Liqueurs

Apple Schnapps

Apple schnapps is a sweet, green-apple liqueur, usually 15 to 21% ABV, and the sour-apple style is the one an Appletini is built on. It is flavoured spirit with sugar and acid, not an apple brandy, so it shares nothing with calvados but the fruit. In our Appletini, 30ml of it meets 45ml of vodka and 15ml of lemon.

Quick Facts

ABV18% ABVBottlings run about 15 to 21%.

Legal categoryLiqueurA sweet liqueur, despite the name schnapps

OriginUnited States

Flavour Strengthmild

Our keeping timeYears unopened. Once opened, a year or more kept sealed and out of the light; the fruit and aromatics fade first.

Storage

Sealed and upright in a cupboard; the fridge or freezer door suits it if you like it cold.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes vary by brand: check the bottle.

The ingredient

About Apple Schnapps

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Green AppleTartCandied

Tasting Notes

Sharp green-apple sweets: tart, sugary and clean, with little depth behind the fruit.

It is apple-flavoured spirit, sweetened and sharpened

Apple schnapps is neutral spirit flavoured with apple, sweetened, and in the sour-apple style sharpened with acid and coloured green. Most bottles sit between 15 and 21% ABV. In Britain that makes it a liqueur, legally obliged to carry a minimum of 100g sugar per litre, whatever the word schnapps suggests.

It shares a fruit with calvados and applejack and nothing else. Those are spirits distilled from apples and aged in wood, with no added sugar. Exchanging one for the other alters the drink rather than adjusting it.

Three ways to put apple in a drink (the sugar rule from Regulation (EC) No 110/2008; the rest is ours)

What it is

Sour apple schnapps: Flavoured spirit with sugar and acid
Calvados: Apple brandy aged in oak
Cloudy apple juice: Pressed apples

Strength

Sour apple schnapps: Usually 15 to 21%
Calvados: Spirit strength
Cloudy apple juice: Alcohol-free

Sugar

Sour apple schnapps: At least 100 g a litre
Calvados: None added
Cloudy apple juice: The fruit’s own

In an Appletini

Sour apple schnapps: The recipe’s choice, 30ml
Calvados: Add lemon and simple syrup
Cloudy apple juice: Soft, pale and low in alcohol

	Sour apple schnapps	Calvados	Cloudy apple juice
What it is	Flavoured spirit with sugar and acid	Apple brandy aged in oak	Pressed apples
Strength	Usually 15 to 21%	Spirit strength	Alcohol-free
Sugar	At least 100 g a litre	None added	The fruit’s own
In an Appletini	The recipe’s choice, 30ml	Add lemon and simple syrup	Soft, pale and low in alcohol

The Appletini is built around the sour style

Our Appletini shakes 30ml of apple schnapps and 45ml of vodka with 15ml of fresh lemon juice. There is no syrup, because the liqueur supplies all the sugar, and only a little lemon, because a sour-apple bottle brings acid of its own.

That is why the style matters more than the brand. A sweet apple schnapps leaves the drink flat, and the fix is more lemon, a few millilitres at a time, tasting as you go.

It keeps in the cupboard, and colder is better

In our experience an opened bottle stays sound for a year or more, since the sugar and spirit stop anything growing in it; the bright apple note is the part that dulls. The Appletini is served up and iceless, so a bottle from the freezer door gives a colder drink from the same shake.

Using it

Using Apple Schnapps

Usage

30ml in an Appletini, shaken with 45ml of vodka and 15ml of fresh lemon juice, then double strained into a frozen martini glass. The schnapps sets the balance: a sour-apple bottle brings its own acid, while a sweet one needs a little more lemon.

Pro Tip

A hard shake of 10 to 12 seconds and a double strain keep ice chips from clouding the green. The garnish is a fine apple slice on the rim; cut it just before serving, or rub it with lemon so it stays white.

Top Tips

Buy a sour-apple style for an Appletini. A sweet apple schnapps makes a flat drink unless you add lemon.
Taste before you serve: bottles differ in tartness, and the lemon is the measure to adjust.
Chill the glass in the freezer. The drink is served without ice, so the cold has to come from the shake and the glass.
The green comes from colouring in most bottles; read the label for a guest who avoids added colours.

Possible Substitutions

Calvados: Dry and oaked: add lemon and simple syrup for an adult Appletini
Cloudy Apple Juice: With lemon: a soft, low-alcohol version without the colour

Production Method

Neutral spirit flavoured with apple and sweetened; sour-apple styles add acid and are usually coloured green.

History & Context

Difford’s Guide says the Appletini began as the Adam’s Apple Martini, created on 4 July 1996 at Lola’s in West Hollywood by the bartender Adam Karston.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is apple schnapps?

An apple-flavoured liqueur, sweet and usually 15 to 21% ABV. The sour-apple kind is sharpened with acid and coloured bright green, and it was made for mixing rather than sipping. In Britain Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 treats it as a liqueur, the same category as triple sec, despite the German-sounding name.

Is apple schnapps the same as calvados?

No. Calvados is a brandy distilled from Normandy cider and aged in oak; it is dry, strong and contains no added sugar. Apple schnapps is sweetened and flavoured, and around half as strong or less. Put calvados in an Appletini and you get a dry, woody drink that needs syrup to balance.

How strong is apple schnapps?

Usually 15 to 21% ABV; our recipes use 18%. In an Appletini the 30ml of schnapps adds about a third of the alcohol the 45ml of vodka does, and nearly all the sugar. Check the label: bottles differ by several points.

What can I use instead of apple schnapps in an Appletini?

Any sour-apple liqueur works at the same 30ml. Without one, calvados with a little lemon and simple syrup gives a drier, adult version. For less alcohol, cloudy apple juice with lemon gives a soft apple note, though it loses the bright colour and the sharpness.

Does apple schnapps need to be kept in the fridge?

No. In our experience, at 18% with that much sugar it will not spoil, and a year in the cupboard is fine once opened. The apple aroma fades slowly if the bottle sits somewhere warm and bright. A cold bottle does make a colder Appletini, so the freezer door is a good home for it.

Where does the Appletini come from?

Difford’s Guide says it was created on 4 July 1996 at Lola’s in West Hollywood by the bartender Adam Karston, under its first name, the Adam’s Apple Martini. It is a martini only in name and glass: there is no vermouth, and the apple liqueur and lemon make it a sour.

Sources.

Checked between 16 October and 19 October 2026.

legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, Annex II (retained)”.
Difford’s Guide, “Appletini (Sour Apple Martini)” (secondary source: created on 4 July 1996 at Lola’s, West Hollywood, by Adam Karston; first the Adam’s Apple Martini).

Make something

Made with Apple Schnapps

Featured In These Cocktails

Appletini

Often Used With

Updated 19 October 2026

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