Alchimia – Bourbon

“Brass Balls”

I am both repulsed by and attracted to extreme men’s aftershave fragrance—not surprising—everyone knows that attraction and repulsion are two sides of the same coin. Thus, this soap. It’s from Italy. Stark, minimal, textured clay-red package with big, black letters: BOURBON. The bourbon ends there, but that’s okay. It’s a vegetable soap, but if it was made from raw steak, it would be no less masculine. The bar is an unadorned, stark-white, 300-gram brick. It will last me half the year. The crucial thing here is the fragrance. I haven’t owned a soap that more viscerally evokes the heady, dizzying odor of a manly man’s aftershave. It’s almost scary. I’m sure a lot of people would hate this fragrance with a passion. I personally really like it. What exactly is it? It may be bourbon, in part, but it must also be some woodsy, musky smell, and leather, smoke, sweat, death. It’s from another time, driving an expensive car, probably has a weapon. But no reason to think it’s a bad person, necessarily—that would be unfair. Still… watch out. It needs only to speak quietly. A little goes a long, long way.

Soap Review No. 188