Real Flavors Brandy SC
ConcreteRiver
Setup: Recoil w/ flavor barrel, Dual 15 wrap 26g 3mm Nifethal 70 coils @.15 ohms. 60w power, 450F temp limit. Full Cotton Wicks.
Testing: RF SC Brandy @ 1% and 2.5%, 60/40 VG/PG, Steeped 12 days.
Flavor Description: Funkier fermented grape almost raisiny notes, with a clear shot of candy grape sweetness. On the dry side, overall. Doensn't really come across as a liquid. I think mixing with this is going to be a bit difficult, but I maybe see some use in backing up a cleaner brandy flavor like Flavourart's version or in more savory cooked grape or maybe even fig applications. I'd use this at around 1.5-2.5%.
Inhale is sharp and sweet. More authentic brandy up top, with a pretty heavily sweet candy grape base. Moderately dense overall, with a dryer mouthfeel. Exhale starts pretty accurate as you get that almost raisiny brandy richness up front with some dirtier fermentation notes up top. That candy grape sweetness shows up big in the tail end of the exhale and seems to clash a bit with the more realistic take up front. It's almost like someone rolled a grape jolly rancher in powdered brandy? As odd as that that sounds. The alcohol note has a kind of artificial chemical edge to it. Almost like a cheaper brandy, but those hairspray notes get fairly prominent and linger quite a bit. Moderate density overall, but the mouthfeel is fairly dry for a liquid.
Off-flavors: The sweetness here just doesn't gel with the rest of the concentrate. I get a grape candy sweetness sitting behind the more traditional brandy. I also feel like the mouthfeel is a bit on the dry side for a liquid, and that "alcohol" has a hairspray chemical edge to it.
Throat Hit: Light to moderate. That alcohol note tastes a bit off, chemical, and harsh.
Uses & Pairings: I don't necessarily think is a slam dunk for a brandy flavor to use in cocktails. I'd use this to add some funk back into FA Brandy, which is tasty but doesn't bear much resemblance to alcohol.
I could also see this being used to add some realism to dark grape or grape juice flavors. I think the big challenge there would be to get all the the flavors to really hang together and cohere, but .5% TPA Dragonfruit would help to emulsify it all.
This is pretty dry, but it could work to add some raisiny oomph to drier bakeries, like a cinnamon raisin bread or something similar.
Notes: At 1%, this is mostly just sweet and grape-y. I'm missing a lot of the more interesting brandy here, and it's just a sweet, flat, slightly dry dark grape flavor. 1.5% has a bit more depth. Still dry, and fairly flat but I'm starting to get some brandy here. 2% is pretty solid, with the grape sweetness not entirely overbearing, and the brandy getting a richness in flavor but the alchol is starting to get a bit sharp and artificial. 2.5% is about my usuable limit. The sweetness is a bit much, and that alchol note is getting too bitter. 3% is too much, too sweet, too fermented, and the alchol is too chemical.
Second Opinions:
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H/T to /u/ID10-T for the suggestion.