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Goldilocks moment- balanced perfectly with Luxardo Bitter, Luxardo Limoncello and blood oranges picked from home. Not too sour, not too sweet- just right.
Whilst the taste is overwhelmingly that of campari, I think the quality of the drink hinges on the limoncello. I used the dregs of a not-so-good one and it was fairly flat outside of the campari flavours. I imagine with a good limoncello this would be a good drink rather than a pretty okay one.
I wonder if the Limoncello brand is what's making the sweetness vary so much for everyone?! (It is also using 2 liqueurs and a fruit juice, though, so you're bound to have a decent amount of sugar...) I made this with Campari, Pallini, and fresh blood orange and it feels like a good balance of bittersweet. Sweet at first, then Campari herbal orange bitterness, which then fades and mellows out to a nice mild bittersweetness with subtle lemon and blood orange leaving you wanting another sip.
What a fascinating drink! Some find it too bitter, some find it too sweet ... it's the Marmite of the cocktail world, it seems. For myself, this just got upgraded from a 4.5 last time round (when it was blood orange season) to a 5 this time. Maybe it's the quality and characteristics of the blood orange juice that ultimately makes the difference?