Flavor West Martini
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: FW Martini @ 3%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 16 days.
Flavor Description: Dry vermouth, all the way. No gin here. Legitimate aromatics and some slight white wine sourness. Thin and dry, suprisingly accurate, at least on the vermouth front.
Inhale is herbaceous with being green or vegetal at all. Slightly sharp and bitter with a delicate sourness. Thin exhale, again with that light sourness and just a tiny bit of sweetness toward the back end. Exhale has that light herb note which is damn near impossible for me to nail down. What i do get clearly is some sort of quinine bitterness that shows up on the back end of the exhale.. It's also floral but not perfumey at 3%. That floral note has almost a soft violet or maybe even lilac taste. Really complex here, but it's accurate for dry vermouth.
Off-flavors: Nothing feels out of place here.
Throat Hit: Very light to none. It's a slightly bitter and thin flavor, but it in that context it's pretty damn smooth.
Uses & Pairings: Honestly, I'd consider this a single flavor vape at 3%. It manages to be floral with being too perfumey, and the light sweetness is really pleasant. If you have any interest in vaping a dry vermouth, give it a shot.
The other obvious use is a cocktail vape. As it stands, a really solid dry vermouth. If you add in a little heavier spice (i'm thinking INW Shisha Punch) and a sweet boozy note like FA brandy you could pull of a sweet vermouth. Those quinine notes would also work as a stand-in for lillet if you need it, with maybe a drop of FLV Bourbon to bring the oak back in.
Having a decent vermouth on deck ends up bringing a whole bunch of classic cocktails into play.
Notes:
S&V concentration testing, 3% seems like the sweet spot here. Under 3% and those soft floral and herbal notes are a little muted and soft. You're missing some of the light sour mouthfeel that sells this as dry vermouth as well. Above 3%, those florals seem get a bit aggressive and you pick up the hits of lilac perfume and the sourness gets a bit much. I'd either vape this solo at 3%, or mix at 3% and rely any heavier boozier flavors to throw enough elbows to muscle up to the front. Also of note, this is super harsh as a S&V. You get a hot alcohol note along with much sharper florals that could pass as the missing gin portion until it calms down in a straight dry vermouth after a 5 days to a week.
If it isn't clear, I'm a fan. If it sounds even remotely interested in a dry vermouth, or really any kind of apertif/digestif type of vape this is good call. As far I can tell, there isn't a ton of competition here and this is solid.
Second Opinions:
Nah, man. Not that I can find. Again, don't go expecting anything but a dry vermouth experience and I think you'll be happy with it.