Holy Joe Cocktail

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (71 ratings)
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    Holy Joe Cocktail

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Holy Joe Cocktail image

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 oz Irish whiskey
3⁄4 oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
1⁄2 oz Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
1⁄4 oz Cynar or other carciofo amaro
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 8/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

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

View readers' comments

History:

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

Nutrition:

One serving of Holy Joe Cocktail contains 180 calories

Alcohol content:

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

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Caspian Berggren’s Avatar Caspian Berggren
13th February at 20:10
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.
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Greg Klump’s Avatar Greg Klump
17th November 2024 at 21:59
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 :)
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John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
1st January 2024 at 03:42
FYI Diffords team: the image for this cocktail on the 20 best Cynar recipes shows drink in a long glass.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
1st January 2024 at 10:05
Many thnaks for letting me know, John. Images should now be for the correct cocktails.
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John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
1st January 2024 at 03:44
… 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.
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Ian Fenton’s Avatar Ian Fenton
18th August 2023 at 10:46
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.
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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
18th April 2023 at 04:22
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.
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Chris Brislawn’s Avatar Chris Brislawn
4th March 2023 at 03:52
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.
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Maho Lomez’s Avatar Maho Lomez
11th December 2022 at 01:56
I found this quite sweet but did enjoy the apricot flavour and the bitter finish from the Cynar.
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Zachary Beard’s Avatar Zachary Beard
21st November 2022 at 04:41
Used Luxardo Albicocca for this one. Lovely development from front to back.
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Lynette Clayton’s Avatar Lynette Clayton
6th February 2022 at 00:01
Wow, it brings out the apricot so much. The apricot brandy on it's own has a bit of a kick. The combo of the Cynar and the apricot brandy is great. I used a Hungarian Agardi Palinka Apricot brandy
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