Short Fuse Misfire

Reposted from the TikiBar Forums:
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So I had my first Short Fuse at the bar on Friday and loved it. I the bought the ingredients this weekend to make it at home.

And I did.

And I hated it. Sickly-sweet, verging to sour instead of clean toffee flavours.

What could have made the difference? Well, there are a few things:
1) The bar had no Cherry brandy, so we used Strawberry Schnapps instead.
2) The beer used was Coopers Sparkling Ale at home, Tooheys New lager at the bar.
3) I used Pepsi Max at home, and Coke (full strength) at the bar.

I'm going to try it again tonight without the Cherry Brandy, just to see, but ugh. What a letdown.

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(About an hour and a half later)
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Success! Go the scientific method!

So, deciding that the only way of controlling the circumstances would be to control the variables, I set out to the bottle shop. I got a stubby of Toohey's New lager and a can of Coke. Once home, I recreated the Short Fuse with the steely calm of a scientician. A third of a shot of cherry brandy was the third change made. Created the Kahlua and amaretto shot (even layered it perfectly), and dropped it in.

Heaven.

The sweeter Coopers ale and sugary Pepsi Max combined with the Cherry Brandy was just too much for my palate. The dry and more structured Tooheys New controlled the flavour of the drink.

Phew! I thought I'd bought Cherry Brandy, Amaretto and Kahlua for nothing (although, admittedly, I would have gotten rid of them somehow)!

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