Apricot and Coffee Highball Recipe
A Scotch and tonic with extra depth: a little peated Islay whisky for smoke, and small measures of coffee and apricot liqueur for roast and stone fruit.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Highball glass
- ABV: 12%
- Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- Scotch whisky45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Islay Scotch whisky15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Coffee liqueur7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
- Apricot brandy7.5 ml (0.3 oz)
- Tonic water105 ml (3.6 oz)
How to Make It
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Add both whiskies and both liqueurs and stir to chill.
- Top with the tonic water and give one gentle stir.
- Express a lemon peel over the glass and drop it in.
Garnish
Lemon peel
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone, smoke dominates the nose, there is roasted coffee in it and it drinks cool and easy.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A tall, narrow highball. The narrowness does real work — less surface area means the carbonation lasts longer and the ice melts more slowly.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Scotch whisky
- Scotch. Blends are soft and grainy, single malts have more character. Unless the recipe says Islay, picking a smoky bottle will throw the drink out of balance.
- Islay Scotch whisky
- Whisky from Islay, made with barley dried over peat smoke — it smells of the sea and of soot. A few drops change a whole drink, which is why most recipes use it as a rinse or a dash.
- Coffee liqueur
- Coffee liqueur. It is not a stand-in for coffee — it is very sweet and low in caffeine; in drinks with espresso the two are used together, not instead of each other.
- Tonic water
- Carbonated water made bitter by quinine — that is what separates it from soda. Sugar content varies up to twofold between brands, and that directly sets how sweet the drink lands.
The Story
A contemporary whisky highball; tonic rather than soda is the unusual choice, its quinine bitterness standing in for the bitters a short drink would carry.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Apricot and Coffee Highball mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in a highball glass.
- How strong is a Apricot and Coffee Highball?
- Roughly 12% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Apricot and Coffee Highball be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Apricot and Coffee Highball hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
The main ingredient here is also a dream symbol: Coffee in a dream
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.