Fresh Review - I really end up liking this quite a bit. This is one of my very few experience with juice that includes alcohol flavoring. It’s not that I necessarily have anything against the idea of it, it’s just that I didn’t think it would be well received by my tastebuds. Well, I was incorrect, at least with this one. This is just such a unique juice. Vastly different than anything else I’ve tried up to this point.
On the inhale I get the poached pear right up front. The pear in this is nice and light and sweet, but not obnoxiously so. It’s sweet, but spicy with what I think is probably a small amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. Before your palate can get used to that the brandy pokes its head into the mix. It’s a very distinct flavor, and if you haven’t had brandy before, it’s kind of hard to describe. It’s slightly sour, but mostly sweet and it mixes with the pear very well. The exhale I get an initial burst of the brandy that quickly subsides behind the almond crumble and the creaminess of the melted ice cream. This almond is present but not so much so that it hides the rest of the flavor. The finish of the exhale is just a bit dry for my liking, but I say that about every nutty juice, so that’s probably just me. Overall, this is a unique juice that really changes my perspective on alcohol flavoring in juices. Probably not something I’d vape all the time, but definitely a nice change of pace. Can’t wait to see if this one changes with time.
Aged Review - This one has changed a lot. The brandy has definitely settled some. I’m not getting that same pop from the brandy that I was on a fresh bottle. It’s still there, but it’s much lighter. The almond crumble seems to have really strengthened in an aged bottle. So, this is a little bit dryer than I remember. While this was a strong mix of unique flavors on a fresh bottle, it seems much more focused on the almond crumble with time. So, you get a lot more nuttiness and pastry to this than you did on a fresh bottle, with the pear, brandy and spices taking more of a backseat. It’s not bad, it’s just not as good as I remember.
Don’t take that the wrong way. I still think this is a fine juice, and one of the more unique flavor combinations I’ve tried in recent memory. I just prefer this in a fresh bottle greatly. The inhale/exhale breakdown in this is very similar to that of a fresh bottle, just that the almond and pasty have strengthened whereas everything else appears to have weakened. Some people, especially those that like an almond cookie-like flavor may enjoy this more with some age. For me, I prefer it fresh, so if I order this again moving forward, it’s going to be a small bottle juice for me so I can get through it before it ages too much.