Kahlúa

Rating liqueurs can be tricky business. Am I just rating how it tastes neat or how well it works in different cocktails? It's never an easy call. Certainly Kahlua plays an important role as a major ingredient in classic White and Black Russians. It's ubiquitous nature also makes it an immediate stand in for any recipe calling for coffee liqueur. It's easy to see why it's so popular as well. The nose is enticingly sweet without sacrificing a real roasted coffee flavor. It even has a bit of lingering spices, cinnamon being the most prominent with hints of caramel & vanilla. It's not a deep aroma but it doesn't have to be when it's so pleasant. Taste wise it begins almost like chocolate milk before the Arabica coffee hits your palate mingling with this nice toffee taste. The coffee is, not unsurprisingly, the main show runner and as the mid palate develops you get a flurry of brief, sweet tastes. Toffee, sugary vanilla, caramel syrup. It brings to mind the sensation of drinking melted coffee & vanilla ice cream that had been topped with milk chocolate syrup. Towards the back of the mid palate out to the finish you get a nice rum sensation providing some needed robustness to the experience. Not much to the finish either. It's rum, coffee bitterness, and overpowering caramel and vanilla sweetness from the additives. My main gripe with Kahlua is actually how unnecessarily sweet it feels. They can cut down on the sugar & additives and still have a great, versatile product. It's not impossible to drink on its own but aside from a sugar rush and some pleasant coffee notes, it just doesn't have much to offer. Do you really want to drink coffee syrup by itself? It's not so bad if you dilute it with some ice and when mixing I suggest you start off light lest the brazen sugar overtake the other ingredients. Its not a bad product, but one which could use some refinement.