As always, the purpose of this thread is to gather the community to explore a flavor and its many uses. And it's also to have FUN!
Post recipes containing this week's Flavor of the Week, as the star or in a supporting role, with or without development notes. Talk about other people's recipes that use it. Compare and contrast different manufacturers' versions of the FOTW. Ask for help using that flavor in general or to achieve something specific, offer advice, brainstorm ideas, consider substitutions, suggest pairings... really anything at all as long as it's on topic.
This week's flavor is: Champagne!
How did that get to be the FOTW?
It was requested. If you're not interested in this FOTW, please take this opportunity and comment to suggest one that interests you (or send me a PM to do that).
Past FOTW posts can be found here
Next week's flavor will be: Cake
The week after that will be: Hazelnut
The week after that will be: Maple
The week after that will be: Fig
The week after that will be: Blue Raspberry
The week after that will be: Butter & Whipped Cream
The week after that will be: Banana
The week after that will be: Christmas
The week after that will be: Vegetals
The week after that will be: Milk & Cream
The week after that will be: Cherry
The week after that will be: Gummy Candy
The week after that will be: Lemon
The week after that will be: Caramel
The week after that will be: Lime
The week after that will be: Cereal
The week after that will be: Orange
The week after that will be: Cheesecake
The week after that will be: Cookies/Graham Cracker/Pie Crust
The week after that will be: Coconut
The week after that will be: Cookie Dough & Cake Batter
The week after that will be: Custard
The week after that will be: Peach
The week after that will be: Raspberry
The week after that will be: Sweeteners
The week after that will be: Cinnamon Pastries
The week after that will be: Vanilla
The week after that will be: Cantaloupe
The week after that will be: Honeydew
The week after that will be: Watermelon
The week after that will be: Pecan
The week after that will be: Hard Liquor
The week after that will be: Pear
The week after that will be: Cranberry
Something I've been mulling around with, pretty fucking tasty if you ask me.
0.35 (INW) Lemon Mix
0.5 (FA) Pear
1.5 (FW) Pink Champagne
1.25 (FA) Pomegranate
3 (CAP) Sweet Strawberry
*edit-link
There's no way that isn't a delightful mix. How'd you come up with that?
I feel like it wouldn't be a Champagne thread without a link to this informative post by /u/concreteriver : Effervescence and You
So I've been toying with a grape recipe, trying to find a good balance between something like Welches but also feeling like a realistic grape at the same time. While the main note hilights are all Flavorah,the champagne is essential! Here is the recipe:
FA Bilberry-0.25%
FLV Blueberry- 0.15%
TPA Champagne- 0.50%
TFA Marshmallow- 1.50%
FA Fuji- 1%
FLV Grape- 1.75%
FLV Moscato- 0.25%
SugarDaddys Sweetener- 0.75%
The added sweetener is made by an individual with a mixers group I am part of. It is by far the best and most authentic sweetener I've ever used that does not kill coils. It can be substituted with a sweetener of your choice or left out entirely!, So far it's VERY good!
Do you know what Sugar Daddy puts in his sweetener or is it a secret?
I recently got some INW Sparkling Wine and this thread reminded me to give it a try. At 3% shake-n-vape it is like a sparkling white grape juice (non-acoholic) with some bubbly to it. A little bit sweet-spicy like a dessert wine. Not great by itself but would compliment just about any fruit.
Have you tried mixing it with any mango flavors? I haven't done that yet (I don't even have INW Sparkling Wine) but reading descriptions of Champagne-type flavors makes me think they'd make a great pairing, sort of a tropical bellini.
I just tried 3% INW Sparkling Wine with 3% CAP Sweet Mango. It was alright but kinda mango-soap, I thought. Thought to add some Pineapple (0.5% INW) and I like it better. I'm not a fruit vaper much... Adding the fruit made me realize that the spicy/sweet that I mentioned above is more like Brut Champagne.
Last summer we were mucking about with different summery-type drinks and landed on a peach Bellini with champagne as the base. Pretty tasty and now that I've re-looked it up I might make another bottle when my current one runs out.
