We’ve opened the apple schnapps. Well, one of them. I’m not sure whether it’s the one we made from the tree next door or the apples down by the river, but it’s been sitting in the outhouse since September, slowly ageing.

So what’s it like? Well, a lot sharper than we imagined, and a lot less appley, too. If that’s because of the apples in this particular batch then perhaps the other bottle would be better. Either way, I think this is going to be a bottle to mix with lemonade for longer drinks rather than drinking neat as we are doing with the damson brandy and sloe gin. The gin, in particular, is getting better all the time, but then it is 15 months old now, so you’d expect it to be mellowing well.

This won’t be our last attempt at schnapps, but we do need to have a bit of a head-scratch about our precise ingredients. Probably the most effective change we could make would be to add more sugar to our base syrup next time around.

You live and learn.

Related posts:

1. How to make Apple Schnapps
2. How to make damson brandy
3. Apple chutney recipe