A crisp apple that tastes like Cherry twizzlers! Lol. Sign me up 
Bob…you da’ man!
These flavors…Licorice, Cherry, Bourbon, Apple…I certainly like all of those individually…sounds like a winner.
Unlike Alan, I really like the flavor of Sweet Sixteen. It and Kidds Orange Red are my favorite early fall apples. But, I do have concerns about its regular productivity.
History of my tree-
Yr 1- nice big tree (thick and well feathered), flowered, but didn’t set. Not a problem- I don’t need any in yr 1.
Yr 2- skipped flowering entirely
Yr 3- good set, maybe 30-40 apples
Yr 4- didn’t flower at all
Yr 5- we’ll see…Rabbits did chew off a decent chunk of the low buds, but there are plenty left.
So, I’m hoping for a good yield this year. I’m thinking about grafting a branch onto another tree, to increase my chances of getting some each year.
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I manage only one at a site with very rich clay loam soil. It is one of the more difficult to manage on 111 in that it has taken a very long time to come into fruiting. After 10 years one scaffold finally had a full crop last year. It is still about a year ahead of N. Spy at that site on that rootsock.
In a deep clay loam a 111 tree grows like a seedling rootsock tree will grow in most other soils.
All I taste is licorice. I don’t like lemon in my ale either or jalpenos in ice cream or choclolate either.
There is no other apple I’ve eaten that is known as being really tasty that I don’t like, no matter what they say is in its flavor profile. But even as a child I didn’t much like licorice.
I have sweet 16 grafted onto one of my trees. Hope to get to try it next year, these comments have me looking forward to trying it. I like different flavors in fruit, and even if I side with Alan on it, my little nephew loves fruit and twizzlers. I grafted some 2 year old wood from the runt tree that started this thread. It was slow to start growing but 2 of 2 took.
It has taken well on my tree (added high up) but isn’t bearing now; I had a branch but accidently pruned it off a few years ago. A friend grows it reliably.
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I’m not sure that I would like an intense licorice flavor either. But the apples I grew tasted like normal apples (a bit like Zestars) early on, in the last few days of August. My first notes of any Cherry-candy flavor were from 9/14. At that point, I think I picked the tree clean and ate everything, so I’m not sure what would have happened if I left them another week to further ripen.
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That’s strange, I think of Sweet 16 as a fall apple. Maybe I’ve been eating them when they are over ripe. If so, they hold their texture surprisingly well.
So jealous of you guys who had the chance to taste the fruit. I grafted this variety onto my existing apple tree 3 or 4 years ago. The graft was successful. However, the branch has not grown much after the first year and the first year’s growth wasn’t that much either. I do see flower buds but they don’t open up due to lack of chilling I guess in the last two winters. I think I’ll just keep it there in case we get an exceptional chilling one year.
I got a feathered tree from Burnt Ridge several years ago on M26 I think. It took four years to blossom and then overset. I lost a loaded branch I hadn’t supported yet (newb mistake). It does well here in Western WA.
Not all of them had the cherry-candy flavor but agree more so later in the season. I think kids would especially enjoy it.
I should have posted this earlier and forgot, but someone just mentioned they liked my post about not liking the strong licorice flavor of Sweet 16. Last year I tried them for flavor earlier in the season and found them much to my liking. The licorice flavor was much more subdued- a suggestion rather than a loud demand. I tried it earlier thanks to info provided on this forum. Without that I would have assumed my experience with its flavor was definitive. It is an apple that holds its texture, and if you want strong anise flavor- wait for it. But if you want something more subtle, harvest it younger.
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One man said his Sweet 16 tree died and he was going to order another one. His wife told him she hated that apple because it tasted like a Twizzler.
I just googled Twizzler, and it is what I thought it was- a kind of licorice candy. My point would be that he should let his wife try them less ripe. My own dislike of anise flavor is based on its overpowering quality, so it doesn’t offend me at all if it is toned down. Now if they come up with a peanut butter apple, I will harvest it at full ripeness!
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When you say Twizzler, are you thinking the cherry flavor Twizzlers? Alan, mentions anise flavor, I’m thinking more of the cherry flavor and not the black Twizzler flavor.
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”:
