WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Rosado
BINDER: Nicaraguan/Nicaraguan Corojo (double)
FILLER: Nicaraguan
FORMAT: Corona Gorda (646)
ORIGIN: Domincan Republic
INTENSITY: Medium
NOTE: Malted grain
Malted cereal grain. Cheerios, namely (not a sponsor). MultiGrain & Honey Nut varietals, particularly. The only note vying for prominence alongside that is a citrusy pepper with some rough edges. That said, there is minimal interference and less than that inter-mingling. The honey note bulges the separates then returns larger to our malted grain as the first inch of ash stacks-on. A tick of graham accompaniment is there. By the first-third's end, cocoa butter clings and just into the second-third, evolves into milk chocolate.
I haven't seen Rocky for a bit, and I forget which of the (I think) first two films this occurred in, but that scene where he's running and kids and folks start running with him but only for a bit then fall off and seemingly root him on-ahead? That. Or was that Forest Gump? The two films are not without similarities. Anyways, that's how all other notes seem to interact with the note at hand (Malted grain). A loaded cup of coffee, and a cup of unadorned black tea return to their Formica diner table. Slick. Edges are gone and corners are rounded and chromed.
Malted grain meets spice on the retro-hale and the bright yellow-orange stuff influences our prime note on-into the far-out, where it lightly sweetens via desert-type spices. Builds a big spicy/sweet finish. At the half-way point, leather starts to engulf things, grains being a part of those things. Savory lip-smacking but still bright additions of that ilk--ease but do not stifle matters. A bit less of a breakneck note now, our note. As a somewhat aside, the price of MultiGrain Cheerios went wacky in around 2021 and has yet to correct. Shame, that.
A bit of malt vinegar now. Then a bit more. Then, perhaps, a bit much. With the final-third approaching, I begin to wonder what our note slid into. Butter pats and flower petals begin sticking and moving, pitter-pattering the malted grains. This seems to remove the vinegar aspect, or at least distract me from it. Good. Cocoa butter? Is that you? Now it's milk chocolate in a rapid re-evolution. Black tea leaves place an astringency on the tongue. Citrus again? Apt for this time of year, the notes all knock on the door of our note, mainly one at a time.
Trick or Treat? There are brief flirtations of Trick in this otherwise attainable Treat. Then the porch light is shut, and the candy is put away. The malted grains tuck themselves into their clay-earthen bed.
TASTE: B
DRAW: A-
BURN: B+
BUILD: A
FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79
I reviewed this blend previously in my usual manner HERE.
::: very :::