SessionDrummer
Administrator
Lining up the new(er) Flavor Jungle Flavors ....
**Ultimate Banana Tutti Frutti (Flavor Jungle) 4% (1-23-24)** -- Wow, this one took some time for me to unpack. First, "new" one on deck, and it was tasty as hell, BUT, there was a "but", AND, it might not be as big of a but, as you thought. Starting out, at 4% this one was damned good, and very full. After running FOUR testers on this one, I could pick out no off-notes, or real complaints. The banana in this one, was almost spot on perfect for my tastes. VERY fresh, with plenty of green, and green/yellow notes. ABSENT were any over ripened, mushy, or brown notes, which for MY tastes were always a turn off. Your tastes may vary, but for mine, the nana was about 99.9% perfect. Now the BUT. The but was that that bubblegum (aka Tutti Frutti) was a little low in the mix. It WAS perceivable from beginning to end, but it was just a smidge light. Now this could be because it was paired so perfectly WITH the banana that it was slightly concealed ?? Maybe so. As long as you weren't expecting a slamming bubblegum, and you love bananas, I don't think you could NOT like this one. There was an almost "creamy-ness" to this one, but it was NOT a banana cream. It also was not a thin, light, or weak flavor at this testing weight, and almost tasted like it had a very light bakery element very low in the mix, and just enough to thicken it up a bit, and it worked.
Tasty, VERY hard to put down, plenty of fresh, natural nana with a healthy dose of green, and green/yellow notes, with a light bubblegum finish. Sweetness was close to mid-level, and it suited the flavor well. NO runts, or overt candied nanas, as the fresh green, green/yellow notes carried most of the freight here. It wasn't 100% natural but leaned heavily that way. If I had to rate it on taste alone I would probably have released the Kraken, BUT, I'll have to mark down just a smidge for the lighter bubblegum, but even that, feels like a nit-pick at best. VERY good flavor, hard to put down, and leaving it still at a very high **9.4/10**. Although not a banana cream, I can see a LOT of uses for this **one.**
**Ultimate Biscuit (Flavor Jungle) 5% (1-26-24)** -- Sorry guys, I just kept refilling the tanks, and got totally lost in it, hehe. And that IS a good thing. To start, Flavor Jungle spec'd this as "Up to 5%", so that's what I did. Stellar, at this weight, and dare I say, it could be a finished One-Shot, right out of the bottle. We all know the differences between US biscuits, which are typically like Bisquik, vs. UK biscuits, which are more like cookies. This flavor was a combination of both, and more. I had NO issues running it at 5%, and it was damned good at that weight. It had a lot going on, and I'll try and break it down. It presented as a combo of a shortbread cookie, American biscuit, a light cinnamon free graham cracker, a smidge of pecan sandies, with some light caramel notes. Yeah, hehe, there's a LOT going on here, and it's ALL good. There was a nice grainy-ness to it, and although not overly buttery, there was a nice little hint of it on the finish. YES, you could run this solo, ALL day long, and keep coming back for more. I know it can be hard to visualize (taste wise) all of those elements combined, but it/they simply just worked. There were some nice darker notes, which were similar to burnt edges, but without the burnt, if that makes sense.
At times it seemed to very loosely remind me of SSA's Caramel Biscuit, but only in a very LOOSE way. Rich, grainy, and full at 5% had me never second guessing running it at that weight. What was nice, was it was a strong departure from FJ's OG Biscuit, so it wasn't simply a re-tweak and release, it was a holy new flavor. Sweetness was a few ticks below mid-level, and honestly, I tried and tried to find ANY faults, or even anything I might ADD to it, and I couldn't. This one was complex, covered a LOT of bases, and was unlike any other Biscuit on my racks. I can see this one being used a lot, and in many ways, which will be one of it's strengths, as it encompased many different biscuit aspects. VERY hard to put down, and it really tasted, just almost perfect. Leaving it at a **9.9/10**, JUST a hair off of perfect.
