Name: Angel Face
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Gin; 30 ml Calvados apple brandy; 30 ml Apricot liqueur; 10 ml Chilled water; 1 swath Lemon peel

Angel Face
Jump to

Keep screen awake

Glass:

Photographed in an Urban Bar Alto Coupe 18cl

Ingredients:
1 fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 fl oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
1 fl oz	Luxardo Apricot Albicocca Liqueur
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice
1 swath	Lemon peel

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest and apple wedge or (dehydrated) apple slice..

How to make:

REGAL STIR all ingredients (including lemon zest) with ice.
STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

Express lemon zest twist and discard. Garnish with apple wedge on rim or float (dehydrated) apple slice.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

26th July 2026 is The anniversary of The Great Los Angeles Smog

Review:

Rich apricot and apple with a backbone of botanical gin. Balanced rather than dry or sweet.

This cocktail looks better when stirred, but Harry Craddock's original 1930 recipe is shaken, and the extra dilution helps mellow this spirit-forward classic. Hence, I've added a splash of water to increase the dilution of the stirred recipe. Although an act of heresy, a splash of processed and packaged clear "apple juice drink" also works in place of added chilled water.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book which stipulates "Shake well and strain into cocktail glass," rather than to stir as modern convention dictates.

ANGEL FACE COCKTAIL.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Apricot Brandy.
1/3 Calvados.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

More cocktails by Harry Craddock

Alcohol content:

We don't have enough information to calculate the alc./vol., but based on known ingredients, this recipe contains at least:

26.3 grams of pure alcohol

More Classic/vintage cocktails
More Romantic & Valentine's Day cocktails
More Short & stirred cocktails
More Spirit-forward cocktails

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.

Join the discussion

Showing 10 of 21 comments for Angel Face.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Jeff Newcastle

9th May at 18:21

Made as instructed but stirred for longer rather than adding a splash of water. Didn’t think I was going to enjoy it but this one is great. Definitely one for my rotation.

Loz Horner

14th February at 17:34

Lovely sipper. Though agree with the comments about sweetness depending on your brand of apricot brandy. We used Briottet which I would say is on the sweeter side so you could lessen the quantity a little.

Ruth Harvey

13th February at 19:54

Instead of the de Kuyper Apricot brandy liqueur I used equal measures of de Kuyper Sour Apple, Hallunke Apricot brandy (bought years ago in Halle)and Merlot Lune d'Abricot. It was delicious. Bright, Fruity and a perfect balance of sweet & dry.

Bocman

14th January at 17:26

The dry-sweet balance in this one is crucial. I believe it really depends on the type of apricot liqueur you use 🍑

Reg and Rog

19th September 2025 at 23:17

This is an excellent and refreshing summertime cocktail. As one who prefers drier cocktail options, I have leaned into making this now with dry apricot eau-de-vie instead of an apricot liqueur. While Harry Craddock didn't really specify whether he meant eau-de-vie or liqueur when he gave his recipe for this cocktail, I tend to believe that "apricot brandy" at this time would have meant eau-de-vie. Nevertheless, both versions are great!

Calvin Grant

5th April 2025 at 02:58

Just revisited and still excellent. Added lots of lemon peel and a long.... stir. Tanqueray export strength, Rothman & Winter Apricot, and a decent fruity V.S. Calvados rang all the right bells! ♡♡♡♡♡