Post #792680 by rangda on Fri, Jan 25, 2019 12:22 PM

On 2019-01-24 17:26, swizzle wrote:
I backed his Kickstarter project and after months of waiting i can't say i'm too impressed. I haven't used them very much at all yet but out of the bottle both the gardenia mix, and the falernum especially, have a very strong clove taste (which i absolutely can't stand) and the fassionola is just a sweet, fruity flavoured syrup. Cherry is the dominating flavour that i get out of it.

BGR's falernum has always had a strong clove flavor. It's one of the few syrups that has been consistent through his process change (the syrups are made differently now, way back they were an opaque rich brown). I don't mind the clove, but it's very strong and can easily overpower a drink. I find the Latitude 29 more balanced and prefer it, but it's a royal pain to find.

Regarding fassionola, there is actually some debate as to what the stuff actually tasted like, this article talks a bit about it. I agree BGR's is cherry forward but perhaps Blair has done some research on the subject and that's what it's supposed to be. There is an alternative syrup made by Cocktail & Sons, but its made seasonally in the spring and not currently available. That one uses strawberries as a base, I haven't had it so I can't comment on how dominant they are in the flavor.

I find the gardenia disappointing because it's supposed to be a butter/honey syrup, not something built on a coconut base. I find BGR's gardenia a tasty syrup but not something I would use in any of the classic cocktails.

The honey mix is fine, but mixing honey/water 50/50 and heating in a microwave isn't exactly difficult.

I find BGR passion fruit syrup is just OK, from memory the old syrup was better, but the current on is just so-so. I think Small Hand Foods is much better.

The BGR syrups I like are the demerara syrup, cinnamon (this one like the falernum is overpowering), vanilla (now discontinued), donn's spices, and donn's mix #2 (also discontinued), and to a point falernum. Note he uses weird names for the last 2 I always forget what they are.

On 2019-01-24 17:26, swizzle wrote:
What was most disappointing was the piss poor service he provided afterwards. I haven't opened the passion fruit syrup yet so it's going to be a shame if that is good because i won't be supporting his business ever again.

I have to admit that the service I got wasn't the best either. The didn't ship one of my syrups and it took about 4 months (and several emails) for me to get it.

Still waiting on most of the physical rewards (booklet, shirt, mug).

I think the volume of orders in the kickstarter completely overwhelmed them, but that's not an excuse.

[ Edited by: rangda 2019-01-25 12:23 ]