Paradise
A Paradise is 30ml of London Dry gin, 20ml of apricot brandy and 15ml of fresh orange juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with no garnish. About 1.7 UK units. The IBA gives these measures, and apricot brandy here means apricot liqueur. Its earliest known printing is in a book by Harry MacElhone of 1922, and it appears in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930. The proportions have shifted from book to book; the IBA’s are the modern reference. The gin gives the drink its spine and the apricot most of its flavour. The orange is short on purpose: it brightens the apricot and adds a little acid without turning the glass into juice.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish:
Ingredients
30ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV. Its juniper gives the apricot something to lean on; a soft, floral gin leaves the drink tasting mostly of liqueur.
20ml
An apricot liqueur at around 25% ABV, made from real fruit, such as Giffard or Rothman & Winter. Apricot eau de vie, the dry distillate, makes a sharp and much stronger drink and is not what the recipe means.
15ml
Squeezed the same day. Fifteen millilitres brightens the apricot and adds a little acid; carton juice tastes cooked beside fresh.
Instructions
Chill a coupe and squeeze the orange the same day.
Add the gin, apricot brandy and orange juice to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe and serve without garnish.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Buy a good apricot liqueur. It makes up nearly a third of the glass, and a cheap bottle tastes of boiled sweets. Look for one made from real fruit, at around 25% ABV. Squeeze the orange the same day and keep it to 15ml. More juice makes the drink soft and sweet; less leaves it hot. Give it a hard 10 to 12 second shake and strain it through a fine sieve as well. The orange needs the air, and the fine strainer keeps pulp and ice chips out of the coupe.
Behind the Paradise
Flavour Profile
From MacElhone to the Savoy
The Paradise first appears in print in a book by Harry MacElhone of 1922, and again in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, which carried it into most of the bar books that followed. The bartender who first made it is not known.
It had a moment of fame in 1932 as the drink shared by the two lovers in the film One Way Passage. The IBA now lists it at 30ml of gin, 20ml of apricot brandy and 15ml of orange juice.
What Apricot Brandy Means
In an old cocktail recipe, apricot brandy means an apricot liqueur: fruit, sugar and spirit, often on a brandy base, at around 25% ABV. It is not apricot eau de vie, the clear, dry distillate, which is far stronger and carries no sugar.
Good versions taste of ripe apricot with a faint bitter-almond note from the kernel. That bitterness keeps the drink from tasting like jam.
The Short Orange
At 15ml in a 65ml drink, the orange is under a quarter of the glass. It adds brightness and a little acid, and the gin and apricot do the rest. Pour more and the drink drifts towards breakfast juice with gin in it.
Gin and Apricot Drinks
The Paradise beside our Angel Face and Charlie Chaplin
Spirit
- Paradise
- 30ml gin
- Angel Face
- 30ml gin, 30ml calvados
- Charlie Chaplin
- 30ml sloe gin
Apricot brandy
- Paradise
- 20ml
- Angel Face
- 30ml
- Charlie Chaplin
- 30ml
Citrus
- Paradise
- 15ml orange
- Angel Face
- None
- Charlie Chaplin
- 30ml lime
UK units
- Paradise
- About 1.7
- Angel Face
- About 3.1
- Charlie Chaplin
- About 1.5
| Element | Paradise | Angel Face | Charlie Chaplin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | 30ml gin | 30ml gin, 30ml calvados | 30ml sloe gin |
| Apricot brandy | 20ml | 30ml | 30ml |
| Citrus | 15ml orange | None | 30ml lime |
| UK units | About 1.7 | About 3.1 | About 1.5 |
How to Serve It
Shaken hard, double strained into a chilled coupe, with no garnish. It belongs before dinner: lighter than a Martini, and fruitier than a White Lady.
With calvados in place of the orange, an Angel Face; with sloe gin and lime, a Charlie Chaplin.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Apricot BrandyApricot brandy is a liqueur made from apricots, not a brandy: the fruit soaked in spirit with sugar added, usually 20 to 30% ABV, and 25% in our recipes. British law lets a liqueur keep the old name only with the word liqueur printed beside it. In our Angel Face, Charlie Chaplin and Hotel Nacional it supplies both sugar and fruit.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Paradise cocktail?
Is apricot brandy actually brandy?
Where does the Paradise come from?
Why so little orange juice?
Does a Paradise need a garnish?
Can I add lemon juice?
How strong is a Paradise?
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 10 October 2026