Angel Face
An Angel Face is 30ml each of gin, apricot brandy and calvados, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with no garnish. About 3.1 UK units. The measures match the IBA’s. It first appears in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, printed without a story. Who made it, and where the name came from, is not recorded. There is no citrus, no bitters and no syrup, so the three bottles have to balance one another. The juniper of the gin dries the apricot, the calvados brings dry apple between them, and the apricot sweetens the join. It tastes gentler than it is: two of the three are full-strength spirits, and the third is a liqueur at around 24%.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: None
Ingredients
30ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV, with clear juniper. It dries the apricot; a soft contemporary gin leaves the drink sweet.
30ml
A fruit liqueur at around 24% ABV that tastes of ripe apricot and a little kernel bitterness. It is the only sweetener in the glass, so a bottle tasting of boiled sweets sinks the drink.
30ml
Normandy apple brandy at 40% ABV: dry apple with a little oak, and more depth than generic apple brandy. It gives the gin something to land on.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer.
Add the gin, apricot brandy and calvados to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe.
Serve without garnish.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Buy the apricot brandy with care. The name covers fruit liqueurs that taste of ripe apricot and a little kernel, and cheap ones that taste of boiled sweets. At a third of the drink, that difference is the drink. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain. Three strong ingredients and no juice need the chill and the water, and a hard shake gives both, with a faint texture besides. Use calvados rather than a generic apple brandy. Its dry, slightly rustic apple is what gives the juniper something to land on.
Behind the Angel Face
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Angel Face first appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book, which Harry Craddock compiled in London in 1930. He printed it without a story, and none has been reliably supplied since.
It has outlasted most of the equal-parts drinks in that book, and the IBA now lists it among its official cocktails, at 30ml of each.
Three Bottles, No Juice
Most drinks this strong lean on citrus or bitters for balance. The Angel Face uses its own three parts: juniper against apricot, apple between them, and the liqueur sweetening the seam.
With nothing added from outside, each bottle can be tasted in the glass, and a weak one shows within a sip.
The Bottles Themselves
Apricot brandy is the bottle most likely to let it down. The good ones are fruit liqueurs made from macerated apricots; the poor ones are thin and sugary, and they turn the drink into a boiled sweet.
Calvados is the other choice. Normandy apple brandy is drier and more rustic than generic apple brandy, and it is what gives the gin something to land on.
Why It Is Shaken
Drinks made only of spirits and liqueurs are usually stirred. The IBA shakes this one.
A hard shake chills and dilutes faster than a stir, and it gives the drink a faint texture. With three strong bottles and no juice, that extra water is what makes the first sip easy.
The IBA and Ours
The Angel Face: the IBA’s measures beside ours
Gin
- IBA
- 30ml
- Ours
- 30ml London Dry
Apricot brandy
- IBA
- 30ml
- Ours
- 30ml
Calvados
- IBA
- 30ml
- Ours
- 30ml
Method
- IBA
- Shaken, strained
- Ours
- Shaken hard 10 to 12 seconds, double strained
Glass
- IBA
- Chilled cocktail glass
- Ours
- Chilled coupe
Garnish
- IBA
- None
- Ours
- None
| Element | IBA | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Gin | 30ml | 30ml London Dry |
| Apricot brandy | 30ml | 30ml |
| Calvados | 30ml | 30ml |
| Method | Shaken, strained | Shaken hard 10 to 12 seconds, double strained |
| Glass | Chilled cocktail glass | Chilled coupe |
| Garnish | None | None |
How to Serve It
Up, in a chilled coupe, without garnish, and one at a time. At about 3.1 units it is stronger than a Last Word, though it tastes softer.
For another equal-parts drink, make a Last Word; for apricot brandy with gin and orange juice, a Paradise.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. GB law requires juniper to lead the taste and sets a 37.5% ABV floor; the usual bottle is 40%. The law grades it by how the flavour gets in, from plain gin through distilled gin to London gin, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in an Angel Face?
Where does the Angel Face come from?
Why does it work without citrus?
Which apricot brandy should I buy?
Why is an all-spirit drink shaken?
How strong is an Angel Face?
You Might Also Like
Last Word
A Last Word is 22.5ml each of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled Nick & Nora or coupe. About 2.9 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s; the cherry or lime twist is ours. It comes from the Detroit Athletic Club, where it was on the menu by 1916. Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up of 1951 credits the vaudeville performer Frank Fogarty with taking it to New York. In 2003 the Seattle bartender Murray Stenson found it in Saucier’s book and put it on the menu at the Zig Zag Café, and from there it spread. Four strong flavours at equal volume, and none takes over. Chartreuse brings herbs and heat, maraschino cherry and a bitter almond edge, lime the acid, and gin holds them together.
Paper Plane
A Paper Plane is 30ml each of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and fresh lemon juice, shaken hard and double strained into a chilled coupe. Four equal parts, which is the IBA specification: bitter orange, herbs and lemon over bourbon, at about 2.6 UK units. Sam Ross created it around 2008, working with Sasha Petraske, as a favour for Toby Maloney’s bar The Violet Hour in Chicago. It took its name from the M.I.A. song Paper Planes, which the two had playing while they worked on it. The first version used Campari; Ross found it too bitter and moved to Aperol. Equal parts leaves nowhere to hide. Squeeze the lemon the same day and use Nonino, not a cheaper amaro, because each ingredient is a quarter of the drink.
Widow’s Kiss
A Widow’s Kiss is 45ml of calvados, 22.5ml of yellow Chartreuse, 22.5ml of Bénédictine and two dashes of Angostura, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a cherry. About 3.7 UK units, which is more than it tastes. It appears in George Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks of 1895: one pony of apple brandy, half a pony each of yellow Chartreuse and Bénédictine and two dashes of Angostura, shaken and strained into a fancy cocktail glass. Our measures keep his two, one, one; we stir it and add a cherry. The calvados brings apple and a spirit backbone, the Bénédictine honey and spice, the yellow Chartreuse saffron and herbs. The bitters are the only dry note in the glass, and they keep two liqueurs from settling into syrup.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026