**Ultimate Coconut Milk (Flavor Jungle) 2%/4% (6-9-24)** -- On to the second Coconut in this series, with the Ultimate Coconut Milk. In the bottle this one smelled quite a bit creamier than the FJ Coconut, and SOME of that was revealed in testing it. My (still) current go to Coconut has to be hands down, Delosi's Coconut, and I compare every other one, TO it. This one didn't quite reach the epitome that the Delosi's did, but it was still good. Fairly natural dry coconut, with some creamy elements thrown in. I tested at both 2%, and 4% with no real change between the two, except an increased dryness on the finish with the higher rate. Even at the lower 2%, it still had a somewhat overal dryness to it, which lingered past the finish. Not off-putting per se, but still very present. No oily-ness, or sun tan lotion notes, and it, like the OG Coconut, was fairly accurate, and natural tasting. Typically, I like my coconuts to be a little creamier, maybe a tad sweeter, and with little to no dryness. This one tasted very similar to FJ's Coconut, but with some more creamy elements. Def. usable, and the dryness might be easily masked in mixes. No off-notes except for the dryness throughout. It felt pretty close to the OG Coconut, and scoring it close, at a **8.5/10**.
**Ultimate Peach (Flavor Jungle) 2% / 3% (1-27-24)** -- I started out with FJ's rec of 1-2%, and decided to push it to 3% which provided minimal gains if at all, so it would appear 2% is probably the top end for this one. This one presented as a mostly yellow peach, sweetened, with some juicy-ness, and light white peach accents. Even at it's 2% top end it wasn't an overwhelming, in your face peach, but it held it's own. Sweetness was just below mid-level, and there were no off-notes to complain about. At times I got an almost Apricot on the finish which seemed to help sell it. It tasted mostly natural with some slight articial/candied notes, and I'd place it about 80% natural 20% artificial. While having juicy-ness, it did have a somewhat dryer, slightly astringent finish, that I wouldn't call an off-note per se, but be advised it was there. Smelling it in the bottle it seemed more yellow than when testing, which is where I picked up on the lighter white peach elements. A solid, mostly yellow, mostly natural peach was what you got with this one, with just a PINCH of skin on the finish as well. Although I didn't have any real take-offs, it felt like it could have been just a bit MORE Ultimate, so leaving it still fairly high at a **8.95/10**.
**Ultimate RY4 Double (Flavor Jungle) 4% (1-28-24)** -- Pushing onto the 2nd to the last in this series, with the U RY4 Double. At 4% this one was great, and I didn't feel the need to increase it at all. It presented like many other RY4's and with the typical nuances. A somewhat lighter tobacco, some very good caramel, and a good dose of "dirty". Now dirty wasn't bad in this flavor, and it did work. I couldn't tell if it the "dirt" was coming from the Caramel or the Bacco, but in the end, it didn't matter. It was there, and it added some nice dark earthy-ness to the flavor, and helped to offset the somewhat sweet profile of it. It registered maybe a tick or two above mid-level, and at times I wondered if it was TOO sweet, but then I settled on "not too sweet" as it seemed to work opposing the dark earthy-ness very well. It really seemed like there was another profile, probably a bakery-ish element hiding lower in the mix, .as it had more weight or bulk than a simple caramel/bacco. Maybe a graham crust, but hard to say. The caramel was very good tasting, and with the "dirt" it as well, favored a darker tone. All in, an impressive showing from FJ. No off-notes to complain about, and abou thte only "maybe, kinda, sorta" complaint would be the sweetness level(s), but again, that was just a "maybe". Sweet, bacco, caramel, light bakery, and some nice dark, dirty/earthy thrown in for good measure. Kicking down just slightly for the slight candy-ness, and leaving it still high at a **9.1/10**.
**Ultimate Strawberry Tutti Frutti (Flavor Jungle) 5% (2-4-24)** -- Sorry guys, got distracted loading up the new NomNomz SC's. This, the last NEW Ultimate in this series turned out to be somewhat of a mystery. Surprisingly, it wasn't overflowing with Strawberries, or Tutti Frutti. Yes, you read that right. There was SOME SB in there, but it was fairly overpowered by more of a generic "pink chewy candy" than anything else, and if there WAS some Tutti Frutti, it was buried. Sweetness was just below mid level, and I didn't pickup on any off-notes. Even though this one didn't really push alot of SB, or TF, it would still be useful in bolstering SB mixes. The light SB I did get was slightly tart, candied, and shrouded in a pink chewy. All in, maybe not my favorite of the new Ultimates, and not terrible, but relegating this one to "mixer" status, and leaving it about half way there, with a **5.0/10**.
