Ambra Chocolatino

Appearance: Opaque mid-brown, rather like a chocolate milkshake. Aroma: Jaffas (explained below). Flavour and Texture: Sweet mild malted milk chocolate quickly followed by sweet orange liqueur. That's it. The texture is on the thin side. This is one of several liqueurs being made by a fairly new Australian family company based in Thebarton, South Australia. So far their products have all been citrus, nut or chocolate based. This particular liqueur has a rather narrow profile - it's milk chocolate and orange, full stop. That doesn't make it bad, but it is very simple and I thought it would be improved with a little added complexity. I noted above that the aroma is of Jaffas. These are an iconic Australian sweet, round candies about the size of a marble with an eggshell-thin orange candy shell surrounding milk chocolate. They are much beloved and I bet this liqueur was crafted to emulate the aroma of a freshly opened packet. The taste is pleasant and mild, with a little nip of alcohol accompanying the orange component. I did think that the chocolate part of the recipe could do with some enhancement. It is too faint and shy and the texture is too thin. Have you ever ordered an iced chocolate which arrived with heaps of cracked ice in the glass. By the time you are half-way through enough of the ice has melted to make the remainder of the drink watery and unsatisfying. This is exactly like that and I wish they had used a more robust dark chocolate and made the texture thicker - it would be an altogether better liqueur. Still, there's nothing unpleasant about it, it just lacks a certain something. "Adequate" : 74/100 (2.25 stars)