##FLV Alpine Strawberry##
Summary
A very powerful, crisp, floral strawberry note. Almost cooling. I'd say it's not so much that it tastes floral, as much as it is that it hits you in the same spot that a floral would (if that makes sense). I feel this may be a good strawberry for folks that have trouble tasting strawberry (although I cannot confirm this since I can taste strawberry). Makes for a great top note, but does not work well with creams/custards, so you will need to most likely pair this with florals, tobaccos, earth notes, other fruits etc.
So, let's address the elephant in the room: the price point. This is easily the most expensive concentrate I've worked with. Typically with super expensive concentrates, they are super concentrated. This one is moderately concnetrated, being used in most of my recipes from 0.5%-1.5%. It doesn't pair with typical Strawberry pairings as well, but it is surely one that will not fade out on you. I love the actual flavor of this concentrate, but I can imagine that this type of strawberry flavor is not for everyone.
It's hard for me to recommend this one way or the other. For me, I'm not too concerned with price as long as I enjoy the flavoring, so for someone like me it's a great addition to your flavor arsenal; for others it will be very hard to justify spending what is basically an entire orders budget on one flavoring.
On the Nose
Sharp crisp strawberry note; strong chemical smell.
##DO NOT FINGER TASTE OR WATER-TASTE THIS FLAVOR!!
Recommended Usage
Stand alone: 1%-2%
In a mix: 0.5%-1.5%
Throat
Mild to Moderate. Hits you in the floral spot
Ideal Pairings
Bright fruits, tobaccos, florals, earthy tones
Avoid
Creams, Custards, Caramels.
Steep
2-3 Days
Recipe Inclusion: Autumn Sunset
Ratio: 20PG/80VG
Steep: 5+ days
Ingredient|%| :--|:--| FLV Alpine Strawberry|0.75%| FLV Cavendish|1.5%| CAP Cinnamon Danish Swirl|3%| FLV Fig|0.75%| JF FUji|1%| TFA Strawberry Ripe|2|
In this recipe, I needed a strawberry that could outshine both a strong cinnamon flavor as well as bakery, tobacco, and a musky fig and the only strawberry that I feel would stand a chance against all of those dark, heavy, and forward flavors to make strawberry stand tall against everything is FLV Alpine Strawberry. I think this is the greatest feature of this flavor is how far it can push a strawberry flavor to the front.
FYI: If anyone wants to try this flavor, as well as the other outrageously priced FLV stuff, for a reasonable price - check out --> https://www.chefsflavours.co.uk/106-flavorah
They do re-bottle but you can grab a 10mL for about $3.60. They also have coconut and the rich cinnamon for the same price. And of course, a host of other brands, like Flavor Monks and Wonder Flavors that you're seeing reviews of pop up!
Regular airmail shipping to the US is like 6.50 and it only took 7 days from my order time to delivery here in CT.
That's cheaper than FLV's wholesale price. Surprised FLV hasn't cracked down on them for that, they seem to have a problem with vendors rebottling and/or adjusting the price of their wares.
And that's why I rarely ever buy FLavorah . I've bought two things, they taste completely okay And cost like 3 times as much as all my other concentrates. The one's not even potent. Neither are even potent. What a giant waste of money.
I have like 2 FLVs on my wishlist, and I'm fairly certain they'll be there for a veeeeery long time.
I have 150+ FLV and don't regret purchasing many of them. I'd say the ratio of duds is actually less than a lot of other vendors. BF, GF, HS and MB are typically on par or more expensive than most FLV flavors (all imports for me, so ymmv) and I find myself reaching for those less when creating a new recipe.
I have you tagged as "Making a catalog" ;) I'm sure if you made a catalog of the most worthwhile FLV flavors I could suggest a few but ultimately I would trust /u/concreteriver's opinions over my own.
a couple of weeks ago i was wondering why no on rebottled FLV so i started looking and eventually made my way back to Gremlin who hasn't been in my main rotation ever since i found out i could get an order from BCV in two or three days and NR had cheap 60mls and free shipping(RIP). $2.50 for 8ml isn't bad, but they don't have a couple of the flavors that i was interested in so i went to FLV site and looked through their policies and saw that they do allow rebottling. i figured since no one else does it, it must be either cost prohibitive from a supplier side or their terms must be onerous.
maybe /u/BCFInventoryGuy can give us some insight if he can?
I asked Grant (from NR) a year ago and he told me Flavorah said their prices were too low, so they decided to stop selling anything but 15ml. Flavorah wanted them to scaled the price 1:1 so a 30ml would just cost as much as 2 15ml. Kinda shitty. I know Gremlin sells 5ml samples, but there is no price break. I imagine that's why they're allowed.
Without letting too much daylight in on the BCF magic , our decisions on what to rebottle works off a pretty basic formula (depending on the manufacturer).
In theory we'd rebottle everything we could to make the most profit on every single bottle. However we have to balance that against quality/freshness. If we are considering rebottling a gallon (of any brand, not just flavorah) of course we pay much less for it, but then we have to balance that against how long it's going to sit on the shelf before it's sold.
If it's longer than we're happy with, we pay the higher price and sell the original packaging...
Plus there will always be some people who won't ever buy rebottled product if an original packaged option is available, making the market even smaller...
May I ask why you shouldn't finger or water taste this?
Your palate will be overwhelmed by a strong chemical taste. I wouldn't be surprised if there is like a small amount of the ingredient they used in Koolada. Doesn't taste like strawberry at al on the buds but the aroma is very much strawberry
OK, thank you. Koolada at high percentages has always reminded me of lemon balm, and I can se tose two working together quite well.
This may be a stupid question, but have you had INW Wild Strawberry? And if so is this the same kind of strawberry that you get there, with that really bright super jammy but green kind of taste? I'm a strawberry agnostic most of the time, but I get that shit loud and clear but also hate it so I'm a little hestitant to splash out the $17.49 to give this a try.
INW Wild Strawberry literally tastes like a strawberry you've stomped on 10 times with a dirt-covered boot, picked it up and threw it straight into mouth. Just want to spread a little awareness of how awful that flavor is. Well, maybe if you love eating soil, then yea, you might enjoy it.
I haven't had it, unfortunately, so I can't make any sort of comparison. Think like mostly the white part of a really cold strawberry (like just defrosted). It does have a nice potent redness on the tip of the flavor though. It's super weird but I think it's unique and enjoyable enough to be worth the experience.
>Hits you in the floral spot
Sounds dirty.
Would you say this tastes like an earthier TFA Strawberry Ripe?
Hahaha, not earthy per se but like bright and floral. Almost cooling. The actual strawberry flavor I would say as like a mix between INW Shisha and FA Red Touch, leaning toward more FA Red Touch.