Liquid Barn Pacific Cooler
ConcreteRiver
Disclaimer: I didn't pay for these, they were sent to me by Liquid Barn. Shout out to Liquid Barn
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.14 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: Liquid Barn Pacific Cooler, 3 and 6% @ 1g/ml, 60/40 VG/PG base, Steeped 39 days.
Flavor Description: So this is definitely trying to go after the capri sun flavor. There's a empty foil drink pouch included in the official liquid barn promo image. Pacific cooler is supposed to be pineapple, apple, and grape... and all of those are in the promo picture as well.
There is mostly some sort of generic, sweetened juice flavor.There could well be apple, grape, and pineapple in here but they're all extremely soft and melt together. There is maybe some slightly more distinct pineapple, but I'm feeling it more in the tartness than a really strong pineapple flavor. I'd stil call it "fruity" as the dominant profile, and while it's pretty heavily sweet overall it doesn't taste quite candied. So maybe points for realism if not actual flavor.
I think I also taste some strawberry in here? I'm a pretty heavy strawberry non-taster, but I definitely pick up some of the weirder off-notes I get from LB Strawberry instead of tasting actual strawberry. So either the combination of flavors here is an accurate representation of being a strawberry non-taster, or there's an actual strawberry in here.
This feels a bit dull and muted for me. This vapes a little warm, and the fruit is just a bit waxy. You've got a solid sweetness, but not a whole lot of vibrancy. This is a bit brighter as a S&V, but it's quite a bit harsher too, so dialing in the steep is going to be fairly difficult if you want to avoid the throat hit. As a S&V there is a bit of juiciness here, but the steeped sample is actually tasting a bit dry. A bit of density, but no real texture.
Off-flavors: Fairly accurate overall to sort of poor source material. I think there's strawberry in here, so that wouldn't really fit with the pacific cooler thing. Flavor is a bit warm and waxy.
Throat Hit: Moderate. Steeps out quite a bit smoother at the expense of flavor vibrancy.
Percentage testing: The 3% steeped sample of this is really light. Sort of a watered down juice box kind of flavor overall. Nothing really sticks out and I'm having a hard time finding any really distinct flavor here.
6% steeped is also kind of a dull flavor, but it's a little bit fuller, and quite a bit sweeter. I'm getting that strawberry-esque thing a lot more clearly here than at 3%.
My S&V test was all the way up 10%. This actually seemed to work a bit better and I was starting to get a bit more tartness and vibrancy.
Liquid Barn suggests mixing this at 6%, and either I'm not tasting everything going on here or that seems low. It's quite a bit more vibrant up at 10%. I don't think is really intense enough to work at a low percentage as an accent, I'd stick to a primary flavor or a base flavor with the caveat that almost anything else you throw at this is going to stick out above this concentrate.
Uses & Pairings: This works fairly well as a solo flavor at 10% with a short steep, but seems to fade out with a steep. Should pair well with champagnes to thin it out a bit, and a bit of cooling if you really want to try to get to a capri sun.
Outside of a trying to emulate a capri sun, this is probably a bit more limited. Sweet, fruity background noise, mostly. I don't think there are too many fruits that wouldn't work with this in the background. It's kind of a choose-your-own-adventure flavor in terms of additions, especially after a steep.
Second Opinions:
The creator of Pacific Cooler struggles with his regrets.
Here's the ELR Page. User "jojo" writes: "6% (SnV - a tropical punch vibe. Maybe some lychee. Kinda tastes like an ocean water from Sonic. 1 week - pretty much the same. It’s nice. 2 weeks - same. Sweet, kinda tropical. Nice. 3 weeks - really sweet, slightly tropical, bit of a TH. 4 weeks - same.) " User "kohl" writes: "Intense at 5%. Dry flavor, sort of sweet. I'm not sure what kind of application this juice may have. "