AKA How I amuse myself on a Friday night.
While browsing Facebook earlier, I saw a recipe for an Aperol Spritz that looked SO inviting and refreshing! And I’m not usually a fan of watered down drinks.
I’ve never tried Aperol, but thought it might be similar to Campari, another Italian apéritif (aperitivo). Curiosity drove me to get a bottle of each and perform a taste test.
The obvious difference: Aperol is bright orange and Campari a deep red.
APEROL VS CAMPARI
Aperol is an Italian bitter apéritif made of gentian herbs, rhubarb, and cinchona tree bark, among other ingredients (secret recipe). Its name comes from the Italian slang word for aperitivo, which is apero.
Type Apéritif Manufacturer Campari Group Country of origin Padua, Italy Introduced 1919 Alcohol by volume 11%
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size:
1.5 fl oz (43grams)
Calories 103 Total Fat 0grams Cholesterol 0milligramsSodium 0.7milligrams
Potassium 0.7milligramsTotal Carbohydrates 15gramsDietary Fibre 0gramsSugars 15grams Protein 0
Campari is an Italian liqueur, considered an apéritif, obtained from the infusion of herb and fruit (including chinotto and cascarilla – the rest is a secret) in alcohol and water.
Type Bitters, Apéritif Manufacturer Campari Group Country of origin Novara, Italy Introduced 1860 Alcohol by volume 25%
Nutrition Facts
Serving size:
1.5 fl oz ( 43g)
Calories 120 Total Fat 0Sugars 12gramProtein 0milligramsSodium 0.4milligraPotassium 0.9milligramsTotal Carbohydrates 12gramsDietary Fibre 0g
And the winner is…
It’s likely that both apéritifs would go well in a spritzer, but the Aperol on its own was too sweet and weak for my taste. I preferred the tart bitterness and robust kick of the Campari. Still, I will try them both with some bubbly and lots of ice (hold the soda water) on a hot day. Bound to be refreshing!
What’s your favourite summer beverage?
Do you like to try new drink recipes?
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Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
20 thoughts on “DUELLING APÉRITIFS”
Great idea to get both and do a taste test. Both sound good to me.
I like to experiment. ?
Hi, DEBBIE!
That was a cool blog bit. As the DogGtor of Alcohology & King of Inebriation Nation, how could I not like that?!
I also enjoy taste-testing things (beer and wine, etc.) and sometimes do it “blind” so no preconceived notions can slip through. And I also like experimenting and inventing new drinks. One of my favorite drink inventions was this:
Because I love the flavor of “smoked” things so much (and have used liquid smoke to create my own smoked porters), I got the idea to add some smoke flavor to my ‘Bourbon & 7’, and I fell in love with that flavor combo. Which led me to wonder why no whiskey / bourbon makers have created a ‘smoked’ version of their hooch. I’m sure there would be a market for it.
>>… “What’s your favourite summer beverage?”
Wow! There are several good options. Gin & Tonic, Margaritas, and ice cold Beer are hard to beat. But “favorite” means I need to pick just one. And in that case, I think I’d have to say a good, cold Mojito is my favorite Summer drink. I’d never even had a Mojito until I fell in love with Bruce Blackman’s song ‘DOING NOTHING’, which inspired me to find out what a Mojito was:
~ Stephen
“I need a cold Mojito!”
Hi Stephen, thanks for adding your vast experience with booze to this post! 🙂 I love whiskey (Canadian, of course, especially Crown Royal) and to add smoke flavour sounds good. I’ve heard of liquid smoke but never tried it. Believe it or not, I have never tried a Mojito, probably because it has mint in it, which I don’t really like. Still, I am tempted to try one, especially after watching that fabulous video. Good tune – thanks for adding it!
DEBBIE ~
I got nuthin’ to do this morning so I’ve decided to pester you a bit more.
Yeah, fo’ sho, if you don’t like mint, you aren’t going to like the Mojito. So I guess I’ll have to drink mine and yours, too. It’s a great imposition, but I’ll do it — only for you! 😉
This was [Link> THE BEST MOJITO I’ve ever had. It was on my birthday in… 2019, I believe. I know it doesn’t look like much, but… it was the best. I have an old tradition that my Ma and I started: We’d have lunch at a Claim Jumper on my birthdays. She went “Home” in 2005, but I’ve kept the tradition alive.
Claim Jumper is actually a smallish, little-known chain (primarily located in California & Nevada) but it serves some really good food. I ordered that Claim Jumper Mojito in their Reno restaurant. The waiter got pretty excited when I ordered a Mojito. He told me that first & foremost he considered himself a bartender, and only a week earlier he and some other bartender friends of his had a Mojito contest, and he won.
Well, let me tell ya, I have no idea what that guy does to make a Mojito, but that one he brought me on my birthday in 2019(?) really was something special. So much so, that I felt compelled to take a picture of it.
I’ll always be indebted to the great Bruce Blackman for making me realize that… “I need a cold Mojito!”
~ D-FensDogG
Interesting story and the Mojito does look refreshing! 🙂 I’ve spent a lot of time in southern California (my parents moved to San Diego in 1974), but am not familiar with the Claim Jumper chain. Nice that you’ve kept up that birthday tradition!
Refreshing fruity drinks (non-alcoholic) on a hot summer day sounds perfect with me! During the warm months, I like to make fruity herbal tea cold and yum, does that ever hit the spot! It’s really heating up here in the south east. I think we’re going to be in for a horrible heat wave this year which I am not looking forward to. Is it too soon to be thinking about autumn? 😀
Fruity herbal iced tea sounds wonderfully refreshing, Cathy. We’ve already had a few hot and humid days with many more to come, apparently. Unlike you, I love the heat – as long as there’s good A/C to balance it out. ?
Hahaha, loved this post! 🙂
Thanks! It was off the cuff. ?
Cheers Deb. Sorry, yucky on both. Now, let’s talk Tequila! Lol 🙂
Tequila is good in Margaritas and Long Islands, but my hard liquor of choice is Crown Royal on the rocks. 😀 I’m not usually into spritzers, but this one looked refreshing for a hot summer’s day. Cheers! ?
Lol, I don’t like yellow liquor – kinda like yellow snow, lol. Vodka or Tequila girl here 🙂
Oh nooo, you are comparing my favourite elixir to yellow snow? ?? It has a lovely amber hue and is smooth like velvet. ? ? Vodka is good too, but I never got into Tequila, except for cocktails. It is very much the “IN” beverage these days, though, with fancy bottles and special glasses. Eva Longoria was talking about her brand on some talk show a while back. Very stylish stuff!
Now I want a drink–preferably a margarita.
Love,
Janie
Oh, I’ll join you. 😀 Cheers!
I like 25%abv being a “robust kick”!
Well, when you consider I often sip Crown Royal on the rocks (40% ABV = 80 Proof), that’s not overly robust. 😉
Hi Debbie – I tend not to stray off drinks – they go to my head too quickly … though I can enjoy my wine, prosecco or if lucky champagne! But I’d quite like to try Aperol sometime, I know what campari tastes like … yet the bottles would be here in ten years and onwards! Glad you enjoyed yourself though … I’ll be around for WEP – cheers Hilary
Dry wine, Prosecco, Champagne, Cava are all in my favourites list too. 🙂 Aperol is sweet, but I’m sure when mixed with a dry bubbly, it would lessen that effect. Somebody once gifted us with a concoction of ice wine (incredibly sweet) mixed with brandy. That went down well. 😀 See you in the WEP rounds! ?