Review – Flaviar Tasting Sets
I’ve long been of the opinion that one of the most significant barriers to people exploring spirits more is the quite understandable fear that they might not like what they buy. With wines and beers the financial investment in an untried bottle is able to be much smaller than most for most spirits. Even with wines ranging wildly in price, it is entirely possible to explore perfectly enjoyable bottles for under a tenner a pop. With even the best value decent entry-level spirits coming in at twice that, it’s easy to stick with what you know. And so companies such as Flaviar, which offer the opportunity to try out a range of spirits in smaller samples are welcome diversifications to the industry.
Flaviar works on a subscription basis, with members receiving 5x 50ml samples of spirits each month, grouped into themes such as “Star Spangled Bourbon” or as I tried “There Can Be Only One – Highlander”. Smartly packaged, with accompanying tasting notes and interesting quips, the balance between professional, educational and fun is successful. At £25 per pack, it’s a relatively affordable way to minimise risk and explore a range of spirits, although of course the markup compared with buying full-sized bottles is higher.
Dalmore Vintage 2000
Rating: ★★★★
Nose: Deep and woody with sweet bourbon just about peeking through. Semi-dried figs, diesel, dried orange zest, cinnamon and ginger are all smoked and offer a fascinating complexity.
Neat: Oily and sooty with a bitter finish, this is no easy-drinking whisky. Dark fruits are largely hidden by heavier tobacco and woody tannins.
Glen Garioch 1797 Founder Reserve
Rating: ★★★
Nose: Slightly musky, mossy and more than a little reminiscent of wet clay. Tinned prunes combine with banana-flavoured foam sweets, delicate pine and a distinctive white chocolate aroma. It’s all a bit strange.
Neat: Fleeting butterscotch is rapidly overtaken by overbearing bone dry wood, shortly followed by a little cinnamon spice and a smoky tannic finish. Green fruit skins and stewed apples are present if looked for but overpowered by the wood.
Glenmorangie Astar
Rating: ★★★★★
Nose: Immensely fruity and full of apricots, peaches and just the right amount of spice and a whisper of smoke.
Neat: Very honeyed in character with vanilla, coconut and almond to boot. With syrupy tropical fruit and a big mouthfeel, this is a superb nightcap.
Glengoyne 12yr
Rating: ★★★
Nose: Honey, apple, sherry, a touch of undefined floral notes, and strangely, oil.
Neat: The unusual aroma continues onto the taste, with the oiliness unbalancing the moderately sweet honey character. A touch salty and sour with hints at fermenting raisins, unroasted hazelnuts and most pleasingly some sherry-soaked fruit.
Old Pulteney 2000 Flotilla
Rating: ★★★
Nose: Aniseed and diesel are an unusual combination delivering mixed success. Combined with burnt hazelnuts, aromatic pear and a touch of citrus, it’s certainly different.
Neat: A more restrained palate is more approachable than the nose, but less interesting with it. Perhaps best described as a moderately sweet and slightly spicy middle-of-the-road highland whisky.
★: Terrible, only drink for a dare.
★★: Meh, not undrinkable but best left alone.
★★★: Reasonable, middle of the road.
★★★★: Tasty stuff, well worth seeking out.
★★★★★: Incredible, booze doesn’t get better than this. You need a bottle in your life.
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Terrible delay in shipping – it’s been 20 days since I placed my order and 18 days since Flaviar took my payment (via PayPal). They keep telling me that my order will ship soon, but there’s always some excuse why it doesn’t. I’ve asked twice for them to cancel my order and refund my money, but they have completely ignored these requests. I’ve opened up a claim with PayPal.
Ordered product on October 25. Paid for product on October 25. Over a month later. No product, no response from customer service, nothing. My hard earned money went down a rat-thole THIS IS A RIPOFF COMPANY DO NOT BUY FROM THEM
Sorry to hear that, but we are definitely not a ripoff.
You know how they say, “demand was so high it crashed our website”? Well, the logistical version of that happened to us in November and December. We saw a 700% increase in tasting packs sold and although the website had no issues, we were not ready for this in the warehouse.
