Lakrids by Bülow – No. 3 Red

Hipster licorice. Two words I’d never thought I’d put together, and even less likely to be something I’d ever try. I really don’t know how else to describe this stuff. It’s about as pricey as it gets for licorice, as far as I’m aware. In my neck of the woods, a small container of 150g set me back close to $15 canuck bucks all in. That’s a pricey proposition, but I’m willing to try it at least once to see if it’s worth the price tag.

Lakrids is brand of high end licorice started by the name sake Johan Bülow in Denmark about a decade ago with the purpose of making high end licorice that would appeal to an international audience, but still stay true to what licorice is. They’re most popular product seems to be the chocolate covered licorice. I don’t really require licorice conversion, so I figured I’d try the non-chocolate stuff.

Visually these pieces look like a soft licorice, with a deep, dark red colour with what appear to be bits of black and red which I assume are the blackcurrant and cranberry pieces. Nasally (is that the right word?!) these have a subdued fruity smell, and remind me more of actual black licorice.

For whatever reason, these seem to have gone hard. I imagine maybe they aren’t the freshest batch, which makes sense given that I got it from a local vendor, and not the manufacturer themselves. It’s disappointing since these have gotten very hard and rubbery, like an eraser. But some pieces are somewhat soft enough that I can imagine what the texture was supposed to be, but alas I can’t experience it the way it was meant to be, which disappoints me greatly. It’s especially frustrating because I can tell the flavour of these is quite addictive.

The flavour is definitely one of the more complex red licorices I’ve had, which is saying a lot since most red licorices just taste like fruit snacks. I mean, this one basically is a premium fruit snack, but it does so in a way I like. There is a very natural, berry flavour to it which is a combination of strawberry, blackcurrant and cranberry. It has the tartness of the cranberry and blackcurrant and the sweetness of the strawberry, giving it a depth I can appreciate. Something else that is really nice is the slightly herbal and earthy flavour of actual licorice that you get a bit in the tail end, so that it’s not just a purely fruity experience. The addition of that licorice flavour actually makes these quite addictive for me, as I keep trying to nail down all the flavours and they keep slipping away from my attempts to catch them, like an annoying toddler running through the legs of chairs as I give chase.

I enjoyed the flavour so much I almost forgave the fact that I got a bum batch. Almost. It’s hard for me to say whether I would get this again, as I’m wagering that unless I got an inside source, it’s highly likely I would end up with another hardened batch. Based on the flavour alone though, I would consider a repeat purchase. I’d just have to be a bit smarter about it to prevent another rubber eraser experience.