Cappelletti Amaro Trentino

Appearance: Very dark, opaque brown with gold flecks at the edge when held to the light. Aroma: Soiled bandages. Pus. Taste and Texture: Sweet at first with just a touch of bitterness. Coffee, dark chocolate, mint, bitter citrus peel, but an overwhelming presence of the used bandage scent from the aroma. The texture is creamy and pleasant – like heavily sweetened black coffee. The finish is short, but an unpleasant herbal flavor remains in the background. I really disliked this amaro. The taste isn't too bad initially, but there's a strong aroma of an herbal ingredient that I find very off-putting. It's unlike anything I've encountered before and difficult to describe. To me, it smelled like a gauze bandage, but not a fresh one. It made me feel distinctly queasy, and the aftertaste nearly made me nauseous. On the Cappelletti website, they list woodruff (sweetscented bedstraw, or Galium odoratum botanically) as a primary ingredient, and their tasting notes mention the aroma as “mint and woodruff.” Therefore, I can only assume that woodruff is the specific aroma and taste I dislike. Woodruff contains a high concentration of coumarin, a chemical related to warfarin. It's presumably a compound that is physically repulsive to me, though others might react differently. I've sampled several Cappelletti amari with mixed results. Pasubio and Sfumato Rabarbaro are both very good, but the Navasalus I tried recently was less engaging, and this one is, frankly, disgusting. My partner and I have tried it three times, and each time we've poured our glasses down the sink after a couple of small sips. The rest of the bottle will follow, and good riddance. "Most Unpleasant": 50/100 (0.25 stars)