Custard (VSO) 4% (5-31-22) – Having sampled a few of VSO’s “creams”, and knowing the similarities between them, was interested to see if the Custard broke out of that, or not. It wasn’t really a break away Custard, meaning, it shared many similarities between the Barbarian, Sabayon, and the Spork Puddings. This presented as a fairly non-descript neutral custard, with some light egg, no vanilla to speak of, and a nice creamy mouthfeel. The egg was tastefully done, as to be just present but not overbearing. The neutral-ness of this one, completely opened up it’s uses, and would allow you to use it in places other heavy handed custards might not work out. This, like a few others I’ve tried thus far, had a velvety smoothness to it, that was starting to look like was fairly unique to VSO creams. I don’t know about the DAAP status of this one, but will check in with Shane on that. @4% it felt pretty good, with some headroom left to push higher if needed, and the below mid-level sweetness was a nice surprise. All in, this was a clean, neutral Custard that was light on the egg, and with a creamy, silky mouthfeel. Unique-ly placing this at a 9/10.
That’s what I’ve been mixing it at. 3-4%. I love this one as there is no vanilla, smooth, not too eggy. It’s a blank slate. Dying to hear about vanilla cream!
Agreed, same here @Lynda_Marie. I’m starting to sense the NEED to mix some of these already, just because they seem to WANT to PAIR together. The Chocolate was interesting to me, as I DID indeed get an almost slight bakery note in it, and the only thing I could compare it to would be TPA GCC. This of course made me immediately want to pair the Choco with the GC, just to see if it would enhance and pair cleanly. Like you said the Custard was such a neutral/clean slate, it almost screamed to be slapped upside the head with some vanilla. Looking forward to continuing these.
No, it was supposed to be Bavarian… Dupes.
Nooooo,
“Don’t DUPE me bro” !!!
English Toffee (VSO) 4% / 8% (6-3-22) – Being a huge fan of traditional English Toffee, of course I was waiting to get into this one. Most times English Toffee is simply Butter, Sugar, Chocolate, and Pecans. I decided to test this one at both 4% and 8%, and it did increase with the doubling, but not linearly. At both weights, I got a very semi-rich buttery toffee with very little chocolate and/or nuts. Now that may or may not be a deal breaker for you, but you could easily supplement if needed. I started out at 4%, and decided to double it to see if either of the two were revealed better, but they stayed hidden even at the higher weight. The buttery-ness did increase when doubling, as did the richness and some of the mouthfeel. As a solo, I preferred it at the higher weight, and since the gains were not linear, 6% might be a good resting place for this one as a solo. The creamery buttery-ness of this one was really the star of the show, and, as it turns out, was quite addicting. Smooth, buttery, and delicious were my three big take-aways on this one, that stayed true throughout the test. Sweetness was about mid level, maybe a tick higher, which was fine for a toffee candy, and there were no off-notes to be had. Now there ARE plenty off Toffee’s out there without the choco and pecans, so again, your uses/needs may vary, and even in the absence of those two profiles, it didn’t feel lacking, as the buttery toffee by itself was quite something to behold. When increasing from 4% to 8% although it didn’t increase linearly, nothing got strange, and it stayed just as clean as it had at the lower weight, which seems to be a “thing” from Shane and VSO, which MANY artificial flavors CANNOT do, or do well. Clean, almost crisp, buttery, smooth, and tasty is what you got with this one. It was good enough to ALMOST be a One-Shot. Easily a 9/10.
Another one i forgot to order, its in the cart for the next round.
When increasing from 4% to 8% although it didn’t increase linearly, nothing got strange, and it stayed just as clean as it had at the lower weight, which seems to be a “thing” from Shane and VSO, which MANY artificial flavors CANNOT do, or do well.
I love that, ive taken the Custard up to 6% and it is still fantastic. After Shane discussed the cake i mixed one at 2 and one at 8. Nothing got weird and after homogenization and a little curing ive decided to go somewhere in the middle.
These are some of the best flavors i have ever tried, im quite impressed…
I love this English Toffee-I made an English Toffee Custard ft VSO custard, vanilla cream & Dulce de leches and this. Came out pretty darn good. Thank you for the reviews!
Dern, now i need it even more…
That looks absolutely spectacular.
