And now for something,completely different.

When you think things tropical,you probably don’t think apricots. But apricot brandy features in many Tiki drinks. For example,the Book of Tiki Zombie:

Mix #21 Book of Tiki Zombie

2oz gold rum
1oz dark rum
1oz white rum
1oz lime juice
3/4oz papaya juice
3/4oz pineapple juice
½ apricot brandy
1tsp simple syrup

Shake with ice and pour into tall glass. Add a float of 151 Demerara rum.

Apricots have an interesting sweet/tart flavor that usually is the finish to drinks that use it. It works quite well as a balancer between sweet syrups and sour juices. As with most brandies,the flavor can come forward if you use too much,and that will be all you taste,so use sparingly.

Mix #49 Fruits Loops

1oz white rum
1oz gin
3/4oz pineapple mango juice*
1/2oz apricot liqueur**
1/2oz mandarin orange juice***
1/2oz passionfruit syrup

*I just mixed pineapple and mango juice together and measured off the right amount.
**I used apricot brandy.
***I used tangerine juice,which is close enough.

Shake with plenty of ice and serve in a double rocks glass.

This was created by Marie,an award winning bartender,and is featured on BG Reynold’s website. A nice,sweet,summer-y drink.

Mix #50 Golden Gun

1oz gold rum
1oz white rum
3/4oz lime juice
3/4oz simple syrup
1/2oz apricot brandy
1/2oz grapefruit juice
dash of bitters

Shake and strain over fresh ice.

Created at a Tiki Oasis event,this drink is pretty tart given the amount of simple added.

Mix #51 Blackbeard’s Ghost

1.5oz white rum
1/2oz demerara rum
1.5oz orange juice
1oz lemon juice
1oz falernum
1/2oz apricot brandy
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with plenty of ice.

Do you like falernum? Because that’s what you’ll taste when you drink this. If I was going to make this again,I’d reduce the falernum and swap in tangerine for orange juice. But I think I’ll just stick with my drink.

(Update: using velvet falernum instead of golden made it much better.)

Mix #52 Karate Punch

1.5oz light rum
1.5oz dark rum
1oz lime juice
1oz pineapple juice
1oz simple syrup
3/4oz apricot brandy

Shake with ice and pour into highball glass.

To be honest,I could take or leave this. It just doesn’t stand out as a drink. If you like apricot brandy,then you might like it.

Mix #53 Forbidden Serpent

2.5oz white rum
1oz dark rum
1/2oz apricot brandy
1/2oz peach schnapps
2oz orange juice
2oz pineapple juice
1oz lime juice

Shake with plenty of ice and pour into black mug.

From the season three episode of Tiki Bar TV,“Snake”(featuring the lovely Lala!),this drink has enough kick on its own. But I couldn’t find any peach schnapps back in 2020,so I used Peach 99 instead. At significantly more proof than schnapps,this basically turned this drink into another Zombie. You don’t hear me complaining though.

This week’s episode has been brought to you by…..the Larch.