Aperol

Rating: 15/23 N: Sweet, light fruit with mineral creek water and something a tad bitter. The fruits are red like strawberry and cherry. Not a ton is going on here and it comes across as a bit watered down, but also composed of somewhat low-quality flavors. P: Watery, sweet fruit (Welch's strawberry gummies (which are ironically flavored with multiple fruits, none of which are strawberry)), with a lot of generic herbal bitterness behind it. At moments it borders on both floral flavors and char, but the bordering is very slight. None of the flavors are very good and they don't come together well either. It's also quite watery. And somehow I get some of the alcohol in here too even though it's only 11% ABV. The only hope for this is something along the lines of a spritzer or maybe some other sort of cocktail that works well with this kind of lightness. F: Bitter with a bit of a red food coloring aspect coming in. There's some sweetness from the red fruits, but not a ton. It's an unpleasant finish. - Conclusion - Everything about this liqueur is unpleasant. It isn't the worst thing ever, but it's looking at an 8 or 9 neat. I was disappointed by Campari, but this is so much worse. I thought that this would be good with gin, but the combination clashes. It's weirdly terrible. Rye, on the other hand, goes really nicely with this (excluding Copper Fox, because obviously). It's actually much nicer with rye than it is alone. To what extent it improves the rye, I'm not sure. Whiskey novices would probably appreciate the combination though. Bourbon also works pretty well. Mixing this with Buffalo Trace oddly makes a cocktail that is sweeter than either of the two ingredients. Old Forester Signature works especially well. Rum works too, from the dryish Appleton Estate 12 to the super sweet Ron Diplomatico. Blanco tequila didn't work so well, but in a big surprise twist, a few varieties of scotch from Sir Edwards 12 to Pure Scot Virgin Oak to Lagavulin Quarter Cask worked pretty well! Sir Edwards is actually likely the most controversial because its oiliness doesn't totally go with the Aperol profile. Well, I did also try Ardbeg Uigy and it really didn't work with Aperol. OK, so not a scotch, but Corsair Wildfire's barbecue quality fits really well with Aperol's sweet fruitiness. It's one of the combinations to really take note of (well, except that Corsair Wildfire is out of production). So my surprising conclusion at the end of this is that Aperol goes well in cocktails with a lot of spirits, but not the ones I would have expected. And personal preference starts to sneak in here too. I would generally prefer to have the spirits that I found Aperol goes will with neat, which doesn't make me feel a need to stock it. Yet it's an easy way to add some nice sweetness and fruitiness to make a challenging drink a bit more palatable for a newcomer. Holy cow - I have no idea how to rate this. I guess I'd better bias on the side of making an informed cocktail since that's the best it can be that is also controllable. I actually find this to be quite superior to Campari in a lot of cocktails. I'm talking about ad-hoc cocktails, but the outcome is still a much better drinking experience (at least when a mildly refreshing cocktail is appropriate). This wrinkle makes scoring difficult. Campari has a couple of cocktails that it's essentially in, but I'm more confident that sitting there with a bottle of Aperol and whatever else I would be able to craft a good cocktail than if I were stuck with a bottle of Campari. OK, after lots and lots of soul-searching here (and side-by-siding) my conclusion is that although this often improves spirits it is mixed with, some degrade in quality a bit and the improvements to good spirits are fairly small (I didn't dare try mixing it with great spirits). Additionally, I didn't find a spirit that I thought was better mixed with this than with Amaro Montenegro. Admittedly, I stuck to rye and bourbon for this comparison portion, but I still feel like this is not as good of a mixer as Amaro Montenegro, even as a spritzer (the Aperol classic). Honing in on a numeric rating, I was looking in the 14 to 16 range. It's not nearly a 14 neat, but this is obviously a mixer. When mixed with many spirits, this causes an immediate improvement, so it isn't like this is just good in one cocktail. Still, I don't see it raising anything to terrific heights. I think 15 to 16 is the most reasonable grade for this. I think 15 is the most reasonable. Every once in a while, I go back to this and find concoctions in which Campari is better, but for the most part this is the clear winner. It's just that in most of the standard use cases this is worse. OK, I'm considering a 14 or even a 13 now, but I think I'll stick with that 15. In the end, Aperol's greatest strength is that it's light and a bit tropical, but that is also its greatest weakness. It's just very situational.

