Comments on: Raiders of the Lost Cocktail - Apricot Brandy

by: LisaRene

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:55:03 +0000

I’m not complaining, was just curious as I’ve not contributed in the past so wasn’t certain of your timeframe. You are showing true dedication by personally sampling each and every cocktail, I am quite impressed

by: The Cocktail Chronicles » Blog Archive » The Great Apricot Smackdown

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:48:56 +0000

[…] Call me a failure if you must, but I wasn’t able to power through every single one of the approximately 30 apricot-brandy cocktails that were submitted for the latest round of Raiders of the Lost Cocktail. I’m sorry — but the smell of apricots is coming out of my pores and my skin is turning orange; I may never be able to eat another piece of rugelach as long as I live. But before you come down too hard on me, keep in mind this twist on that ol’ biblical instruction: Let he who has methodically sampled more than 20 apricot-brandy cocktails without growing very sick of apricots cast the first stone. […]

by: LisaRene

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:29:10 +0000

Just wondering how you are coming along with judging all the cocktails??

by: Thomas

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:54:00 +0000

Our judges have their work cut out for them this month!

by: Chuck Taggart

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:00:39 +0000

My entry comes from Charles Baker as well, but from his later tome The South American Gentleman’s Companion, Being an Exotic Drinking Book Or, Up & Down the Andes with Jigger, Beaker & Flask. We tried a couple of different ones, tasted them last night and decided that this one came out on top.

The Pisco-Apricot Tropicál

2 ounces pisco.
1/2 ounce apricot brandy.
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice.
1 dash Angostura bitters.

Combine in a shaker with ice and shake for 10-12 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lime wheel.

Or, in Charles’ words (with an additional version):

“The PISCO-APRICOT TROPICÁLS, an Exotic Pair of Cocktails which May be Served Frozen, or Shaken as a Standard Cocktail, from Lima Country Club, Lima Peru.

If you have been able to rat-out a crock of this charming and fragrant Peruvian Grape Brandy, see Shopping Index, try these 2 to vary the Pisco Sour listed on Page 143.

2 oz Pisco Brandy
1/4 to 1/2 pony Garnier’s Apricot liqueur.
Juice 1/2 small lime.
Small dash Angostura.

Eitiher put in pre-chilled electric mixer with fine ice and serve in big champagne cocktail glass in frozen form, or shake with big ice and strain into chilled stemmed cocktail glass.

Or use same ingredients and routine, only adding 1 pony of ripe pineapple juice to the mix — whether frozen or shaken and strained. GArnish this last with thin stick of ripe pineapple.

These also may be further varied by using some other cordial than Apricot liqueur, such as: White Curaçao, Cointreau, Maraschino, peach liqueur or either type of Chartreuse. Miguel was the head bar-boy’s name. These were 2 of his specialties. Hope he’s still there if you should stay, as we did, at this lovely Club.”

Well, chances are that by now Miguel is mixing at that Great Bar in the Sky, where all the liquor is premium, there’s cold running fresh fruit juices on tap and no such thing as bottled industrial sour mix or Pucker schnapps.

I wanted to throw in another apricot brandy cocktail out of competition — it’s been published but it’s new, not vintage or lost. Even though it doesn’t fit into the rules I still want y’all to try it if you haven’t already, as it’s one of our favorites. It was concocted by my friend Daniel Reichert and is fabulously tasty, especially if you don’t omit the ingredient that was omitted in the Chronicle version due to its general lack of availability, which won’t be a problem for most of us cocktail geeks.

Jamaica Farewell
(Created by Daniel Reichert)

2 ounces Appleton Estate VX rum.
3/4 ounce apricot brandy (Dan specifies Marie Brizard Apry).
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice.
1 teaspoon pimento dram.
2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Shake with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a lime wedge.

In his Chronicle article Gary suggests kicking up this drink with Appleton Estate 21-year-old rum, and that’ll certainly make it more special. However, to make it truly special … that teaspoon of pimento liqueur transforms the drink, lifts it be an exponent or two and carries you off to the beaches of Montego Bay. Be sure to include it!

