Dr. Squatch – Wood Barrel Bourbon

“Distillery Tour”

Already wrote about the Squatch as mascot and a company, I think, with a previous “flavor,” so no need to go there—I bought some kind of “three pack”—when I first saw it—thought it was an obscure brand—but now I see it everywhere. Everywhere being TJ Maxx—in the “Men’s” section. To me, it’s odd with soap, that you’d separate by gender—I thought Irish Spring had cured us of that back in the Sixties, but no. But some soaps specifically market toward only one gender, and this is one—it says on the box “Men’s Natural Soap”—as well as “Jimmy Red Corn & Sand Medium Grit”—if this is medium, I’m curious to try the “Heavy Grit!” Grit is good, when you want it, but last I checked, women have skin, too. Excellent ingredients, including “naturally derived fragrance” (presumably not chemical fragrance, which is where the problems can lie), Sand, and Jimmy Red Cornmeal—where the grit comes in—apparently that’s male cornmeal. Other good stuff, too—but the point is, it’s a gritty brown square that smells subtly like a glass of neat bourbon—drinkers of which ain’t everyone, but certainly not limited to hillbilly dudes. Grit is nice for anyone, if they’re lucky enough to have someone to scrub their back. Regardless of origin and narrowmindedness, I’ll buy more Dr. Squatch. An interesting note on the brand, it’s one of those rare “Band-name-proof” names, unlike, say, Chanel No. 5 (band), Ivory (band), Irish Spring (band), Best Mayonnaise (band), etc.—once we invented the internet, you can’t feign ignorance. Of course, the ultimate is The Internet (LA soul band) —gotta hand it to you, guys! (though for a long time I confused them, due to the name, with that combo of white Brooklyn hipsters with a similar generic handle—whose stage image is tech money gen-x’ers standing around discussing real-estate). Not the same band.

Soap Review No. 242