Flavor West Rum
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.16 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: FW Rum, 3 and 6%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 5 days.
Flavor Description: Tastes more like the top notes from butterscotch than anything else. I could maybe theoretically see this a butter rum flavor because it has a bit of warmth, but I'm not getting the molasses and spice notes from a dark rum or the agricole bite and funk from white rum. Sweet, but thin and top-heavy. Back end of the exhale, especially if you're using a higher percentage to chase a full flavor, picks up a subtle fruitiness and sourness that doesn't really sit well with the heavy butterscotch character on the front. There's maybe a tiny bit of boozyness and warmth in here, but it seems to reinforce the butterscotch vibe as opposed to come across as an actual booze note. It's a weaker flavor without any real body to it, probably better used as an accent for butterscotches and caramels than trying to bludgeon it into an actual rum. I'd crank it up to 6-8% even as an accent.
Inhale is warm and thin. Basically tastes like butterscotch but no real richness or body. Sweet, but no real base to it. Exhale has more of those butterscotch top notes. It's not really a rich, actual butterscotch or even a drier caramelized sugar. It's more like smelling a bag of werther's originals. There's a small bit of boozy warmth, and maybe a hint of bite, but it's really subtle next to the butterscotch up front. Sour fruitiness on the back end of the exhale that starts to stick out quite a bit after 8%. Airy and thin exhale overall. Sweetness level is okay for a butter rum type of flavor, but it's all living up in those top notes. Again, no real base to this flavor.
Off-flavors: More of a butter rum than anything else. There's this weird, subtlety sour fruitiness at higher percentages that seems to be tasting just a hair rancid with that buttery note up front. It's similar to the fruity note from INW Jamaican Rum but dialed way back and playing off that butterscotch-ish taste to get a bit a weird.
Throat Hit: Not really.
Uses & Pairings: I will continue to fruitlessly try rum concentrates hoping to finally pull of a boozy rum cocktail. I realize FA Jamaica Rhum is delicious, but it doesn't really have a bite to it and the less said about INW Jamaica Rum and TPA Dark Rum the better. The rum base from SA Lime Rum probably came the closest, but it had a distinct cheap cologne to it that was kind of gnarly. This isn't the answer to my rum dreams.
Any booziness in this is pretty subtle, I wouldn't try to use this as a rum and it doesn't quite have the body to use as a butter rum type of flavor solo.
I could see using this punch up a butterscotch flavor or pull a caramel closer to a butterscotch, but honestly I feel like you can get similar results without having to go with a flavor that has such limited use cases.
Notes: Concentration testing, this is weak, even for Flavorwest. At 2% I'm having problems tasting much besides maybe a light butterscotch type of butter rum flavor. It's all top notes, and it's really light. At 4%, still coming across as light. No more body, no more presence. At 6% still just top notes, but their starting to fill out a bit at least. At 8%, those top notes are at least present. I'm getting a bit more pronounced warmth but nothing really approaching boozy. Weird sourness and fruity note showing up a bit on the back end. At 10%, still no real base. Sourness is a bit heavier. Starting to taste weird. At 12% it's kind of a getting a bit rancid, but I'm still looking for a full flavor. I'd use this between 6-8% as an accent. Doesn't have the body to carry the whole full flavor thing.
Second Opinions:
So this is apparently one of three flavorwest rums, the other being Jamaican and butter. And there's not a lot of info out there.
ELR page is a ghost town, "Odins Wrath" reports: "Is a sweet rum. Maybe good for butter rum candy."