Flavorah Sangria
ConcreteRiver
This a a pre-release flavor, which was provided to me solely for the purposes of review.
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FLV Sangria, .25, 1, and 3% 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 4 days.
Flavor Description: This starts out with some boozy brandy, maybe some apple fruitiness, red wine, and sharper orange citrus but seems to steep out pretty quickly to more of a warm mulled wine flavor with a relatively heavy brandy edge, but no spice note.
Sort of bucking the trend with some of these newer Flavorah flavors, this actually feels a lot more like a heavier base flavor. After it's steeped, I'm not getting much in the way of sharp, bright top notes. There's a rounder, fuller warmth to this does the mulled wine thing pretty well. That citrus mellows and fades a bit, adding to that overall feeling of warmth.
The wine flavor here is a red wine. Steeped, there really isn't a lot of definition. I don't think i'm picking up any really aggressive oak or tannins, so maybe something like a merlot? The brandy covers up a good deal of the nuance of the wine, and lends the entire thing some warth and a bit of apple-ish fruitiness. Booziness here is pretty restrained, with more of the flavor instead of an actual boozy hit. The wine and brandy are pretty well balanced, and work together as a cohesive flavor.
That citrus starts a whole lot more aggressive orange note, but that steeps out pretty quickly. Goes from a distinct orange zest, to more of an orange sweetness and warmth. The fruit part of this is actually pretty subtle overall. More like it was mulled with some fruit than fresh chunks of fruit.
Off-flavors: Sangria is a pretty broad term, so it's hard to say anything doesn't really belong. The red wine, citrus, brandy, and fruit is all pretty normal. This doesn't really taste like a cocktail version of sangria. It's a bit too warm and doesn't have really bright flavors. The implementation here skews a bit closer to an unspiced mulled sangria, kind of like a gluhwein with some added brandy and no spice.
Throat Hit: Nah, not really. A bit sharp from the citrus fresh off the shake but I'm not getting a throat hit steeped.
Percentage testing: At .25%, I'm not picking up a strong flavor. The wine and the brandy here just ends up tasting a bit like a sweeter, cooked red grape. Citrus or fruit doesn't really stand out, just sort of contributes to that sweet grape note.
At 1%, that grape is turning more towards wine. Brandy sweetness and very light alcohol bite is coming through. orange is pretty subtle, but distinct from the brandy. Deeper base flavor, without any too sweet or aggressive. Starting to feel a bit warm, but not overwhelming mulled.
At 3%, this feels a bit flatter and warmer. I'm missing some of that brandy nuance and the back end is kind of picking up a FA Blackcurrant warm, gummy edge.
Uses & Pairings: I'd probably use this around at 2%, just based on these tests. I don't know if it has an aggressive enough flavor to work as a primary note, and even at 2% should blend into the base of your mix. You could definitely push this higher, maybe even the 4-5% range, but it's kind of flat at higher percentages and the warmth would drown out some of the nuance here.
Seems like a really good base for a more complex mulled wine flavor. Adding some spice like ginger, cinnamon, or even cardamom would be pretty interesting. It could also use just a bit more citrus. The grape note here could probably stand to be boosted just a bit as well with a darker, realistic grape flavor.
For a chilled sangria, you'd have to go a lot heavier with bright fruit flavors, and you're going to be fighting that warm note with additional cooling.