Champagne Supernova
TFA Champagne 5%
FA White Peach 3%
TFA Juicy Peach 1%
FA Lemon Sicily 0.7%
FW Blood Orange 0.7%
We also used a tiiiiiny bit of TFA Champagne (like 0.5%) in conjunction with FA Aurora to bring a fizzy note to our Baja Blast recipe which is somewhere in my/StardustCoyote's post history. You definitely don't want to use too much Champagne in a soda recipe unless you're trying to recreate that feeling of getting drunk on a random Wednesday off vodka and Sprite or whatever. :v
Tfa champagne - 1.6% FA Fuji Apple - 1.6% FA white peach 1.6%
Bloody lovely for a 50/50 mix
I've used FA Wine Champagne and TFA Champagne. Both seemed underwhelming to me as top notes. There's no actual carbonation sensation in either one IMO, but they seem to be decent fruit/drink enhancers in the 1-2% range, with FA getting funky and almost floral at higher percentages. They carry a slight sour white grape taste, FA being a bit more defined, "sharper" if you will. TFA is fairly versatile if you want to push it over 5% without getting weird.
These 2 champagne flavors mix well with almost any single fruit or fruit combo imaginable. FA Liquid Amber or FA Brandy work nicely as further pairings. A little bit of FA Oakwood makes it interesting too.
I have a recipe with TFA Champagne that I worked on a while back, it's nothing out of this world, but it's where I left off... Use it for inspiration or mix it up for shits and gigs.
- TFA Champagne 4%
- INW Grape 3%
- TFA Grape Juice 1.5%
- FA Oakwood 1%
- TFA Cranberry 0.5%
- CAP Marshmallow 0.5%
Edit: recipe
Why the CAP Marshmallow 0.5%?
Great question. I asked myself the same thing as I typed it up last night, because it really seems out of place. I recall wanting to "soften" up one of my previous renditions, and it ended up sticking through a few more until I stopped messing with it. I had originally started building it all as a dry red wine of sorts, but I ended up with this which is probably a little more satisfying unless you're into that sort of thing.
Fun Fact: It is titled as "Grapester" in my recipe book.
Is it even possible to get fizziness? I'm mean since it's literally bubbles popping on your tounge in a drink, how can a flavor mimic that?
FW Pink Champagne is the only champagne I've tried that comes close to delivering effervescence. Grape notes come along for the ride, but can be hidden by more potent concentrates. Keep it below 1.5%
Hmm I'll have to get some my next order, I can't imagine grape being terrible with any fruit drink combination. As long as it doesn't pull to much attention to it, I think it'd be worth the trade off at least.
It's pretty potent stuff to me, so unless you mix in large volumes, I'd say just grab a 10mL for $1.50 from BCV and take it for a test drive with some fruity extracts. FW Pink Champagne @ .75% + CAP Lemon Lime @ 3-4% is 100% win. It's literally 7up/Sprite. And you can throw in some FA Florida Key Lime, TFA Key Lime, or FA Lemon Sicily to make it a little more tart.
Here's a recipe I've been working on that's in progress.
#Hibiscus Apple Cocktail
-
3.5% FA Fuji
-
0.35% FLV Hibiscus
-
2% FA Wine Champagne
It's close, I think, but I'm going to try some A/B comparisons. I just picked up some JF Fuji which I might give a shot. Also I think maybe I dialed down the Hibiscus too much, but it's tricky since it's such a strong flavor. And after reading that effervescence article, maybe I should try some FW Pink Champagne?
Nice to see FLV Hibiscus getting some use. Such an interesting but difficult flavor to work with. Looks like you've found some good pairings with it. JF Fuji would be slightly softer but might work better. FW Pink Champagne would be sweeter, less boozy, and more likely to let you believe it's sort of fizzy, if that's what you're after.
Yeah, it's definitely been tricky. Nice flavor but so strong that it can overwhelm everything if you're not careful, and I think it leaves a bit of a bad aftertaste. This flavor combo definitely works but my apple game isn't really strong, so I think it's going to take some time to perfect it. It's already pretty vapable, though.