Flavour Monks Gin Orange
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.17 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FM Gin Orange @ %3, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 19 days.
Flavor Description: FM Pure Gin, heavy on the orange peel. More like a gin made with fruit, rather than a fruit mixed with gin like the rest of the FM gin line. Orange peel note has a bit of warmth, a lot like bergamot. Undermines a lot of the complex herbal finish, but keeps a good juniper berry hit. Overall fairly harsh and dry solo, though.
Inhale is mostly top notes. Lots of juniper right of the bat, with building bitter orange/bergamot zest. A bit thin, with no real bottom end. Exhale is really top heavy, again with that juniper first and then a warm, almost peppery bergamot, citrus zest type of flavor. Herbal notes and citrus zest blend on the tail end, with a lingering dry, bitter, citrus. Some base tangerine sweetness, but all that flavor kind of lives in the top notes. Noticeably drier than the other FM gins.
Off-flavors: Nah, texture is noticeably less forgiving than the other FM Gin mixes, but I get bitter orange zest and gin notes.
Throat Hit: Moderate. Citrus note is pretty harsh.
Uses & Pairings: Much more of a straight ahead gin than a fruit mix. Good start for gin and citrus cocktails, although I'd stick to juicier citrus because this already has most of the zest you're going to want. Also needs some additional wetness, so probably needs some cactus or cucumber to get your wetness back.
Otherwise, use pretty much like you would FA Gin or FM Pure Gin. Good for gin cocktails or a low percentage to add interest to your fruit mixes.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, at 1% this is all orange zest. Actually pretty spot on. At 2%, the juniper shows up big. At 3% the herbal back end of the juice cuts through the juniper a bit and it the concentrate gets bergamot-y. At 4% the orange takes a bit of a backseat to the gin, and by 5% its pretty much a gin made with orange peel. I'd mix this in a fruit mix for the orange zest at 1%, 3% for a lighter gin accent in a cocktail, and 4% as a primary gin note in a cocktail vape.
Seems like the most useful of the FM gin line besides the pure gin for actually mixing. Too dry and aggressive for solo mixing, but a good gin to build a more traditional gin cocktail recipe around.
Second Opinions:
Couple reviews from the Flavormonks website:
"Taste exactly like the description says. Gin with orange. A bit bitter, but thats normal. Really good."
Google translate, original review auf Deutsch:
"For my taste it is a bit too much orange flavor. The Gin comes out well! No all-day, but every now and then very tasty. Also mixed with "boring" fruit liquids very well."