SUCCESSIVELY APPROXIMATING Cocktails, part 2

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We are following along as Dale attempts to jigger the recipe for the Smoky Topaz in a WORLD WITH NO AVERNA AMARO. (Part 1 here)

I have been informed in the interval that you can indeed find Averna Amaro. All you have to do is look it up, and you can get three bottles of Averna shipped to your home for the low price of $45/bottle. Plus shipping. Arriving after my Cocktails in the Labyrinth event. Ugh.

So back to our laboratory.

Sother Teague had recommended CioCiaro, Meletti, or Lucano as possible substitutes for Averna. I have CioCiaro and Meletti, so I began with taste tests of both. (CioCiaro is more bitter than Meletti.)

First I made half versions of the Smoky Topaz using CioCiaro and Meletti. Neither were satisfactory, either as Smoky Topazes or as cocktails in and of themselves. Of the two, the Meletti made the better impression.

I made a full version using the Meletti. It wasn’t right: too herbal, too something.

That’s when I remembered that when I created the Smoky Topaz, I ended up adding the green Chartreuse because the mixture was too sweet previously. So then what if I cut the green Chartreuse?

Aha! That balanced the flavors out a bit more — but now it was too sweet. So I increased the amount of Meletti, and that’s where we are at the moment:

Subsitute Topaz

  • 1.5 oz barrel-aged gin

  • .75 oz yellow Chartreuse

  • .33 oz Amaro Meletti

Truthfully, I am not convinced. I used some of my precious remaining Averna Amaro to make an actual Smoky Topaz to store in the refrigerator as my tasting comparison guide, and this substitute just doesn’t measure up. It verges on the cough-syrupy. (If this were over on my personal blog, I’d be tempted to declare this one a SINK.)

So I’m going to wait a few days then give it all another round of tasting and SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION, and then I shall probably ABANDON the whole thing and wait for Sicily to get back on track with its production.

After all, I have an evening of cocktails to plan and it’s not as if there aren’t thousands of cocktails to choose from. Onward — Cras melior est!