Drink Lab #1

I love the idea of a group cocktail-making experience. I don't have the Creme de Cacao and truthfully I don't want to buy a bottle unless it's good enough to use in larger quantities. I read about an unreleased cocoa nip liqueur from Bittercube, but I'm not sure it is available yet. I also read about Mozart dry chocolate spirit. This sounds like a really cool product -- unsweetened, bitter chocolate flavor. It could presumably be used with simple syrup as needed.

I have also substituted Meletti for creme de cacao, as I find it's flavor very reminiscent of chocolate. Maybe I could experiment with that.

Too sweet for me. I found a 1/2 oz. of orgeat plenty. Admittedly I used Dekuyper cocoa. Don't judge me!

i can taste how sweet this is in my brain!!
i'd say drop some of the pastis and add a good apple eaux de vie like clear creek or st george... with more booze the balance will shift allowin you to use far less citrus making it a balancing act rather that tart sweet... floral notes from a well made unaged fruit spirit will bring a complexity with the herbal backbone of the pastis... that is my tweak. .75 .75 .75, drop the lemon to .5 and drop the orange flower because you should always, always, always make your own orgeat. it is way worth it and not as difficult as it seems. with all that sugar in it it lasts like a month n the frigde, too. splash of soda wont hurt this a bit.. and for my taste id use solerno or some kind of triple sec in lieu of cacao...

i guess instead of a tweak this is something completely different, now...

There is a new Creme de Cacao from Tempus Fuget. If I were to buy another (possibly lifetime supply) bottle, that's the brand I'd pick. I suspect the sugar balance of this is heavily influenced by the particular orgeat. The original was probably made with homemade, which might be less sweet than commercial brands.

I haven't tried this recipe. It scares me.