Aperol

A semi-sweet aperitif from Italy that has an aromatic birth with notes of fruits & flowes; while a fruity life adds notes of orange & tangerine; that led to a mildly bitter death of medium length. November 2016 / September / November 2017 / August 2022

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.