alc./vol: 17%
Proof: 34°
Vintage: Non-vintage
Aged: Unaged
Product of: Netherlands
A Dutch banana-flavoured liqueur with other fruits and herbs, supposedly to an old Indonesian recipe. 'Pisang' means banana and Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia where one of the key crops are bananas. Hence, the name of this liqueur is said to refer to "banana island."
In early 2021, Bols released a new recipe Pisang Ambon which they say has "a natural, more intense and more complex banana experience" and an upgrade in packaging.
The new recipe is made with natural banana flavour (instead of the previous artificial banana flavour) combining three different banana flavour profiles, "to enrich the banana taste." This reformulation also saw a dramatic nearly one-fifth lowering of alcohol strength from 21% to 17% alc./vol..
Sampled on 12/02/2022
Clear, lurid emerald green.
Pungent banana chews and candied banana.
Sweet banana chews and baked banana with balancing acidity and subtle herbal spice.
Long confectionery, baked banana.
Hardly sophisticated but I'm not sure it sets out to be. Pisang Ambon has a very pronounced banana chew flavour along with a vibrant green colour - a combination used to good effect in cocktails. What the new formulation has lost in alcohol strength it has gained in the strength of that confected banana flavour.
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