Apricot Vodka Liqueur Recipe

Fancy making a lovely liqueur in winter? In the colder, darker months of the year when there are few/no fresh fruit or flowers around in the garden or the hedgerow, you can still make some wonderful homemade drinks from fruit. The fruit just needs to be dried or frozen. Apricot Vodka Liqueur is a great recipe you can make whenever you feel the urge.

This is a reader-supported site and I am an Amazon affiliate. That means that if you purchase a product or service using my one of my links, the company compensates me at no cost to you. I only recommend books, products and services I personally use. And this a glass of delicious Apricot Vodka Liqueur made with Dried Apricots.

The principles of liqueur-making remain the same as they have always been. You steep the fruit in alcohol so the liquid takes on the taste, and often the colour, of the fruit. You generally add sugar, either before steeping or via a sugar syrup afterwards. Some liqueurs are ready to drink immediately, many benefit from a bit of time so the flavours develop.

Tempting as it is to drink liqueurs are soon as you've made them, sometimes that can taste like rocket fuel because the alcohol is still too harsh. When you leave everything to infuse, a nice softness developes over time. It really is worth the wait.

Liqueurs are more expensive to make than wines because you are adding alcohol which you have bought - in this case, vodka. However the price of fruit liqueurs has shot up over the past few years, and you can always find a cheap vodka in the supermarket. You only need to buy the cheapest you can find, because by the time you've added all the other ingredients you won't taste the original vodka anyway. So it still works out more economical to make fruit liqueurs at home than to buy them. Plus you have the satisfaction of knowing that you made them yourself. And they really are a wonderful gift for someone who likes a tipple in front of the fire in wintertime.

Why I add Glycerine

I add glycerine to this liqueur, which is a homebrewer's ingredient that is basically the same as food grade glycerine you find in the kitchen. Glycerine can do a number of things for your liqueurs. It adds that soft mouth feel you find in shop bought liqueurs which can be missing from the ones you make yourself. It can also speed up the maturing time and reduce any harshness in your drink. So it can really lift the finished liqueur to another level. However the key is not to add too much. About 5ml per litre is enough for the glycerine to work its magic.

Homemade Apricot Liqueur Recipe

Ingredients

250g (7 oz) dried apricots

200g (7 oz) granulated sugar

100 ml white wine (any will do)

400ml vodka  

2-5ml (half to 1 tsp) Glycerine

You will also need

A preserving jar with clip lid which is large enough to take all the ingredients, washed well

A sieve - I use a plastic one to avoid any reaction with metal

Muslin for straining

A saucepan

A syphon for bottling.

Method

• Rinse the apricots in water, chop them up into quarters. Place in the jar.

• Put the wine into a saucepan, heat very gently with the sugar until the sugar dissolves.

• Allow the wine and sugar to go cold, then pour over the apricots. Close the lid loosely so no fruit flies find their way in.

• Leave for 24 hours.

• Add the vodka and glycerine. Clip down the lid, swirl the jar to incorporate everything.

• Keep the jar on a shelf somewhere - not a window ledge as too much light may affect the colour. Swirl the jar whenever you're walking past at least once a day, for about a month. You don't need to open the jar as no fermentation is taking place, in fact it's better that you don't. You'll notice the liqueur going a nice shade of golden as the apricots diffuse into the vodka.

• After a month, strain the liqueur through a muslin-lined sieve. You can gently squeeze the fruit to extract as much liquid as possible.

• Cover the liqueur and leave it to settle for a few hours, then syphon it into bottles leaving any sediment behind.

• Label your liqueur with some nice labels so you remember what's inside, and when you made it.

• Store for 3 months.

Homemade Apricot Liqueur makes a lovely gift. We gave lots of it away one Christmas. Too much in fact, we hardly any left for ourselves. We didn't do that again.

Want to learn more about Making Liqueurs?

Book recommendation:

My Liqueur Making Journal contains all the information you need to start making your own liqueurs at home.

I try not to promote my books at every opportunity, but this journal really is all you need to get started making your own liqueurs at home. It includes recipes for Blackberry Whiskey, Blackcurrant Liqueur, Cherry Brandy, Cherry ‘Port’ using left over brandy-soaked cherries, Christmas Pudding Liqueur, Elderflower Liqueur, Hopped Gin, Irish Cream Liqueur, Rhubarb & Ginger Liqueur and Sloe Gin using fresh and dried sloes.