15 Apricot Cocktails to Tantalize Your Taste Buds

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Apricot Sour Cocktail — The Spruce Eats / Ali Redmond

While it may not be the first fruit you think of in the bar, apricot is a fantastic flavor for mixed drinks. Many apricot cocktails use apricot brandy, though you'll also find recipes that use apricot liqueur, apricot nectar, and fresh apricots.

Apricots pair well with a variety of fruits, including citrus fruits like lemon and orange, as well as pineapple. For spirits, you'll find classic cocktails with gin, whiskey, and rum. It's also a surprisingly good companion for sloe gin and vodka, and you can even give homemade apricot liqueur a try.

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Apricot Sunray

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Mix up the apricot sunray when you're looking for a drink that celebrates the apricot like no other. It's a brandy and Champagne fruit punch that features apricot liqueur and apricot nectar and slices of fresh apricots. To complement all that apricot, you'll also want a few lemons and blood oranges.
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Apricot Sour

The Spruce Eats / Ali Redmond

When you have a great apricot brandy, you'll want to mix up an apricot sour. Sweet and tart, it requires just two ingredients, and it's best when made with homemade sour mix.
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Stone Sour

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Building on the combination of apricot brandy and sour mix, the stone sour brings orange juice into the mix. The three ingredients are poured equally, so it's super simple, and it's an excellent brunch cocktail.
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Charlie Chaplin Cocktail

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Apricot brandy is a common ingredient in classic drink recipes. Created before Prohibition, the Charlie Chaplin cocktail pairs it with sloe gin and fresh lemon juice for a fantastic old-fashioned drink.

Apricot Brandy vs. Apricot Liqueur

Modern flavored brandies can be confusing because they're often a liqueur. Similar to grape-based brandy, true eau-de-vie apricot brandy is distilled from apricots. It's not sweetened, typically clear and bottled at 40 percent ABV (80 proof), and produced by just a few brands. More commonly, you'll find the less expensive apricot-flavored brandy. This version has a neutral spirit and/or fruit brandy base that's sweetened and flavored with apricot juice or other flavorings. Frequently orange in color and low-proof (around 24 percent to 35 percent ABV, 48 to 70 proof), the "brandy" label is misleading because these are apricot liqueurs. When shopping, look at the liquor's strength and color, check the ingredients for sugar or additives, and scan the label for the word "liqueur." When using the sweeter apricot-flavored brandy in classic cocktails, you'll likely want to reduce the drink's sweetener.

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Lita Grey Cocktail

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Lita Grey was Chaplin's wife for a brief period, and her namesake cocktail plays off the one named after her husband. A modern recipe, the Lita Grey cocktail adds gin and Champagne to the mix and specifically calls for apricot liqueur.
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Autumnal Temptations

The Spruce Eats / Madhumita Sathishkumar

You can make some fantastic mocktails with apricot nectar. It's commonly found in grocery stores' soda and juice section and comes in a pop-top can. In the autumnal temptations recipe, it's mixed with agave nectar, grapefruit juice, and lavender soda.
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Baltimore Bang

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Apricot brandy often plays backup to other distilled spirits, and in the Baltimore Bang it's paired with bourbon. Lemon juice and a touch of sugar produce an ideal balance of sweet and sour for this fruity twist on the classic whiskey sour.
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Apricot Pie Cocktail

The Spruce Eats

The apricot pie cocktail is an intriguing option, especially for dinner if you're a fan of rum. Light rum and sweet vermouth are accented with apricot brandy, grenadine, and lemon juice to create a sort of rum martini with a delicate fruity sweetness.

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Idonis

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In the Idonis recipe, apricot brandy finds its way into a tropical mix. You'll need pineapple juice and vodka, and it's one of the easiest apricot cocktails you can shake up.

Dragon Fruit Martini Recipe
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Millionaire Cocktail No. 1

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The millionaire cocktail no. 1 is a classic made with a trio of liquors. The mix of rum, sloe gin, and apricot brandy with a hint of lime and grenadine is sure to tantalize your taste buds.
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Boston Cocktail

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Apricot brandy also pairs well with gin, and the Boston Cocktail is an excellent example of how well the duo works. It's a simple mix of equal parts gin and apricot brandy with hints of grenadine and lemon, and it's quite delightful.
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Thanksgiving Cocktail

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

For a drier gin recipe, the Thanksgiving cocktail is an excellent choice. Dry vermouth and lemon juice accent the gin and apricot brandy combo so well that you won't want to reserve this drink for the holidays.

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Valencia Cocktail

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

The Valencia Cocktail is a simple apricot brandy and orange juice drink accented with orange bitters. It's perfect for brunch and incredibly easy to mix up. If you'd like to add some sparkle, open a bottle of bubbly or add a splash of club soda.
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Paradise Cocktail

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Bring gin back into the mix and enjoy a paradise cocktail. Gin's botanical flavor is a great foundation for apricot brandy and orange juice, which should be freshly squeezed to create the best-tasting drink.
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Apricot Liqueur

The Spruce Eats / Zorica Lakonic

When fresh apricots are at their best, put the fruit to good use and make your own apricot liqueur. Gently spiced with a gin and white wine base, it can be enjoyed on its own or in any cocktail recipe that calls for apricot liqueur or brandy.

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