PART 1:

Noted Ep. 176: Gingerbread (ft. RUG_ly)

(Episode aired 10th November 2020)

(Ranked from worst to first)

Herrlan Lebkuchen: Ginger potpourri. Really hard to vape enough to dry the wick out. traumatising! Tested at 2%. Which is within Herrlan's recommended use range.

7.51

EUR Gingerbread: Very strange spice note. Definitely has a ginger note on a rich, thick bakery base. But also has something oddly savoury, has a very strong turmeric note. ID10-T got a perfumey note. RUG_ly got some skunky-ness on the finish. At 4% RUG_ly got a lot of curry- from the turmeric, not a lot of texture, no creaminess, no bakery, no butter. Just bad curry with a skunky finish. RUG-ly tested at 4%. ID10-T tested at 3%

9.20

FW Gingerbread: Very similar to EUR Gingerbread. Also has the turmeric, curry-ish off note. Like EUR tastes more like turmeric than gingerbread. But at least it has a really thick, rich, heavy bakery base. A lot of texture, a lot of butter. Like curry on some dark bread.

11.56

TFA Gingerbread: Not gingerbread. Red Hots candy dissolved in ginger ale. Or maybe some sort of Fireball cocktail. Spicy. Not entirely repulsive. No bakery. Ginger that tastes like ginger ale or ginger candy and lots of cinnamon. Cinnamon tastes like Red Hots. RUG_ly got a lt of clove and nutmeg. No real texture or body. Got a dark fruity note on the finish. Almost like molasses or a raisin. Very dry. Tastes over flavoured and a bit sour.

13.46

TFA Gingerbread Extra Ginger: Tastes like a ginger forward pumpkin spice. Cinnamon, ginger and clove. But no nutmeg. Despite 'Extra Ginger' being in the name the ginger, cinnamon and clove are fairly well balanced. There's not even more ginger than TFA Gingerbread. But the flavour is more concentrated or potent than TFA Gingerbread. No bread, no cake or cookie. No bakery at all. Fairly accurate bakery spice mix. Not candied at all, no Red Hots. Might be good to add to a gingerbread, maybe around 1%. Or might work in a mulled wine? Tested at 2% and 1%. 2% too strong. 1% is a fairly good %, useable.

16.01

TFA Gingerbread Cookie: Mostly tastes like gingerbread. But has something a little off. Almost a smokey, perfume off note. Rich, thick, bready. Has the right amount of ginger with a little cinnamon behind it. A noticeable amount of vanilla. RUG_ly didn't get smokey perfume note. Thought it had a noticeable ginger, bakery note. But thought it had a lot of AP, to the point it had some corn chip flavour. ID10-T and RUG_ly tested at 3%.

19.14

HS Gingerbread: Even at 3% its still pretty light in flavour. Not very saturated or bold. May need pushing up even further. What was there was like something in between gingerbread and rye bread. Has a similar rye-ish note to that in FLV Pumpkin Bread, but soft. A bit dry. Top heavy. The bread, instead of being the body is more of a top note. Has some warm, bakery ginger spice. But not a lot of flavour beyond that initial hint of the ginger and the bread. Needs a cake or a cookie or something to complete the flavour. Tastes unfinished. Also needs some dark sweetness. The bread part is a little too much like bread or toast, rather than a cake-y, sweet, dessert type of bread or cookie. Then there's the odd rye note that has attached itself to the ginger. Tested at 2% and then 3%.

23.38

INW Spicy Biscuit: Should probably have been included in the Pumpkin episode. Not a gingerbread as the ginger isn't that strong and has too many other things going on. Not much ginger. It's more like a cinnamon forward pumpkin spice flavour. A little bit of ginger with something like nutmeg or all spice. Plus a tiny bit of clove. Really nice balance of spices. Decent bakery element. Has a nice bit of buttery cookie on the end. ID10-T increased it from 2% to 3% and found the spice didn't become overwhelming and the bakery became more prominent in a good way. Cookie is buttery and like a soft cookie. It's not as dry or sharp as INW Biscuit. An interesting and tasty flavour. Only ranked so low as it's not a gingerbread.

25.41

OOO Gingerbread Cookie: Light, but tastes just like a ginger snap up front. Dark, molassess-y, crisp, ginger spice cookie. But it lacks all thick, cookie body. After the initial promise of flavour it turns thin and blank. Underwhelming. ID10-T pushed it up to 6% to try to get a bolder top note and/or a fuller base. At 6% he thought it started to have a little bit of a ripe banana-ish type off note. While not unpleasant it was very out of place. At 8% RUG_ly thought that ripe banana note came across more like a yeasty dough. Didn't get much of a spice note. Thought all the flavour was right in the front, didn't get any sort of body or texture. Nothing really in the finish. ID10-T tested it at 3% and 6%. RUG_ly pushed it up to 8%.

