I have occassionally brewed an English ale since I was 17,
but when you said the majic word "Apricot", a small chain reaction went off and I think I may now need to begin some equipment gathering for some shine.
If you have beer brewing equipment, you're already halfway there.
It's tempting to start small (I did) but I only made two small runs with my big PC in the kitchen with a copper coil coming off the steam vent before I realized I needed to go a LOT bigger. Steel kegs are easy to find and relatively inexpensive ... you can start easily with just a simple pot-still setup, but eventually you'll probably want a reflux tower.
If you're handy you can make one yourself out of copper, which is expensive - especially if you're learning (read:making mistakes) while you go, or you can buy one online (I did). Mile-hi distilling out of Denver CO is cool - American made (if you're from here I guess that's a selling point - we can't make cars worth a shit, but we KNOW about some booze) and the owner has youtube videos of him beating his stainless steel reflux columns with a mini-sledge, which really cracks me up.
I've never been a real liquor drinker - beer is my poison of choice, but that's changed now that I'm making stuff that I like for super-cheap. There's some "moonshine" made by the NASCAR guy - Jr. Johnson - It's legit (legal) and he sells it for $25 a quart. It's pretty good, but I like my shit much more, especially at $2.00 / quart :)
Like anything, there's people who will say "it's not REAL unless you blah blah blah" but I say fuck all of 'em ... what I do works, and I don't have to get funny looks buying 50lb sacks of deer corn six months after season.
:)
soliver
