Apricots are probably my favorite fruit. I have a certain weakness for them, which I indulge infrequently. As a consequence, as if by compulsion I bought a pack of this beer.
Where’s the !@#$ apricot!? Oh there it is. Way back there in the f’ing finish. Thanks. I would think it was the hops even and if you hadn’t told me it was an “apricot beer” I probably would have missed it altogether. Want me to go on? Probably not. In short, well made balanced beer- which is what I see in any DFH product. Missed it with the apricot though. :-\
From meadmaking, I know that apricots and peaches are subtle fruits. Haven’t tried that beer lately (I remember liking it) but it could also tend to age out.
Personally, if I wanted to make an apricot beer, I’d just use a bigass handful of Amarillo instead. FWH and at knockout.
I’d vote batch variation. The first time I had it was on draft at Big Tree Inn in Geneseo, NY when I was stuck there for work many, many moons ago. Might have been one of the first times it was sent out in kegs. I don’t remember how many of them I had over the many weeks I was there, but I do know I didn’t find out there were Apricots in it until a few years later. At the time I thought it was just an estery IPA made for the spring (hence the “Apri” part).