By the way, Thomas … I’ve tried the Grande Bretagne No. 1 with dry apricot eau-de-vie, and while it’s got a wonderful flavor it’s extremely dry, perhaps painfully dry to some people.

Looking forward to trying these myself!

by: Lance J. Mayhew

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:05:37 +0000

Here is my link for Raiders
http://lancejmayhew.blogspot.com/2008/02/raiders-of-lost-cocktail-2-dolly-odare.html

by: Jay Hepburn

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:42:47 +0000

My favourite cocktail from a bunch I tried using apricot brandy was the Tulip Cocktail:

1 oz Calvados
1 oz sweet vermouth
½ oz lemon juice juice
½ oz apricot brandy

Shake with ice, strain in to a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon zest twist. Taken from the Savoy Cocktail Book.

Also notable was the Claridge Cocktail:

1½ oz gin
1½ oz dry vermouth
½ oz Cointreau
½ oz apricot brandy

Again, shake with ice, strain in to a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon zest twist. Also taken from the Savoy Cocktail Book.

I also covered a few more which may be worth considering, though I think the two above are the best…

http://ohgo.sh/archive/apricot-brandy-cocktails/

by: Blair, aka Trader Tiki

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:50:42 +0000

Though the trackback will likely beat me to the punch, here’s my entry.
From Trader Vic’ Book of Food and Drink (1946)

Honi Honi*

1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce apricot brandy
1 ounce Puerto Rican Rum (Ron Merito, Boca Chica, or Brugal)

Shake well with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.

*- Means kisses in Hawaiian

See more at:
http://www.tradertiki.com/rotlc-apricot-brandy-honi-honi/

by: Flavio Prospero

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:49:39 +0000

APRIHOT

3oz. Apricot-flavored brandy

3oz. Boiling water

Combine in coffee mug with a dash of cinnamon, and garnish with an orange or lemon slice.

Mr. Boston Official bartender’s and party Guide, pag. 202

by: SeanMike

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:45:48 +0000

I had planned on waiting until tomorrow and getting my co-conspirator at the Den to help me, but then I figured, what the heck, I think I know what I want to do.

I don’t have a lot of the really old cocktail books, but I saw four recipes in Ted Haigh’s _Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails_ and a number of recipes in Gary Regan’s _The Joy of Mixology_.

I skipped a number of them that had stuff like rum in them since I didn’t feel like dealing with rum this week. I went through the rest and got rid of ones I felt were derivative of each other, or at least rather similar.

Finally I had one recipe and it was time to give it a shot - I wouldn’t make y’all drink something that I wouldn’t drink myself! So I made one, and hey - not bad. Then I realized it had Calvados in it, and that’s not exactly the most common ingredient in the world - I still get overly excited when I see a bar with it.

Thus I had to go with a different one. It’s from the same book, but had what I liked - a nice clean taste, simple construction (no ambiguities), and best of all, I didn’t have to try to make a lemon twist or something (which I’m not very good at).

It had a nice tart taste to it - I’ll be making it again when we get up to Kentucky Derby time, since it’s named for a private club in Louisville. I got it from page 102 of Haigh’s _Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails_.

Pendennis Cocktail
2 ounces gin
1 ounce apricot brandy
2 or 3 dashes Peychaud bitters
3/4 ounce lime juice

Shake in an iced shaker and strain into a cocktail glass.

My second place cocktail, with that whole Calvados problem, was this one from pages 38-39 of the same book:
The Golden Dawn
3/4 oz Calvados
3/4 oz dry gin
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz apricot-flavored brandy
3/4 oz orange juice
Shake and strain. Drop a stemless cherry into it as a garnish. Dribble some real grenadine into it (but don’t stir!). (I can’t wait to try this one with applejack, but I see that even less in bars around the DC area than Calvados.)

Anyways, hope y’all enjoy.

- SeanMike in the Scofflaw’s Den (East Falls Church outpost)