Flavorah Vanilla Bean
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 Vanilla Bean, .25, 1, and 3%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 8 days.
Flavor Description: A spicier realistic vanilla bean flavor that works like straight vanillin.
Solo, there's basically no body to this. A majority of vanillas on the market have some sort of heavier base to them, usually some sort of cream. This really doesn't. It also doesn't have a thicker vanilla extract kind of base like FA or TPA Vanilla Bourbon. Mechanically, it's functioning pretty much like vanillin. It's just boosting existing vanilla flavors and giving a sort of ethereal vanilla top note to things.
I've mixed this up with INW Custard, mostly because I like it and it doesn't seem to require much of a steep. I've used 1.5% solo INW Custard, and then samples with 1% TPA Vanillin and 1% FLV Vanilla bean.
Testing the custard solo, it tastes like it should. Rich vanilla, heavier eggy note, and a bit of butter to it. The vanillin brightens up the vanilla in there substantially but it feels a bit one-dimensional and artificial.
The FLV Vanilla Bean brought in a bit more nuance and the vanilla top note has a spicier, more complex vanilla to it. Fairly robust tasting vanilla bean with a bit of earthiness to it as well. It's a very accurate straight from the vanilla bean flavor.
If you ever used whole vanilla beans when actually cooking custards, the effect is really similar.
Based on this (admittedly slapdash) testing, I'd venture to say this really is going to work a lot more like a fancier, more nuanced version of straight vanillin.
Off-flavors: I mean, it's not a solo flavor, or even a solo vanilla component. It's going to enhance and brighten your vanillas more than anything else.
Throat Hit: Nah, but there isn't much body here to actually hit your throat.
Percentage testing: I'm not really sure solo testing is all the useful here because of the way this flavor is working. I have my tests down at .25%, 1%, and 3% and none of them really feel like a full flavor. I taste basically nothing at .25%, 1% does have some vanilla notes, but it's very aromatic and there's almost no base. 3% is picking up some bitterness and sourness and feels overblown. I will say tasting the steeped version at 1% and a fresh mix at 1%, this doesn't seem to have much of a fade-out, which is a concern with more ethereal flavors.
Based on the INW custard test, I'd probably be using this as that vanilla top note around .25-75%.
Uses & Pairings: Again, there's a whole group of people doing this beta testing and sharing notes, so half of this is ripped off from other people's usage ideas.
This is going to work really well to enhance the vanilla in custards, creams, and ice creams. It should work to make the vanilla that's already present in most of those kinds of concentrates a bit more lively, while adding depth and complexity to the mix. Personally, I find using vanillin to do that always ends up tasting a bit like soft serve ice cream, while this is more complex and feels more realistic to actual vanilla bean. Wayne of DIYorDIE fame/infamy used it in a live mixing recipe and if I had to guess it's sitting on top of the milkshake base there just reinforcing all that vanilla in the VBIC, Meringue, and Graham Cracker.
Thadentman also used it in a posted a root beer float recipe using this, FLV Root Beer, FW VBIC, and CAP whipped cream. Again, it's going to be enhancing all of those vanillas. I'd think this would have some use with root beer outside of just a float though. The way that vanilla bean lands this would have serious potential with root beer, cola, ginger ale (shoutout to Kopel), and other soda flavors to lend that same kind of effervescent sparkling top note of vanilla you get from a soda.
Since this doesn't have all that cream base baggage, this could be used with drier, crisper bakeries and tobaccos to get vanilla notes into something where you don't want to mess with the texture.
I have no pricing information on this, but I'm thinking you may have to gird your wallets based on how nuts vanilla pricing in general is right now.