Apricot and Honey Liqueur

Apricot with Honey Liqueur brings late summer into your glass

The Apricot with Honey Liqueur from Sasse is a fruit liqueur from the Münsterland region with 35% ABV, for which fresh apricots are processed using a fine distillation method. Fruity, warm, honey-sweet – a liqueur with unusual strength.

Apricot with Honey Liqueur is one of the "Naturtalente" (natural talents) range of natural liqueurs from the Feinbrennerei Sasse in Schöppingen: Apricots from the late summer harvest are processed fresh, turned into a distillate via a fine distillation method, and combined with honey to create a liqueur with 35% ABV, bottled in a 700-milliliter bottle. Incidentally, the apricot belongs to the rose family – a distant relative of the cherry and almond, which you can certainly sense when tasting it.

It sits golden yellow in the glass, and the aroma is immediately unmistakable: ripe apricot, sun-warmed, with the round sweetness of honey behind it. A liqueur that doesn't need a long lead-up – you'll recognize it blind from the first sniff.

Ripe apricot meets rounded honey

On the palate, the Apricot with Honey Liqueur displays the juicy fruit of the apricot, carried by a soft honey sweetness and a distinct warmth from the spirit.

Fruity, warm, honey-sweet – the three layers come together, and the 35% ABV is the deciding factor here. That is quite high for a fruit liqueur, and you can tell: the spirit gives it backbone and a length that keeps the sweetness in check. The fruit is at the front, the honey rounds it out, and the spirit provides the structure.

As a digestif, over ice, or with dessert

The Apricot with Honey Liqueur is enjoyed neat at room temperature – it is in its element as a digestif after a good meal.

Drizzled over vanilla ice cream or served with apricot dumplings when they are in season: fruit on fruit works surprisingly well here. It also cuts a fine figure with panna cotta or a piece of cheesecake, and it makes for a surprising accompaniment to chicken curry because the apricot balances out the heat.

Over ice, it becomes leaner and fresher; topped with Prosecco, it creates an aperitif for balmy evenings. And if you like to bake: a spoonful in the batter of an apricot cake or over warm pieces of Kaiserschmarrn – the fruit flavor is doubled rather than just repeated. If you prefer berries, reach for the Amérie Münsterländer Aperitif; if you prefer something darker, try the Cocoa with Nut Liqueur. All varieties can be found under the Sasse Liqueurs.

Fresh fruit from the late summer harvest

The apricots are harvested in late summer and processed fresh – the fine distillation method extracts everything the fruit has to offer.

With Sasse's "Naturtalente," the raw material comes first: the fruit must be ripe, processing must be quick, and what ends up in the glass tastes like an orchard in August. The timing is non-negotiable: it is processed when the fruit is ripe, and that is in late summer.

It is distilled in Schöppingen in the Münsterland, where a distillery has stood since 1707 and Rüdiger Sasse manages the house in the 15th generation. At the World Spirits Award in 2025, the distillery was named a World-Class Distillery, the only grain distillery in Germany to receive this honor – one of only 18 worldwide.

At room temperature, the apricot is at its fullest

Serve it at room temperature so that the apricot comes through most fully – well chilled, it becomes fresher and the honey recedes. Drizzled over vanilla ice cream, it makes a dessert in two simple steps, and a splash in a Prosecco turns it into a summer aperitif. Once opened and stored in a cool place, the bottle will last for many months.