Zwack Pecsetes Barack Pálinka, aka Hungarian Apricot Brandy. This was one of my very first bottles of the non-standard stuff after starting out with my homebar. I saw a lot of recipes calling for “apricot brandy” and picked this up, not knowing much about it.

Turns out, there are two common interpretations of apricot brandy: one is basically a sweet apricot liqueur, and the other is the traditional dry (non-sweet) version more reminiscent of your standard 40% ABV spirits, though obviously with significant fruity tones (given it’s made from fermented and distilled fruits).

This Zwack bottle falls into the latter category, and pálinka is just a Hungarian style of straight pure fruit-distilled spirit (barack = apricot). As brandy is a spirit made from fruit (any fruit – grapes, apples, apricots, pears, cherries, etc), the sweetened liqueur version typically just adds additional fruit juice to the distilled brandy to bring down the proof and up the fruit flavor intensity. Technically that version is “brandy liqueur” (liqueur made from a brandy) but it’s commonly referred to as just “brandy,” resulting in the confusion. (be wary of cheap artificial versions – if it’s priced similarly to a fake artificial syrup, it probably tastes like one)

Typically in old cocktail recipes, if the recipe seems to be missing other sweet elements (i.e. syrups or other liqueurs) and calls for an “apricot brandy,” I would assume this refers to the sweetened liqueur, and if it seems to use “apricot brandy” as a base that is accompanied by other sweet ingredients, it most likely refers to the dry spirit.