Tuaca

A rich, herbal liqueur from Italy that has an aromatic birth with notes of vanilla, citrus & Brandy, while a rich life led to a balanced death of medium length. December 2015 / November 2016 / September 2017

Appearance: Transparent pale gold. Aroma: Vanilla, caramel and orange oil but it’s a very faint and feeble aroma profile. Flavour and Texture: There is an initial taste of sugar followed by ethanol that has been flavoured with a few drops of vanilla, citrus and toffee. This is followed quickly by a flash of mild heat and the flavor of raw alcohol. A tinge of vanilla remains and then suddenly everything stops dead - there is no length at all. The texture is thin, insipid and the sugar content is very low so it has no viscosity. This is a poor and gutless liqueur. It does not have any unpleasant aromas or flavours, but it is singularly anaemic. If you took a bottle of generic vodka and added 10ml of vanilla essence, 10ml of orange essence and 20ml of caramel flavouring then topped it up with 100ml of sugar syrup you would get this liqueur. I bet that is exactly the recipe, with maybe a few drops of herbal extracts as well. It is supposed to have a brandy base but I could not detect it. If there is brandy used I bet it's only a small part of the recipe and the vast majority of the base for this is just food-grade ethanol. Uninteresting and overpriced. I regret buying it and now we are wondering what to do with the rest of the bottle. Maybe we can use it for cooking or in cocktails? It might substitute for vodka in an espresso martini, but it would make a weak cocktail. I'll try putting it in the freezer to try neat when chilled but I don't think it will be much improved. “Poor” : 60/100 (1 star)

Too hot, too sweet. Dominant sweet vanilla and caramel-flavored syrup notes with some butteriness. Very alcoholic. It does make me want a Werther’s Original candy, though.

Tuaca has a clear, tan appearance. The aroma is of butterscotch candy. The flavor is similar, with measured sweetness and a liquor undercurrent. Tuaca has a light-to-medium body and a mildly-sweet finish. RJT

Butter brandy