**Ultimate Sweet Strawberry (Flavor Jungle) 4% (6-11-24)** -- Yes, another Strawberry to compete in the already crowded field of Strawberries. Do you need it ?? Should you pick it up ?? Read on. It took 3 testers before I could finally figure out exactly what was going on with this flavor. in a word, it was good, AND, dare I say, somewhat unique. I could have given you guys the "One Tank" review, but wanted to drive a little deeper on this one. It seemed to straddle almost THREE different SB's. I got a fresh, natural, tart SB, some candied SB, and some delicious SB jam on the finish. Yeah, hehe, it was actually all that. The natural, and candied were more present during the initial onrush, and from the middle on, it landed into the SB jam. A pretty interesting flavor, and how it shifted from beginning to end. The exact ratios of the three profiles I got were somewhat unclear, but roughly I'd say about 30% natural, 20% candied, and 50% jammed.
Why i felt this one is/was unique was that it DID straddle all three profiles, which would open up it's uses quite a bit, as opposed to having to run for THIS SB, or THAT SB. The only thing I couldn't tell while SFT'ing it, was how present the Jam notes would be in mixes, which COULD be an issue, IF you didn't want any jammie jam notes.. The jammy-ness was very good, and with just enough tart punch to really sell it. I tested at FJ's upper recommended limit, and it was damned fine at 4%. Sweetness was about mid-level, and after three testers, I couldn't find any nit-picks or complaints. All it, it was an interesting approach to a SB medley, with natural, candied, and jammed SB's all in one. Our tastes are NOT all the same, but personally, I LOVE SB Jams, so no flavor could be TOO jammie for me, so please keep that in mind regarding my scoring. I decided to place it very high for originality, the three different profiles, and of course, the lovely jam elements. Leaving it very high at a **9.8/10**.
**Ultimate Banana Tutti Frutti (Flavor Jungle) 4% (1-23-24)** -- Wow, this one took some time for me to unpack. First, "new" one on deck, and it was tasty as hell, BUT, there was a "but", AND, it might not be as big of a but, as you thought. Starting out, at 4% this one was damned good, and very full. After running FOUR testers on this one, I could pick out no off-notes, or real complaints. The banana in this one, was almost spot on perfect for my tastes. VERY fresh, with plenty of green, and green/yellow notes. ABSENT were any over ripened, mushy, or brown notes, which for MY tastes were always a turn off. Your tastes may vary, but for mine, the nana was about 99.9% perfect. Now the BUT. The but was that that bubblegum (aka Tutti Frutti) was a little low in the mix. It WAS perceivable from beginning to end, but it was just a smidge light. Now this could be because it was paired so perfectly WITH the banana that it was slightly concealed ?? Maybe so. As long as you weren't expecting a slamming bubblegum, and you love bananas, I don't think you could NOT like this one. There was an almost "creamy-ness" to this one, but it was NOT a banana cream. It also was not a thin, light, or weak flavor at this testing weight, and almost tasted like it had a very light bakery element very low in the mix, and just enough to thicken it up a bit, and it worked.
