The Bottom Line: Think of Caravella Orangecello as limoncello made with oranges. It's a mediocre mixer but its bright orange flavor and tart-sweet-bitter structure make it a fine summer aperitif.
Cointreau is great for mixing into sidecars and other cocktails and judged on flavor alone is easily superior to Caravella Orangecello. But Caravella Orangecello has something that Cointreau and most other triple sec liqueurs lack: structure.
"Structure" is what we call the interplay of acid and bitterness that makes an even mildly sweet beverage drinkable. It's part of what sets Amaretto di Saronno apart from grocery-store amaretto and what makes beer and wine more drinkable than mead. Most triple secs are sweet and nothing but sweet, but Caravella Orangecello isn't a triple sec.
As the name indicates, it's like limoncello, but made with oranges. The maker doesn't share details of the process, but claims to make Caravella Limoncello from an 1898 family recipe. We can't know that Caravella Orangecello is made in a similar fashion, but to presume it isn't too wild. We also can't know that the limoncello is made by macerating lemon zest in grain alcohol, then adding sugar syrup and a bit of juice and bottling the result, but since that's how homemade limoncello is made, it again isn't too much of a stretch.
What the manufacturer does tell us is that Caravella Orangecello is made from orange zest, orange juice, and grain alcohol. Filling in the details as above, orange zest is probably macerated in grain alcohol, then mixed with a bit of orange juice, sweetened, and bottled. (Perhaps it's also artificially colored; it's difficult to tell.) The beverage is thus rustic compared to steam-distilled orange liqueur but the packaging is slick, a straight-sided frosted glass bottle.
Frosted is perhaps redundant; like limoncello, Caravella Orangecello is best straight from the freezer in a chilled limoncello or liqueur glass (or, barring that, a saké cup.) Its flavor is bright and juicy and has plenty of orange oil from the peel, even if it's not as deep as that of Cointreau. Tangible citric tartness and considerable bitterness, like biting into an orange peel, make it sippable on its own. I could see using this as a mixer, too, like grocery store triple sec, but it's best as an ice-cold summer aperitif.
From the fragrant orange groves of Sicily in Southern Italy comes Caravella Orangecello. The Sperone family has been producing citrus liqueurs since 1...More at CityWineCellar
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