The Golden Apricot Martini

The Golden Apricot Martini tastes of sitting on a porch amid wildflowers and a warm summer breeze.

This Golden Apricot Martini idea has been dancing around in my head for quite some time. I’ve wanted to come up with a drink that tastes of the summer apricots and wildflowers of my childhood. If you read my posts you know my history with apricots, and you can read about apricot pie HERE. The Golden Apricot is a lovely drink for any occasion. This cocktail is not one of those overly sweet cocktails that is full of sugar, I’ve tried to balance the apricot with Honey Flavored Vodka and just a little agave syrup. I had tried to use St Germain in an earlier version, and I decided to take it out as I wanted the apricot flavor to really shine here and not just to be one of the components.

One of my favorite vodkas is Honey flavored Vodka from Spring44. On one of my many visits to Loveland Colorado to visit my close friends, they introduced me to this incredible flavored vodka. Spring44 is distilled right there in Loveland and makes an excellent gin vodka and this Honey Flavored Vodka. I love to just sip it with a single ice cube as an easy after dinner drink or on a lazy afternoon sit’in on a porch.

The name honey vodka would make you think that this wonderfully balanced vodka would be cloyingly sweet. That is far from the truth. This vodka just has the essence of honey without the sweetness. Honey flavored vodka tastes of warm summer afternoons and wildflowers that will make even the bitterest cold of a winter’s night into a tasty warm memory of summers past. If you have not tried some of this fantastic vodka I definitely recommend you go out and pick up a bottle, you won’t be disappointed.

It took me a bit to really get the flavor of the apricot just right. I always knew I wanted to use the Honey Flavored Vodka but how to get the apricot flavor right? I tried apricot nectar; I tried to use just apricot liquor. But in the end, muddling the vodka-soaked dried apricots and double straining the cocktail in addition to the apricot liqueur seemed to do the trick.  If you can’t find an apricot liqueur, you most certainly could substitute Peach schnapps, it would do the trick. The key to getting some of the flavor from the dried apricots was soaking them for an hour or more in some of the vodka ahead of time, the apricots became soft enough to get loads of flavor from them. You will only need about 1 tablespoon of the macerated dried apricots. The remaining will keep for several weeks in the fridge. It is, after all, preserved in vodka!

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The Golden Apricot Martini

A delicious Martini flavored with Honey Vodka and apricots

Course: cocktails

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apricots, cocktail, honey vodka

Servings: 1 martini

Ingredients

Macerated dried apricots

• 8 dried apricots finely chopped
• ¼ cup vodka the honey flavored works great

The Golden Martini

• 2 oz Honey Flavored Vodka
• 1 oz apricot liqueur
• ¼ oz agave syrup
• ¼ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ½ oz macerated dried apricots, about 1 tablespoon
• cubed dried apricots for garnish

Instructions

To make the macerated dried apricots.

Place the finely chopped dried apricots in a small jar or little bowl.

1. Add the vodka, cover and let sit for at least one hour or even overnight.
2. Mash the dried apricots with a fork until they resemble a paste.

3. The macerated dried apricots will keep covered in the refrigerator for a month or so.

The make the Golden Apricot Martini.

1. Chill a martini glass in the freezer or fridge until cold
2. In a cocktail shaker add the vodka, apricot liqueur, the agave syrup, lemon juice, and ½ ounce (about 1 tablespoon) of the macerated dried apricots.
3. Fill the shake with ice, cover and shake vigorously for several minutes until the shaker is ice cold.
4. Double strain by using the strainer in the shaker and a mesh strainer into a chilled martini glass.
5. Garnish with some cubed dried apricots.