Name: Taoiseach
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Irish whiskey; 10 ml Triple sec; 10 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 5 ml Grenadine syrup; 1 dash Aromatic bitters; 1 dash Orange bitters; 5 ml Chilled water

Taoiseach
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Serve in a Nick & Nora glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Irish whiskey
¹⁄₃ oz	Cointreau triple sec liqueur
¹⁄₃ oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
1 dash	Orange Bitters by Angostura
¹⁄₆ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Nick & Nora glass.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

The quality of your pomegranate (grenadine) syrup will make or break this cocktail. (Perhaps even better with groseille syrup.)

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History:

Adapted from a recipe created by Aaron Wall at his Homeboy bar in Islington, London, the Taoiseach remains one of Homeboy's signature cocktails. Originally made with Redbreast 12 pot still Irish whiskey.

Pronounced 'Tee-shock', this cocktail is named after the title of the first minister of government in Ireland. Aaron says, "Literally translated the name would mean Chieftain and this drink is a twist on an old rum drink, El Presidente – the Irish word for president is Uachtarán na hÉireann, but we thought that might be a bit tricky for the Anglo Saxon vocabulary. This drink is the perfect example of how Irish whiskey can sit in many positions, like the age rum realm, when it comes to making cocktails."

More cocktails by Aaron Wall

Nutrition:

One serving of Taoiseach contains 153 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
24.82% alc./vol. (24.82° proof)
18.8 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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John CARR

15th June at 09:53

First try of this. I can see where Simon is going with encouraging use of a homemade syrup. I used Monin pomegranate and added a dash of raw apple cider vinegar. Could imagine a variant with fresh berries also.

Romina

18th April at 02:20

smooth

Yorey C

3rd March at 20:16

for cockails with added water but "omit if using wet ice" you could also add "...or lower abv ingredients"

Calvin Grant

16th July 2024 at 03:11

Second time around I had to add a heart to the five stars!

John CARR

15th June at 16:19

Agreed. Even better on the second pass. I neglected the additional dilution the first time, but it greatly benefitted from it. Ultimately derived from a Manhattan I suppose, but the delicacy of the aromatics make it almost an “improved Manhattan cocktail” in style. I again went with a couple of mL of apple cider vinegar to freshen up the commercial pomegranate syrup.

1 reply

Scott McIsaac

15th December 2022 at 23:29

I only had 15% triple sec, so I substituted 40% Cointreau. Delicious nevertheless! This seems very similar to the Dubliner and James Joyce cocktails -- they are all riffs on a Manhattan, but with orange liqueur substituted for some of the vermouth, and perhaps some extra aromatics.

Jeremy Harrold

21st November 2022 at 17:42

Very nice. Orange and whiskey work well together. The single dashes of orange and angostura bitters was perfect. I used Pierre Ferrand’s dry Curaçao but it was still sweet enough. The vermouth and grenadine worked well.

John Hinojos

2nd January 2022 at 01:25

This is so smooth and a outstanding aperitif. Not too sweet, but you can taste all the different flavours in the cocktail. Great colour. Would do again.

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