The Disaronno mini (50 ml) comes in an attractive square, textured clear glass bottle with a black, square cap displaying DISARONNO on all four sides and a crest on the top. Research (and previous experience) tells me that this is an amaretto liqueur. The liquid inside is a medium gold, something I’m realizing is called “caramel” in this industry. Pftt. Whatever.
Opening the bottle is hard, the square edges of the cap hurts my hand. Every. Single. Time. So I wrap the corner of my soft, fluffy blanket that I keep on my favorite chair around the cap and get the darn thing off. The sweet almond fragrance wafts up to my nose and brings me back to my childhood when I first added almond extract to something I was baking. Mmmmm…
This I could drink straight because it’s more flavor than burning alcohol on my tongue. A sip gives me a sweet, light almond flavor. I’ve tried this before with cranberry juice and while that was okay it wasn’t amazing, despite my friend Aaron the bartender’s recommendation… maybe it’s more because I’m not a big fan of cranberry juice? Anyway, Aaron said it tastes like candy but I just couldn’t get into it so tonight I’m going to try it with cream soda.
My cream soda, which had been sitting peacefully on the table for the last 24 hours just spit foam everywhere, whaaaa??? Excuse me for a moment while I clean it up.
Back on track. The cream soda and the Disaronno are the same color. I put about as much soda in as the liqueur and stir it with my dinner fork. Huh. That is actually not as good as I thought it would be. It’s not bad but it didn’t improve the liqueur even a tiny bit, I think I’d rather drink it straight.
I’m actually kind of sad, I think I’ve ruined this drink with the cream soda, boo!
Next test, eating some chocolate fudge – with walnuts, of course – while drinking my concoction. Better, but the last time I had the fudge and the Disaronno together they were Ama-Zing! Okie dokie, well, now I know!
The Disaronno is definitely a keeper and once they stop making the full-size bottles with the limited edition wrappers that I don’t think are pretty I’ll buy one to keep on hand.
Their website gave several recipes that look like they might be worth trying and Disaronno apparently likes to give their drinks fun names, oh goodie:
The Godfather
Pour over large ice ball and stir. Garnish with orange twist.
Jamaican the Italian Crazy
Shake all ingredients, pour over cubed ice into tiki cup. Garnish with pineapple leaf, half a passion fruit, add mint sprig.
Italian Lady
Build in champagne flute with ice. Garnish with orange.
So, those look like fun but I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those I drink straight, oh wait, I mean neat. I’m learning the jargon here too, yay!
The technicalities:
Bottles Esthetics: Elegant, classy, pretty both empty and full. Earns it the Raised Eyebrow of Interest and a spot on my windowsill.
Scent: Sweet, light almond. Brings back childhood memories
Viscosity: Thin with a slight oily feel.
Taste: Sweet almond. Not too light, not too heavy on either the sweet or almond.
Versatility: I’m thinking this one is not terribly versatile as almond doesn’t go with everything but I like it so much I don’t really care…
Overall Score: 9 out of 10