**Premium Strawberry (SSA) 1% / 2% (12-14-23)** -- With this, the ninth in this series of testing, I was starting to notice a trend with a few of the SSA flavors, where they were a little weaker than expected, and doubling them in strength seemed to suite them better. This one was one of those, wherein I started testing a 1%, and although a Strawberry, it just tasted thin, and underpowered, and after doubling it to 2% it was much better, and still felt like it could use a little more. It presented as a nice, slightly juicy, red, ripe strawberry. "Premium" will be hard to define for all of you, and I"m not sure if I'd label it or that not, but more on that later. At 2% it was fairly full, and it seemed to favor the middle of the SB, while missing out on much of the bright, sparkly top notes. There were a few there, but they were sparse, and there was a nice little tarty-ness on the finish. It had a certain "smooth" quality to it, and I think that was from a candy, almost light taffy-like undertone to it. I wouldn't call it a "candied SB", but it did have some of those aspects, so that might limit it's uses. There were no off-notes, or florals, and it was just below mid-level sweet. All in, a good SB contender, that seemed centered more around the mid body notes of a red SB, missing some of the bright sparkly top end, and with some light candy, almost taffy-like elements thrown in. In comparison to the just tested Premium RB, I am going to rate this one higher, but still not into stellar territory, and leaving it at a **8.9/10**.
