Hi Brian! Often our own home-made vanilla will smell a bit more "alcohol-y" than like vanilla. It's one of the few drawbacks to homemade. BUT, it tastes great. So we'd suggest a test that we use when we want to know that our vanilla is up to standards: bake something that will let that vanilla shine, like some Vanilla Sugar Cookies. If the flavor isn't enough, go ahead and add some more beans to the bottles and keep on shaking. That should hopefully work out well. Thanks, and happy vanilla!  

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