Decadent Vapours Long Island Ice Tea
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for this, shoutout to Decadent Vapours for sending this to me.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 12 wrap 24g 3.5mm SS316 @.31 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Decadent Vapours Long Island Ice Tea, 5% and 10%, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 21 days.
Flavor Description: Yeah, that's a Long Island Ice Tea.
Overall, this tastes surprisingly accurate to profile. Simulates that weird hangover alchemy that makes a Long Island Ice Tea. In general, no single part of this feels out of balance enough to really stick out.
I do get some distinct cola bite out of this. Feels maybe just a bit heavier than a splash, but doesn't pull the entire thing off profile.
I'm thinking they went with a pretty basic sour mix kind of citrus here. I'm not picking up anything distinctly orangey from a triple sec. Some candied lemon-lime tartness with some decent vibrancy. Doesn't really feel like fresh lemon juice, and has a thicker kind of sticky sweetness. The lemon here seems to get a bit waxy for me, but only after a couple of drags when the tarter parts of the lemon die down a bit.
The booze here seems a little light until you start hitting a fairly obscene mixing percentage. At lower percentages, seems to make the cola just a bit spicier. As the percentage goes up you get more definition on those boozes. Not quite accurately boozy, but does actually taste like a mix of vodka, gin, tequila, and rum without some of the punch.
With the sweeter citrus, heavier cola, and relatively sedate booze, feels a whole lot more like a fast-casual, we pour short, 2 for 1 tuesdays kind of cocktail than a truly hideous and judgement-decimating highball with your buddy behind the bar.
Moderate fullness. There is a syrupy sweetness to this, but it doesn't really cohere into something super dense and thick in terms of mouthfeel. Definitely sweeter overall, and gets cloying, especially at the tail end of the exhale.
Off-Flavors: Nah, not really. I think the citrus gets just a bit waxy and warm.
Throat Hit: Moderate, but it kind of fits with the cocktail profile.
Percentage testing: At 5%, this feels a bit flat. It has a quite a bit of sweetness, but not much brighter tartness. The cola is fairly prominent, and the booze more accents than stands on it's own. Tastes a bit like a spicy version of pepsi with those lemon accents.
At 10%, this is a bit more vibrant. It doesn't feel that much heavier or even sweeter than 5%. Citrus has picked up quite a bit, and I'm getting sour mix distinct from sweet cola. Booze still feels kind of light though, and this feels a bit waxy and warm.
I wasn't really feeling like this was filled out at 10%, and so went full DV crazy mixing percentage and tried this at 20%. Granted, this tester only has a couple day steep on it, but it largely works up that high. It's starting to get fairly boozy and closer to an actual cocktail. Maybe a half-step back from a realistic hot booze note, but it's definitely got all the support flavors and reads pretty clearly as booze. Doesn't seem to get more syrupy this high, more just fills out the cocktail side of this.
So, just based on these tests, I'm probably going to be on the high end of mixing percentage. I'd mostly be rocking this solo, and I'd probably start at 15%.
Uses & Pairings: This is pretty much just a solo flavor. I mean, it's a Long Island Ice Tea. I can't think of anything else that I'd really want to add to this or anything this could really be added to. It could maybe use a bit of WS-23 to cool it off a bit and cut some of the cloying sweetness in the finish.
I suppose if you want your Long Island more dive bar than Applebees, you could perk up that boozy note just a bit. The Vape Train boozes would be pretty good at adding some authentically dangerous tasting kick here. Light Rum would probably fit the best, although their Russian Vodka would also do the trick.
Second Opinions: So this was originally part of their "taste of america" line that has mostly migrated over to their wholesale or bulk list. I can't find any kind of reviews or notes on this.