Tasty, VERY hard to put down, plenty of fresh, natural nana with a healthy dose of green, and green/yellow notes, with a light bubblegum finish. Sweetness was close to mid-level, and it suited the flavor well. NO runts, or overt candied nanas, as the fresh green, green/yellow notes carried most of the freight here. It wasn't 100% natural but leaned heavily that way. If I had to rate it on taste alone I would probably have released the Kraken, BUT, I'll have to mark down just a smidge for the lighter bubblegum, but even that, feels like a nit-pick at best. VERY good flavor, hard to put down, and leaving it still at a very high **9.4/10**. Although not a banana cream, I can see a LOT of uses for this **one.**
**Ultimate Biscuit (Flavor Jungle) 5% (1-26-24)** -- Sorry guys, I just kept refilling the tanks, and got totally lost in it, hehe. And that IS a good thing. To start, Flavor Jungle spec'd this as "Up to 5%", so that's what I did. Stellar, at this weight, and dare I say, it could be a finished One-Shot, right out of the bottle. We all know the differences between US biscuits, which are typically like Bisquik, vs. UK biscuits, which are more like cookies. This flavor was a combination of both, and more. I had NO issues running it at 5%, and it was damned good at that weight. It had a lot going on, and I'll try and break it down. It presented as a combo of a shortbread cookie, American biscuit, a light cinnamon free graham cracker, a smidge of pecan sandies, with some light caramel notes. Yeah, hehe, there's a LOT going on here, and it's ALL good. There was a nice grainy-ness to it, and although not overly buttery, there was a nice little hint of it on the finish. YES, you could run this solo, ALL day long, and keep coming back for more. I know it can be hard to visualize (taste wise) all of those elements combined, but it/they simply just worked. There were some nice darker notes, which were similar to burnt edges, but without the burnt, if that makes sense.
At times it seemed to very loosely remind me of SSA's Caramel Biscuit, but only in a very LOOSE way. Rich, grainy, and full at 5% had me never second guessing running it at that weight. What was nice, was it was a strong departure from FJ's OG Biscuit, so it wasn't simply a re-tweak and release, it was a holy new flavor. Sweetness was a few ticks below mid-level, and honestly, I tried and tried to find ANY faults, or even anything I might ADD to it, and I couldn't. This one was complex, covered a LOT of bases, and was unlike any other Biscuit on my racks. I can see this one being used a lot, and in many ways, which will be one of it's strengths, as it encompased many different biscuit aspects. VERY hard to put down, and it really tasted, just almost perfect. Leaving it at a **9.9/10**, JUST a hair off of perfect.
**Ultimate Coconut Milk (Flavor Jungle) 2%/4% (6-9-24)** -- On to the second Coconut in this series, with the Ultimate Coconut Milk. In the bottle this one smelled quite a bit creamier than the FJ Coconut, and SOME of that was revealed in testing it. My (still) current go to Coconut has to be hands down, Delosi's Coconut, and I compare every other one, TO it. This one didn't quite reach the epitome that the Delosi's did, but it was still good. Fairly natural dry coconut, with some creamy elements thrown in. I tested at both 2%, and 4% with no real change between the two, except an increased dryness on the finish with the higher rate. Even at the lower 2%, it still had a somewhat overal dryness to it, which lingered past the finish. Not off-putting per se, but still very present. No oily-ness, or sun tan lotion notes, and it, like the OG Coconut, was fairly accurate, and natural tasting. Typically, I like my coconuts to be a little creamier, maybe a tad sweeter, and with little to no dryness. This one tasted very similar to FJ's Coconut, but with some more creamy elements. Def. usable, and the dryness might be easily masked in mixes. No off-notes except for the dryness throughout. It felt pretty close to the OG Coconut, and scoring it close, at a **8.5/10**.
**Ultimate Peach (Flavor Jungle) 2% / 3% (1-27-24)** -- I started out with FJ's rec of 1-2%, and decided to push it to 3% which provided minimal gains if at all, so it would appear 2% is probably the top end for this one. This one presented as a mostly yellow peach, sweetened, with some juicy-ness, and light white peach accents. Even at it's 2% top end it wasn't an overwhelming, in your face peach, but it held it's own. Sweetness was just below mid-level, and there were no off-notes to complain about. At times I got an almost Apricot on the finish which seemed to help sell it. It tasted mostly natural with some slight articial/candied notes, and I'd place it about 80% natural 20% artificial. While having juicy-ness, it did have a somewhat dryer, slightly astringent finish, that I wouldn't call an off-note per se, but be advised it was there. Smelling it in the bottle it seemed more yellow than when testing, which is where I picked up on the lighter white peach elements. A solid, mostly yellow, mostly natural peach was what you got with this one, with just a PINCH of skin on the finish as well. Although I didn't have any real take-offs, it felt like it could have been just a bit MORE Ultimate, so leaving it still fairly high at a **8.95/10**.
