Thanks for the clarification. I’ll read more slowly after this!

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It’s good to hear from you, Bruce. As you suggest, most of what we buy as “apricot brandy” in the US is, indeed, liqueur, not proper brandy directly distilled from apricot juice. (To R&W’s credit, they seem to include some portion of “real” brandy in their product.)

I would love to try Zwack’s brandy sometime, but I’ve never found it in my Minneapolis region—which puts me in the same boat as most of the rest of the country. I suspect that a Nacional made with the Zwack (or the two three other artisan apricot brandies I’ve heard of) would be a bit less sweet. It would be interesting to see if that’s and improvement, or if you’d want to doctor the drink with a bit of sugar. I look forward to being able to find out some day.

Thanks for raising the issue!

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I’m still learning a few things so I thought you might clarify something for me. You refer to the Rothman and Winter Apricot Liqueur as a brandy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but strictly speaking it’s not a brandy. It’s, well, a liqueur. I happen to have an actual apricot brandy (Zwack Pecsetes Barack Palinka Apricot Brandy – say that 3 times fast!). Liqueur versus brandy – is it just the amount of sugar that’s different? Other key differences? Are the apricot liqueur and apricot brandy interchangeable here?

Thanks and enjoyable post as always.
Bruce

Thank you, Bruce, I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s great to hear from you, thanks for commenting!