I’ve heard of it described as cherry twizzler which taste nothing like black licorice.
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I’ve read reviews on this apple, and some folks do mention the taste like a Twizzler, with more the sweet cherry like flavor as opposed to licorice or anise.
We tasted a sample of one last year at the orchard we frequented, and I didn’t recall an anise taste to it. Was kind of like a subdued Zestar, mildly sweet/tart. It was pretty good, but there were so many other better tasting apples there.
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Count me as another one that likes Sweet Sixteen and honestly, I’ve never tasted the licorice that I’ve read about. I’ve had them in two different orchards for at least 20 years and definitely have them in my top 10 varieties. Mine are easy to grow, train well, have been fairly reliable and productive (as much as they can be in my area anyway), the fruit gets quite large, crisp and tasty. They aren’t my favorites, but they aren’t that far down the list either.
Ha!
Am I the only one on this forum that has tried S16 and determined it to be highly licorice flavored? I seem to remember a lot of reports from people about this being a good description of the flavor profile, but now I begin to question my memory. I don’t question my memory of it tasting that way to me, however, but there’s always the possibility of a mislabeled tree.
I think it is more like cherry Twizzlers, which to me don’t taste all that much like cherries. 
But, I like S16 a lot more than cherry Twizzlers. Now, the strawberry Twizzlerson the other hand are pretty good…
I noticed the Zestar-like taste as well, which kind of makes sense, in that it came from the same breeding program. I’m guessing that they share a common ancestor.
It’s been a few years now, so I don’t completely remember all the flavors in mine. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if you really did taste anise in it. The child of this apple (crossed with Goldrush), MAIA 8, called “Baker’s Delight”:
I believe that I had previously read about an anise like flavor from this apple when I ordered it. I like the flavor of anise and was frankly curious if an apple could really have strong anise tones, so I purchased it then (and have since purchased 7 or 8 more Sweet Sixteen trees) and I have yet to taste anise. I’m not suggesting that you haven’t, perhaps your palate is a lot more evolved than mine or perhaps it really is dependent on soil conditions or geography.
I’ve only gotten apples off of SweetSixteen once. (I bought it, potted it, forgot about it and it fruited in the pot. Next season I chopped the roots and planted it in the ground and it hasn’t fruited since (2 years)
It was the wife and kids’ favorite and I detected a cinnamon flavor, but do not recall twizzler or anise favors. It was eaten the day it fell from the tree.
Scott
Yes, I have had SoS/S16 with anise/licorice flavor. Though artificial cherry is the more usual flavor. They are a popular apple around these parts. IIRC the drops I’ve picked up and tasted at the U-pick typically had more of the anise flavor from sitting in the sun.
Yes, the cherry Twizzler. I guess I should have been more specific. However, I did not know there was a black licorice Twizzler. It has been that long since I have looked at candy I guess.
I have a limb grafted high on a tree here in zone 8a (I thought until recently we were 7b) and I will sure let others know what its like here…when it fruits. I see blooms coming out on many varieties grafted in the last couple years. Maybe it will be this year for Sweet Sixteen.
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I have sweet sixteen scions this year but not sure if I’ll graft it. I have limited space and what seems like more interesting apples to use instead. It may be a candidate for my dad’s apple trees though.
I grafted Sweet 16 onto Siberian apple rootstock in 2104 and in 2016 it fruited with one apple. I was itching to taste it but hesitated too long and some rodent or other took it. If Sweet 16 can survive here and still produce flowers and fruit it certainly is a good choice for more northern growers.
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He likes cherry Twizzlers?
It certainly has a better chance to survive there than many. It is a U of Minnesota release. And their initial program was to breed hardy apples.
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I have fruited Sweet 16 for 2 years. It is one of my favorites, up there with Suncrisp. Freyburg and Pixie Crunch. I have not noticed any licorice taste in Sweet 16. For me, Freyburg has clear licorice taste in the skin. Same for some of my GoldRush nowadays, after being stored for about 5 -6 months, especially around areas that are showing some rot. I like Sweet 16 more than Ashmead’s Kernel and Golden Russet.
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Interesting to hear you like Sweet 16 better than the other two, Ashmead’s Kernel and Golden Russet. I have both of those latter two planted but no fruit as of yet. I should try out a Sweet 16 and see what I may be missing. I can’t store a lot of apples. Having some that require months of storage before they reach their “peak” taste would not work out for me. I’ve not picked some apples simply for that reason. Some apples that store like that would be nice to at least try out. I may put a branch of some of them on some trees later on. At least taste them here at my farm instead of how they taste from somewhere else. At times they do not taste the same from place to place.
I have been interested in growing the Pixie Crunch apple. Sounds like it is just an eating apple but not used for anything else.
How can there be an apple which is more interesting than one where people taste anise, cinnamon, cherry Twizzler and Zestar, all in the same apple.
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I don’t like the taste of anise so if there is a chance it tastes like that I may want to pass.
Sweet 16 does fine here in western Montana- but I’ve never noticed much anise flavor in the ones I’ve had. Could be mislabeled, could be the weather, the soil, who knows?
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