Graham Cracker (VSO) 3.5% (6-4-22) – In my opinion, Graham Cracker is one of the harder flavors to get right, and a very FEW do. I feel like they fall into 3 camps. RFSC is my current go to with a very realistic GC, then CAP which has a punchy cinnamon note, TPA GCC which is almost more of a bakery, and the rest like FW and FLV that have an almost acrid and/or coconut note. I’ve actually MADE Graham Crackers, so I know a thing or two about them. Getting the graham flour, brown sugar, molasses, and cinnamon to balance correctly IS a challenge. Wait, Graham Flour ? YES, Graham Flour, is a MUST for Graham Crackers. Now that I’ve bored you to death with my GC obsession, how DID Shane do with this one ? Pretty damned good. I didn’t get an overt cinnamon, but it could have been murking around, lower in the mix, which was great, because an overpowered/ing cinna can limit your usage. There was a VERY convincing main mid medley of Graham Flour, Molasses, and Brown Sugar, and that just checked off three very BIG boxes for me. There were also subtle buttery undertones, that worked to pull the whole thing together into a cohesive, believable GC. Sweetness was about mid level, and it felt very full at 3.5%, and had little to no off-notes, except for a minor “twang” on the finish, but just barely, and NO coconut in this one people. I can tell you that I’ve been WAITING to get into this one, as when I previously tested VSO’s Chocolate, I got a slight almost bakery/GC note from it, and was dying to see if this one would pair with it, and I think it WILL. I’ll report back on that, as one can NEVER have too many S’mores recipes. Bakery, buttery, and convincingly Graham, is what this one was. Very clean, like all of the VSO flavors I’ve tested so far, and as a whole, it worked, and worked well. The only minor takeoff would be for the slight twang on the finish, but again, it was minor at best. Easily, a 9.5/10.
Thank you! It did come out pretty tasty. As you have probably seen, I’m a total custard nut lol When I get some time to mix, I see I need to mix some of yours!
Hazelnut (VSO) 2.75% (6-5-22) – My typical usage of Hazelnut(s) was very limited, to FW Hazelnut, and mostly in boosting milks/creams, typically in cereal recipes. It seemed like every time I tried to love the Hazelnut, it didn’t love me back, with heavy handed earthy-ness, and bitterness. Luckily for us, Shane seems to have solved that problem with this one. This flavor presented with all of the delicious creamy notes, just enough earthy tones, and only a PINCH of bitterness. A pinch ? Yes, just a pinch, to keep it realistic. The melding of the nutty undertones, and a creamy overtone worked perfectly here, and tasted almost perfectly balanced to my tastes, and finished with a slight HINT of bitterness on the way out. I’m not sure this could be improved upon. @ 2.75% it was very full, but not ceiling smashing, a tick above mid-level sweet, this nutty, just earthy enough, creamy masterpiece could stand on it’s own, if needed. If you are looking for a cleaner, more natural Hazelnut, that has JUST right right amounts of earthy, creamy, and nutty, you’ll be glad you picked this one up. No take-offs, no off-notes, just creamy goodness. 9.9/10.
Lemon Raw ** (VSO) 0.3% / 0.6% (6-5-22) – Having tested a few of Shane’s “Raw” flavors, which are completely undiluted, I knew to start low, very low. I started testing this one at 0.3%, and decided to double it to 0.6%, and will review it at that weight. When starting out this test at the lower weight, it felt like it needed a little more, and pushing it up a bit, helped to open up the flavor. Clean, citrus-y, and punchy were the adjectives I kept coming back to on this one. All make obvious sense since VSO fruits are natural extracts, and this one was a shining example of that. Full spectrum Lemon here, with some mid body notes, and plenty of sparkly high end, bright notes. At 0.6% it was very nicely full, and punchy, with almost mid-level sweet. Not a lemonade, but a somewhat sweetened lemon. Very natural tasting, clean, and accurate were what this one delivered on. Not bitter, not candied, nor a candy, but simply, sweetened JUST enough. Obviously with the sub 1% usage rates, this, and the other “raw” flavors are Ultra concentrated, and should be used as such. I could see this one working perfectly in Lemonades, Lemon Tarts, Lemon Custards/Cheesecakes, etc. Very clean, and accurately placing this one @ 9.75/10.
Im loving this lemon, not quite as potent as Lemon MF which makes it a bit easier to work with. Also it is a slightly sweeter than MF, the two would/will work really well together.
Lime Raw ** (VSO) 0.3% / 0.6% (6-10-22) – Directly on the heels of the Lemon Raw, I was pleased to see this one, carried on with the same tradition. With this one being a “raw” as well, I started low, at 0.3%, and also tested 0.6% and again, it seemed to open up a bit more at the higher rate, with no ill effects. This one presented as a very natural, clean, and crisp Lime, hands down, end of story. Not overpowering, and it did seem to cover the full spectrum of the lime, without any bitterness. Slightly tart-ish, about mid level sweet, and missing nothing as far as I could tell. Without delaying the rest of this series, I did have the urge to toss this in with the Lemon Raw, but I’ll hold off until the end. Hands down, a great lime, that will work for most, if not all of your Lime-y needs. Handily a 9.4/10.
I have a modded soda stream, so one of the things i like to do is mix lemon and lime, and make myself a better than sprite mix. It is quite tasty./ You will do well to mix those two!
Modded? In what way? I dont own one but i was thinking that our new house could use one as we will have a crap ton of counter space.