29.14

We just can't say it enough, but I'll try . . .
 
thank you, dankie, shukran, do jeh, xie xie, dêkuji, tak, kiitos, merci, danke, efharisto, toda, sukria, terima kasih, grazie, arigato, kamsa hamnida, takk, salamat po, dziekuje, obrigado, spasibo, gracias, istutiy, asante, tack, kawp-kun krap/ka', tesekkür ederim

PART 2:

Noted Ep. 176: Gingerbread (ft. RUG_ly)

NF Organic Gingerbread: Had high hopes as NF Ginger is a really good flavour. It's very natural, no off notes. Just tastes like a good bakery ginger powder. Doesn't seem like they used any of NF Ginger in NF Gingerbread. Has some ginger, a little cinnamon. But mostly a very dark molassess-y tasting, but dry, sweetness. No bread. It's very, very dry. Lacks any of the richness you'd want from a bakery.

32.28

INW Gingerbread: A lot of ginger not a lot of bread. The ginger is very good, tastes like it's been baked into a bakery. Maybe a little floral, but not much at all. As a SNV really strong, in your face ginger. Mellows out a bit after about a weeks steep, but still very strong. Could use it at around 0.25% for the ginger note. It would be a good component in a gingerbread recipe as the ginger tastes like it has been baked in. But as a SF it's missing the bread, bakery note. Probably wouldn't work in any application outside of bakeries. Or if you wanted to make a ginger tobacco this would be a good choice for that.
RUG_ly tested at 1%. ID10-T tested at 1.5%.

34.24

*If you wanted to make a ginger ale type mix would probably use FLV Ginger. If you wanted to make a candy would probably use NF Ginger or maybe HS Ginger. *

INW Falcon Eye: Supposed to be a ginger tobacco. But mostly just ginger.

37.38

FLV Ginger Snap: Concentrate is very dark in colour and alarmingly thick. Everyones bottles had formed some amount of sediment that was stuck to the bottom of each. Even after shaking it was still present. It's also a coil gunker. Ruined the cotton pretty quickly and left some gunk on the coil. On the positive side it tastes good. Lots of dark, molassess-y sweetness, like a ginger snap should have. No off notes. Leads with the dark molasses, has some soft, sweet cookie notes, a light touch of ginger bakery spice. Pretty accurate to the profile. Needs some more ginger and is missing a little texturally for a ginger snap. Lacks the snap. More like the soft centre of a homemade fresh ginger snap. The dark molasses sweetness is on point. Very tasty overall.

38.22

FM (Flavor Monks) Speculaas: RUG_ly would rank as tied with FLV Ginger Snap. Believed to be intended as a one shot. Does a really good job. What FLV Ginger Snap lacks this makes up for. So they would make a good pairing to make a really nice, dark, crispy gingerbread cookie. Would just need to add some frosting. Has some pleasant, really dark cookie notes. A lot of molasses, some butter and the ginger note is extremely good. It' similar to the ginger note in INW Gingerbread, but even better. It blends really well with the cookie note and creates a very convincing texture. Would work well at around 3% with some FLV Ginger Snap and CAP Gingerbread to make a really decent gingerbread cookie. Tested at 3% and 5%.

42.28

CAP Gingerbread: Blows all the others out the water! Very good, although not perfect. Has a lovely ginger bakery spice note with a rich, sweet, cakey body that has a really nice butteriness to it. Enjoyable as a SF. Similar to CAP Sugar Cookie, but a bit drier. But not too dry. It's only issue is that it is too light (light in colour, not potency). It's a dark blonde when it should be a brunette! It doesn't have enough molasses or dark sweetness. Needs some molasses or brown sugar, or a darker caramel might also work. Works great with FLV Ginger Snap as FLV has that dark molasses note. Could use in a cheesecake, where instead of using graham for the crust could use some CAP Gingerbread with some dark sweetness. WF Molasses would work as it's more of a mushy flavour. It's a nice flavour, but has the habit of turning everything to mush. But in a cheesecake that may not be an issue. Emily likes to use a small amount in custards or creams, just to add a little bit of buttery dimension.

44.46

Recipes:

Oatmeal Cream Pie by Folkart (ATF) Uses TFA Bavarian Cream and FA Fresh Cream. RUG_ly loves what FA Fresh Cream does to TFA Bavarian Cream. CAP Gingerbread is also doing something amazing to the cream layer. ID10-T suggested maybe adding around 0.5% of SSA Classic Oat Flakes to sell the oatiness. Could also try subbing FA Cream Fresh for VT Sweet Cream because VT Sweet Cream is the middle of a Twinkie or an Oatmeal Cream Pie.

49.16

Elevenses by DazCole (ATF) Uses CAP Vanilla Custard and FW Butterscotch Ripple, so needs a bit of a steep.

51.31

Ginger Lemon Cream by Rugly (ELR) CNV Lemon Cream Wafer works really well with the ginger and the cream cheese icing.

53.09

Xmas Vanilla Pudding by Besejuiced (ATF) Really tasty. Just the right amount of spice and darkness.

56.06

Seriously, your notes are incredible. Thank you so very much.