Coffee in Venice, or Black Russian vs. Spritz Veneziano

♪ I'm beginning to drink a lot like Christmas ♫

Oh, hello everyone!  I thought this entry would be pretty straight forward - I only like coffee flavor in coffee - not desserts, ice cream, or liquors, and I enjoy most orange flavored everything (except orange flavored tofu - don't even get me started), so I'm thinking that the Black Russian would lose, and the Spritz Veneziano would win with little problem.

The Black Russian is made with vodka and coffee liqueur.  Kahlua is often used as the coffee liqueur for this, but I decided to go a different route.

Two parts of the Black Russian

Black Russian

1.7 oz. Vodka

0.7 oz. Coffee Liqueur

Pour the ingredients into the old fashioned-glass filled with ice cubes.
Stir gently.

Next at bat was the Spritz Veneziano or, as my research would show, the Aperol Spritz.  Aperol is the little brother of Campari.  You all know how much I love Campari, so I was a little nervous about this even though it wasn't supposed to be as strong a flavor as Campari.

Spritz Veneziano Ingredients

Spritz Veneziano

2 oz. Prosecco

1.4 oz. Aperol

Splash of Soda Water

Build into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.
Top with a splash of soda water.
Garnish with half orange slice. 

The Tasting

I was amazed how much I liked the Black Russian - again, I really dislike coffee flavor in anything other than coffee, so this really surprised me.  It was, really, almost like a dessert.  The sweetness of the coffee liqueur came through nicely - I think more than 0.7 oz. would be too much.  

Side by side cocktails

I loved the taste of the Spritz Veneziano while it was in my mouth - sweet, orangey, light.  Here's the problem; when I swallowed it, it was like swallowing tobacco.  That was wet.  Because it had already been chewed.  By this guy:

Yeah, so I'm not so sure how Aperol tastes really great before swallowing, but horrid after, but it freaks me out, so the winner in this post, to my utter surprise is the Black Russian!

Black Russian Winner!

As a side note; I tried Kahlua as the coffee liqueur as well - it had that alcohol "bite" that I write about and dislike so much.  The Café Granita was so much smoother, and sweeter.  It also had a "bigger" mouth feel too if that makes sense...try it yourself, and you'll see what I mean.

Have a fantastic Christmas everyone!!!

The Ingredients

For the Black Russian:

Vodka - Prairie Organic Vodka

Coffee Liqueur - Café Granita Coffee Liqueur

For the Spritz Veneziano:

Prosecco - Riondo Prosecco

Aperol - Aperol Aperitivo

Soda Water - Canada Dry

Up Next -  Side Trip #3 - Christmas Day at Dave's

The Drinks That Fun Forgot, or Americano vs. White Lady

From the title, you can tell that there was no real winner in this installment, so let's just move on to the next.  Thanks for dropping by.  See you next time.




























Kidding.  I wish.  Man - how did these two drinks make it to the IBA list?  I know, classics and all, but wow these are scary bad!  Maybe I just built up expectations.  I hadn't tried either of these before, but was looking so forward to them.  I read that the Americano got its name because it was so loved by Americans visiting Italy - any drink that's loved by Americans has to be awesome, right?  Look at the Old Fashioned!  Coca-Cola!  Starbucks!  The Americano is not Starbucks worthy, my friends.

Americano Ingredients

Americano

1 oz. Campari

1 oz. Red Vermouth

Splash of Soda Water

Mix the ingredients directly in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice-cubes, add a splash of soda water and garnish with half orange slice.

Seriously you guys?  I've never eaten pencil shavings, but if I ever do, I would imagine that they would taste exactly like the Americano.  I tried adjusting portions of ingredients, but there was nothing I did that made this thing taste better except to leave all of the parts out, and adding gin, tonic, and lime to the glass - then it was truly a great drink, but something different altogether.

Things in the White Lady

White Lady

1.3 oz. Gin

1 oz. Triple Sec

0.7 oz. Lemon Juice

Add all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into large cocktail glass.

The competitors

The White Lady was okay, but nothing I'd order, or want to order - its sourness was over powering.  It wasn't bitter like the Americano-oh-no, but just sour.  If I want that, I'll suck a lemon and do a gin shot, thank you very much.  Anyway, another bust however, the White Lady wins because it wasn't quite as bad as the American-void-o.

The least worse of two

Maybe my ingredients weren't the best?  Let me know your thoughts!

Ingredients
For Americano:
Campari - Campari
Red Vermouth - Martini & Rossi Rosato
Soda Water - Canada Dry

For White Lady:
Gin - Citadelle
Triple Sec - Cointreau
Fresh Lemon

Up next... Faces of Elmer, or Angel Face vs. Whiskey Sour