fenton
I used proportions as per the recipe and found it spirit-forward rather than sweet, so it may depend on your whiskey/vermouth/apricot brandy combination.

It was pleasant, but not that interesting.
score: 2
John Hinojos Premium Member
Used Bushmills and followed Chris Brislawn's advice and upped to 1 3/4 oz. Originally found it a bit too sweet and the additional whiskey helped. Found it very nice for an evening cocktail.
score: 3
Chris Brislawn
I was also worried that the proportions looked a bit sweet so upped the Irish (Dunville Three Crowns) to 1 3/4 oz. A healthy squeeze of lemon zest helps, too. Used Drillaud Apricot liqueur and Carpano Classico Rosso. The Dunville meshed nicely with the other flavors without getting lost and the Cynar kept it bracing. A winner.
score: 2
Maho Lomez
I found this quite sweet but did enjoy the apricot flavour and the bitter finish from the Cynar.
score: 2

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Difford’s Shop logo
$2.37 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 16.5 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.


Orders are processed by a licensed Fulproof retailer. The buy now button is added simply for convenience.

Checkout

* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

Visit Difford’s Shop USA

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