I am trying to research an Apricot Sour. I looked on all my iPhone Apps and online but don’t seem to find one. I see an Apricot Cocktail which has gin, but is it something as simple as Apricot Brandy & lemon juice? I am looking for something historical and anything I search for has ingredients all over the place.
I was watching some YouTube mixologists late last night, and again, the recipes are all over the place. I find it hard to believe there is no “original” recipe from at least 100 years back? One guy made it with cognac, simple syrup and apricot brandy, another used actual apricots. It’s not vital, more of a curiosity thing on my end.
I’m not really sure what your question is. Are you looking for a historical drink literally called “Apricot Sour”, or are you looking for historical sours that include apricot liqueur in them?
Yes, a drink called the Apricot Sour, I know I’ve seen it on menus (even if it was decades ago), and it was my mother’s favorite, so I was hoping to do a YouTube episode on it in tribute for Mother’s Day. Thanks!
I don’t have any record of a drink by that name pre-1970s. There’s an Apricot Sour recipe in Gary Regan’s Joy of Mixology that is 2 oz apricot brandy, 1 oz lemon juice, shake/strain, garnish with maraschino cherry and half orange wheel. Sounds like a 1970s/1980s thing to me, but it’s possible the drink is earlier. It also sounds like it came from the brochure of a liqueur producer, although it is not included in Jones’.
I presume that apricot liqueur is a very old Dutch thing, but it only seems to crop up sporadically in the bar in the early 20th Century, and then become a more popular modifier with the UKBG in the 20s and 30s. The Savoy has an Apricot Cocktail that is 1/4 lemon juice, 1/4 orange juice, 1/2 apricot liqueur, and a dash of dry gin. If you made that with acid-adjusted orange juice and tweaked the ratios as necessary, it’d probably be pretty tasty. And it would be sour.
addendum:
IMO, one of the more interesting early apricot liqueur drinks is the Pendennis Cocktail (Attr. to Louis Herring, Superintendent, The Pendennis Club, Louisville, KY):
juice of 1/2 lime
3/4 oz apricot liqueur
1 1/2 oz dry gin
shake/strain
I haven’t made one in ages, so I don’t recall whether it is particularly delicious, but it at least follows classical lines.
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My first impulse upon reading this was just to use Jeffrey Mogenthaler’s Amaretton Sour spec and swap apricot liqueur for the Amaretto… maybe not a “historic” recipe, but I bet it would work fine…
I have his book on my iPhone, I will check that out, thanks!
Back in those early days of the cocktail explosion, I went through a lot of the Savoy recipes, and there are loads (relatively) of them which use apricot brandy. I love apricots, but hadn’t loved a lot of the commonly available versions. Then—probably around 2005–I found a bottle of Marie Brizard’s Apry, and that was sort of life-changing (for an apricot devotee like me). The Pendennis is definitely glorious; and I also adored Barnum Was Right— similar, but with lemon and a dash of bitters. I see there are now a zillion pages which discuss it, with the inevitable variations (which offend my sense of history!) and idiotic remarks (“it’s really just like the Aviation or the Pegu Club” noting that they all use bitters—but let’s not think about an Aviation with bitters). I like this person’s take on it, and the recipe looks right and just: The Barnum Was Right Cocktail | The Cocktail Explorer
But my fascination with all things Apry wore off before I got to the second bottle I’d scrounged here in the Twin Cities, and I haven’t seen any since. And I’m afraid that bottle has revealed its non-synthetic origins: the contents is now a tragic dark brown. How I wish I could bear to throw it out! I guess I’m waiting for it to somehow rejuvenate itself.
I’ve had the impression that Apry was extinct, but see it on several websites (in a completely different bottle from my ‘00s one)—looks like east coast distribution.
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I got a bottle of Apry in Michigan about five years ago, but it is no longer carried there. I know at least it is in stock at Liquor Barn in Wheeling, IL, if you are in the Chicago area. You can probably find any store that stocks Brizard and they will order Apry for you.
But I recommend you go to Haskell’s or Surdyk’s and try a bottle of Rothman and Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur, which I find superior to Apry.
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