Appearance (neat): An almost luminous orange colour. Appearance (diluted): An almost luminous orange colour (LOL). Aroma (neat): Dusty, musky orange. Like orange liqueur with a patina of sandalwood and earthy spice aromas. Various citrus zests in the background. Aroma (with prosecco): Yeasty white wine or champagne. The citrus aromas are mostly covered, although a faint zephyr escapes. Flavour (neat): Sweet citrus in the arrival transitioning to very mildly bitter citrus in the aftertaste, but with sweet notes still prevailing. It's almost (but not quite) enjoyable just by itself on the rocks. Flavour (with prosecco): The classic recipe calls for dry prosecco in a 1:1 ratio with a splash of soda water. In this form you get a very well balanced sweet/bitter drink that is long, cooling and shows complexity from the citrus and grape components. A genuine classic that is unfortunately almost passé now after a brief flirtation from English-speaking palates. How fickle we are, but then again maybe this estimable cooler only ever realizes its true stature when sipped in its classic form among restful surroundings on a hot late afternoon in Italy. As evening draws nigh and the first stars appear, order another, together with a shot of Lucano or Averna - hurl the amaro into the long drink with abandon, and settle down to an hour or two of genteel inebriation. If there is a good house band, so much the better. Although the sweet/bitter balance of the classic form with Italian prosecco is magnificent, for variation try it with rosé or blush sparkling wines from your own region. In Australia I'd suggest anything sparkling from De Bortoli, Wolf Blass or Brown Brothers (among scores of others). In the US I'm sure there is a veritable army of wonderful Californian wines that would be excellent with this aperitivo. If you have sweet tooth try moscato, sparkling syrah or even add sweet soft drinks. Like Pimm's the sky is the limit with this as a base for long drinks, but don't be surprised if after some weeks of experimentation you gravitate back to the basic dry prosecco form. Simplicity *is* the soul of elegance, after all. At the very reasonable asking price, a bottle of this in the bar is a no-brainer, particularly in summer. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

I’m in need of something to make a carbonated bourbon cocktail. Thinking ginger beer, blackberry or raspberry jam, bitters and something... will this be it? Kool-Aid red and could very well be the sugar rich drink of child hood. Has more of a Hawaiian Punch nose with tropical fruit punch, cane sugar, orange zest. Goes down like a medium-thin bodied cough syrup: sweet up front and bitter down back. Cherry, allspice, clove, blood orange, walnut. The rating is tricky for me. It’s a bit unbalanced, or rather two-sided, but is interesting nonetheless. Despite the thin body it’s flavor has staying power. I wouldn’t drink it on its own though, hence the lower overall rating. That said, I don’t know of any liqueur that I would drink neat. This would probably beat out Beam White label and a handful of $25 bourbons. I think this just might work to ad some sweet citrus to a Kentucky mule +/- a bit of honey, jam and the aforementioned bitters (although this might replace bitters altogether). Time to mix with some Hubers of New Riff (I find that young craft bourbons make excellent mules). Cheers to spring!

The Aperol spritz is immediately what I think about when I see a bottle of Aperol. I honestly am not the biggest fan of the drink, so I've never really seen the appeal of Aperol over say Campari, but clearly a lot of people do. The nose is heavy on the sweetness with some grapefruit peel. The palate leans into the sweetness, with candied fruits, maybe candied oranges or grapefruit, while the bitterness is barely even there. The finish has no burn which is not surprisingly since the ABV is 11%, while the sweetness just overpowers everything. As you can tell, I'm not the biggest fan, but if you have a sweet tooth and are not a fan of bitterness but need just a hint to add some complexity, I guess this would be a good choice. It is used a good amount in cocktails and while I'm not the biggest fan unless it's in small doses, it does offer value there. Drinking it neat, I would go with a 2, but in cocktails I can go with a 3, so I'll split the difference and say 2.5.

I know Aperol has been around for a century and the spritz wildly trendy in the US since 2018 or so (likely before), and I should thus be skeptical or perhaps even derisive, but they are a recent discovery for me, and when combined with sunshine and an outdoor setting, holy sh*t I could guzzle them by the gallon. At a 2:1 wine-to-aperitif ratio over ice, I think sweet-bitter rearranges the descriptors correctly. The sugar is certainly there, but not too cloying when cut with dry wine and ice, and the herbal + bitter orange notes offset everything nicely and keep each sip interesting. Even better with a touch more citrus oil - expressed orange rind or a few drops of bitters. Good with any dry white or rosé, sparking or not. Haven't sipped it directly over ice, but don't intend to. I'm already sure its better this way. Maybe these will get old for me eventually, but let’s just say I need to stock up on a few bottles for warm weather season 2020.

I really like this liqueur and it is great for hot-weather drinks. I picked up a bottle about a month ago and it is nearly gone now. It has wonderful light citrus notes and the bitterness is not overpowering. I have made a few of the spritzers they recommend and they range from average to great. However, the drink that encouraged me to try this liqueur is called a "Spaghetti" and it is amazing in hot weather. You take a lighter beer like regular Bud or Miller or a pilsner. Add 1 oz of Aperol and .5 oz of fresh lemon juice ( I use the juice from a half of a small lemon) add those the glass and pour the beer in and drink. The beer does need to be cold or the bitterness is the first thing you taste. I really like this liqueur and can not recommend it highly enough. It makes a great mixer but I did not care for it by itself or on the rocks. Enjoy.