We had to order more drinks, boxes, sample bottles and staff up, to cope with the demand. We did our best to react quickly, but it’s not easy getting various suppliers to deliver 5- or 10-times the usual quantities in a few days.
These are not excuses, they’re explanations so you know what was going on in the background as we were working triple shifts, days and nights to fulfill your orders.
We failed to predict this kind of demand and set the right expectations. We apologize for that.
We’re a young company and believe us, we’ve learned from this. Less than a month later, we’re back on track, shipping most orders next day and sending tasting packs out as fast as we can make them.
Thank your for your patience and support in achieving our mission – Flavour to the people!
Team Flaviar
You are 100% a ripoff.
An increase in the number of tasting packs sold is a 0% indicator of your quality. It is an indicator of the number of people you have duped. Here is my assessment of you that I have sent your customer service team and am posting everywhere I possibly can:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone who has left this service a good review is fooled by smoke and mirrors.
This service is all pretty packaging and no substance. My introductory order took 6 weeks to arrive and Flaviar had GROSSLY mis-represented the quantity of whiskey I was getting.
The tasting packs are 45ml each for 3 “bottles”. Even if a full bottle of each of these whiskies averages $80 (which I know for a fact some of them are significantly lower than that), 135 ml is worth $16 tops. Not $60.
On top of all of that, it took SIX WEEKS for this crappy product to arrive.
Save time. Save money. Find a good liquor store with a knowledgeable staff and get your recommendations that way. It would be a better value than this crappy service by literally a factor of 5.
I placed an order of February 13th for the Intro Package from Flaviar after seeing their ads on Facebook. I was immediately charged $24.99.
I have never received the order. When I contacted them they stated it takes a few weeks to get it. (STILL HASN’T ARRIVED)
Then today 03/17/15 I was charged an additional $39.99 for “The Fruity Booty” package.
I never signed up for the subscription, I never authorized the purchase.
I have made repeated attempts to contact the Flaviar company to no avail.
This is a blatant rip off!!
Dear customer,
I’m awfully sorry for the unfavourable experience you’ve had with our company.
I’m not familiar with your case, but let me assure you that we’re more than willing to deal with all your concerns with care and consideration – please contact our Customer Care team through hello@flaviar.com
I am completely happy with Flaviar. Deliveries are prompt. Prices are cool. Variety is great! Got absinthe and some great Ismay spirits I’d never be able to get here in rural North Carolina. Happy happy joy joy.
Anyone who has left this service a good review is fooled by smoke and mirrors.
This service is all pretty packaging and no substance. My introductory order took 6 weeks to arrive and Flaviar had GROSSLY mis-represented the quantity of whiskey I was getting.
The tasting packs are 45ml each for 3 “bottles”. Even if a full bottle of each of these whiskies averages $80 (which I know for a fact some of them are significantly lower than that), 135 ml is worth $16 tops. Not $60.
On top of all of that, it took SIX WEEKS for this crappy product to arrive.
Save time. Save money. Find a good liquor store with a knowledgeable staff and get your recommendations that way. It would be a better value than this crappy service by literally a factor of 5.
Great service and products. I’m a single father of a 25 year old young lady who was looking for a birthday gift for me. I pretty much have everything I need or want so I guess that makes me hard to shop for presents. Last year my daughter got me the membership and I am more then happy with the samples and customer service. Excellent company.
FLAVIAR is not a Spirits Box subscription service. It’s an online community of sorts and not a subscription service. You pay their subscription fees for the chance to buy small tasting boxes at questionable market prices and to be allowed to purchase from their online shop. The packaging and accompanying materials that are included with purchases are very well made and expertly/humorously written (they have someone there who’s adept in prose), and they seem to be knowledgeable and capable in the world of tasting and spirits. If you’d like to subscribe to an online resource, and accompanying community and exclusive shop, then this is for you. If you’re looking for a monthly drinks box, like I was, then this isn’t it. Sadly, Flaviar’s “marketing” is ambiguous and vague (maybe on purpose) on this state-of-affairs, thereby snagging unsuspecting monthly-box subscribers like myself.