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

War Planes for Dracula, or B52 vs. Vampiro

Welcome back!  This was an interesting match - one drink was a shot, and the other was a tall one.  The IBA recipe for the B52 says that it should be lit - I tried to light it, but I couldn't get it to flame, so this was an unlit B52.  Actually, upon further research, I've found that a B52 that's lit is called a Flaming B52...something quite different...okay, not quite different, just a bit flamier.

So the title's a little incorrect, because in my research, I found that the B52 wasn't named after the plane, but a band; a bartender in Banff, Alberta created the drink, and named his drinks after his favorite bands - so this drink was named after The B-52s.  Come to think of it, the drink really was named after a plane because the band got its name from the plane. See? Mixology can be so confusing...

B52

1 oz. Kahlua

1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream

1 oz. Grand Marnier

Layer ingredients one at a time starting with Kahlua, followed by Bailey's Irish Cream and top with Grand Marnier.

B52 divided by three

I really enjoyed this shot - it's coffee, cream, and orange all rolled into one.  It's a type of drink called a pousse-café, or layered drink.  You build the drink one ingredient at a time.  The specific gravity of each type of alcohol is different, so one will sit upon another, making it look pretty cool.  I could see these getting sneaky on you and causing a pretty bad hangover...

...speaking of pretty bad hangovers, the Vampiro was introduced in at the 2009 New Orleans Tales of the Cocktail conference, at the session called "Paying the Piper: Your Hangover and You." (Nice segue, Dave!  My writing teachers would be so proud)!

The multitude of Vampiro ingredients

B52 and The Vampiro

It's reminiscent of a Bloody Mary, or for you Canadians, a Caesar, only with much more spice, prep work, and clean-up.  The orange juice was a nice touch.  I really couldn't taste the tequila at all, but I'm thinking that's the idea behind all of the tomato based cocktails - if I'm mistaken, chime in and let me know.

Vampiro

1 3/4 oz. Tequila (silver)
2 1/2 oz. Tomato Juice
1 oz. Orange Juice, Fresh
1/3 oz. Lime Juice, Fresh
1 tsp. Clear Honey
Half slice finely chopped onion
Few slices fresh red hot chili peppers
Few drops Worchestershire sauce
Salt

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, to relaese the flavour of the chili. Strain into a highball glass, filled with ice. Garnish with a wedge of lime and a chili (green or red).

It was good - the problem is that it wasn't great.  In all fairness, I think that the Bloody Mary will lose it's match too (wait, spoiler alert....oh....too late.....sorry about that....).  I'm just not that into tomato juice based cocktails I suppose....c'est la vie (for those non-francophones, I'm pretty sure that c'est la vie means "no-tomato-juice-based-cocktails-for-me-please-and-thank-you-very-much").

The Winner!

The Ingredients

For the B52:

Coffee Liqueur - Kahlua

Irish Cream - Bailey's

Orange Liqueur - Grand Marnier

For the Vampiro:

Silver Tequila - Espolon Silver Tequila
Tomato Juice - Store Brand
Fresh Orange and Lime Juice
Clover Honey

Up Next - If You're Gonna Bet, Is Penguin the Best Choice?, or Casino vs. Tuxedo