Last summer I picked up a bunch of apricots at a farm stand in Central Washington. They turned out to be a little bland, but I decided to try making an apricot-vanilla liqueur. So with a pound or two of apricots, some sugar, half a split vanilla bean, and a bottle of vodka, I let the mixture infuse for two months. It still wasn’t a strong enough apricot flavor for my taste, so I added a half pound of chopped, dried apricots, and let it infuse another three weeks. It was very tangy and had a very strong apricot flavor.  This cocktail recipe uses that apricot-vanilla liqueur.

Kentucky Apricot

1 1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur

1 1/2 oz Kentucky Bourbon

3-4 dashes cranberry bitters (or other tart/fruity bitters) we used our house made bitters

long lemon twist

Shake with ice, strain and serve with lemon twist.

What I really like about having all of our house-made liqueurs is being able to experiment with new cocktail flavors.  I am certainly no mixologist. But I do have fun trying new cocktails and mixing up something new! My cold Friday evening just got a little warmer…

Cheers!