**Ultimate RY4 Double (Flavor Jungle) 4% (1-28-24)** -- Pushing onto the 2nd to the last in this series, with the U RY4 Double. At 4% this one was great, and I didn't feel the need to increase it at all. It presented like many other RY4's and with the typical nuances. A somewhat lighter tobacco, some very good caramel, and a good dose of "dirty". Now dirty wasn't bad in this flavor, and it did work. I couldn't tell if it the "dirt" was coming from the Caramel or the Bacco, but in the end, it didn't matter. It was there, and it added some nice dark earthy-ness to the flavor, and helped to offset the somewhat sweet profile of it. It registered maybe a tick or two above mid-level, and at times I wondered if it was TOO sweet, but then I settled on "not too sweet" as it seemed to work opposing the dark earthy-ness very well. It really seemed like there was another profile, probably a bakery-ish element hiding lower in the mix, .as it had more weight or bulk than a simple caramel/bacco. Maybe a graham crust, but hard to say. The caramel was very good tasting, and with the "dirt" it as well, favored a darker tone. All in, an impressive showing from FJ. No off-notes to complain about, and abou thte only "maybe, kinda, sorta" complaint would be the sweetness level(s), but again, that was just a "maybe". Sweet, bacco, caramel, light bakery, and some nice dark, dirty/earthy thrown in for good measure. Kicking down just slightly for the slight candy-ness, and leaving it still high at a **9.1/10**.
**Ultimate Strawberry Tutti Frutti (Flavor Jungle) 5% (2-4-24)** -- Sorry guys, got distracted loading up the new NomNomz SC's. This, the last NEW Ultimate in this series turned out to be somewhat of a mystery. Surprisingly, it wasn't overflowing with Strawberries, or Tutti Frutti. Yes, you read that right. There was SOME SB in there, but it was fairly overpowered by more of a generic "pink chewy candy" than anything else, and if there WAS some Tutti Frutti, it was buried. Sweetness was just below mid level, and I didn't pickup on any off-notes. Even though this one didn't really push alot of SB, or TF, it would still be useful in bolstering SB mixes. The light SB I did get was slightly tart, candied, and shrouded in a pink chewy. All in, maybe not my favorite of the new Ultimates, and not terrible, but relegating this one to "mixer" status, and leaving it about half way there, with a **5.0/10**.
**Ultimate Sweet Strawberry (Flavor Jungle) 4% (6-11-24)** -- Yes, another Strawberry to compete in the already crowded field of Strawberries. Do you need it ?? Should you pick it up ?? Read on. It took 3 testers before I could finally figure out exactly what was going on with this flavor. in a word, it was good, AND, dare I say, somewhat unique. I could have given you guys the "One Tank" review, but wanted to drive a little deeper on this one. It seemed to straddle almost THREE different SB's. I got a fresh, natural, tart SB, some candied SB, and some delicious SB jam on the finish. Yeah, hehe, it was actually all that. The natural, and candied were more present during the initial onrush, and from the middle on, it landed into the SB jam. A pretty interesting flavor, and how it shifted from beginning to end. The exact ratios of the three profiles I got were somewhat unclear, but roughly I'd say about 30% natural, 20% candied, and 50% jammed.
Why i felt this one is/was unique was that it DID straddle all three profiles, which would open up it's uses quite a bit, as opposed to having to run for THIS SB, or THAT SB. The only thing I couldn't tell while SFT'ing it, was how present the Jam notes would be in mixes, which COULD be an issue, IF you didn't want any jammie jam notes.. The jammy-ness was very good, and with just enough tart punch to really sell it. I tested at FJ's upper recommended limit, and it was damned fine at 4%. Sweetness was about mid-level, and after three testers, I couldn't find any nit-picks or complaints. All it, it was an interesting approach to a SB medley, with natural, candied, and jammed SB's all in one. Our tastes are NOT all the same, but personally, I LOVE SB Jams, so no flavor could be TOO jammie for me, so please keep that in mind regarding my scoring. I decided to place it very high for originality, the three different profiles, and of course, the lovely jam elements. Leaving it very high at a **9.8/10**.