John Barleycorn

[greenranger]

JOHN BARLEYCORN
There was three men come out o' the west
their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn must die,
They plowed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
throwed clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn was dead.

Barley, beer, blood, and whiskey.

In the bottle, beer. I like the sheaf of grain on the bottle as well.

Wet on me, beer, barley, the whiff of whiskey, and just a slight tang of salt that might be the blood.

Drying, the scent settles into mostly barley and beer.I do get a whiff of the whiskey every once in a while though. The whiskey is more apparent in the throw, and the barley is most apparent on the skin. It's a simple scent, and basic.

Also very very tasty. I'm a sucker for the scent of beer, grains and breads.


I like this scent, and I only have two complaints. One is that it could be stronger. I suppose this might be a good thing if you didn't want to smell too strongly of alchohol. The second is that it doesn't last nearly long enough.

But, long enough would be all day long for me. I suppose I'll just have to slather and reapply.

[Esmeria]

Woah nelly- this is a strong one!

 

In the bottle, I can smell the beer and barley and nothing else. On skin they meld together with the blood and form something really rather musky.

 

Beery-musk oh, nom nom nom.

 

I don't get any whiskey, which would have been nice, but I'm not going to complain about what I am getting!

Edited September 8, 2008 by Esmeria

[Brianne]

This is so odd, but when this first hits my skin, it smells like burnt sugar - so for a moment, it smells a lot like Sugar Skull on me. That's where that ends though, because a moment later it's definitely a husky beer and musk scent and suddenly does not resemble Sugar Skull at all.

 

It's more musk than beer on my skin, though the beer is certainly there. This is comforting in a weird way - the sort of scent that I might not wear as a perfume but that I would shampoo with if that makes any sense. After about 20 minutes, this is very powdery and musky and most of the beer scent is gone.

[tartchef]

The mention of blood made me hesitate to try this, but I needn't have worried. I always assume it means dragon's blood, but if there's any in John Barleycorn, it's not the usual note. Instead of lilac-scented toilet cleaner, I'm getting a hint of pure cherry - just a drop of clear candy red. Over it is layered a really warm, hearth-&-home scent - to my nose, it's digestive biscuits, a wad of Cherry Cavendish and crackling logs in a stone fireplace Not exactly the sinister, bloody scrum I was expecting... it's Dear Old Dad, in from the fields & having a puff & a biscuit before supper. There might be a finger of whiskey at his elbow, but he's largely forgotten about it. Not overly masculine or boozy, but very paternal & comforting.

 

ETA: Ah. Starting to get the barley now, and a lovely toasted spent grain note Might have to get a bottle of this for our home-brewing neighbor...

Edited September 12, 2008 by tartchef

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is sugary beer......

 

ugh...once applied...lemon....whattheF*ck??

give it 10 minutes...same deal....bummerationfrustration.......

[diamondstars]

I can smell allsorts from this..how peculiar! From the bottle I'm sure I detect a hint of banana?!? On skin it's very musky, perhaps a bit masculine?

 

Not sure on this one..

[olive]

The first few seconds of Barleycorn were amazing, but it quickly faded into a sort of a mellow hopsy/cherry scent. I agree with the original poster, this is really fast fading stuff with little to no throw. After 30 minutes it had completely disappeared.

[jewelbug]

In the bottle: This is extremely beer like. Not entirely sure I want my perfume to make me smell like beer, but wow, is it ever interesting what Beth can do with perfume oils!

 

Wet: Extremely grainy beer. I like the scent. It makes me want to go to happy hour.

 

Dry: Super baby powder. Huh? Where'd that come from?

 

Overall: Interesting when wet, though not necessarily what I want from a perfume. But then, dry, wtf-babypowder. Ah well, glad I held off on a bottle until I could test it!

[merivelle]

This is a strange morphing scent. That said, its' kind of fun. It starts off slightly sweet. 1-2 second of cherry cough syrup that almost immediatley turns to a faint lemon scent. I can smell the whiskey and it reminds me of Juke Joint without the mint. This fragrance has a powdery quality and ends in a light, almost cherry note. It's pleasant but I can't smell any blood of any sort , neither Dragon nor Accord. I also agree that it fades very quickly.

[kawaiiferreto]

I was so excited to see a BEEEEEER note. I'm a beer snob, and have been hoping for a beer scent for a long while.

 

Unfortunately, this doesn't work out on me.

 

Wet and in the bottle this is strong on the whiskey (I like whiskey, but it's not something I want to smell like.)

 

As it dried the whiskey scent mostly backed off. I never did get a strong beer scent though, because after that it was more grain and powder (I think the whiskey turned to powder, or maybe it was the beer.) It wasn't unpleasant, but it's not something I'd really want to wear. However, that the barley note was a nice. I like grains and hays and grasses.

 

I will have to go back to dreaming of a beer scent.

[fairnymph]

Sniffed at EC Will Call: Very much liquor and grains, SOUR, and quite acrid and pungent. I don't get any blood, but sniffed I think the whiskey, BEER and barley overwhelm it. I can't imagine a woman wearing this, so masculine? It's rather what a drunken bum smells like and fits the note description quite well.

[Schmoozy]

Ugh, what was I thinking.

I can't get past the barley and the hops. Add the metallic tang of blood and you got a recipe to make sick.

[Upstart Crow]

I got a decant of this scent because I found, much to my surprise, that I really enjoyed Bonfire Night last year, which was also a scent with beer. I was a little worried, but this turned out to be delicious. In the bottle I smell something sweet - not bitter like beer, and not cloying like sugar. The barely comes out very strong, too.

 

On my skin, the sweetness softens and the barley comes out even stronger. A very delicious scent. I may need a bottle.

[sprocket21]

Wow, this is a lot sweeter than I expected it to be. Wet, it's very beery and hopsy, dry it's a powdery sweet lemon. Emphasis on the powdery. O_o Not what I was expecting! I may swipe this on my unsuspecting boyfriend and see how it works out on him. I mostly got it for him, so I'm surprised I like it as much as I do. I expected to recoil from the imp!

[dawndie]

Wet: phoo, acetone! Nail polish remover is a bad start

 

On skin: blast of stinky chemical, then what a change! There's the tang of booze and dirt of barley, but everything's melting together into a sweet fizziness, like a lemon cola

 

Half-hour later: it's fading fast, but I still get lemon and powder (?)

 

In conclusion: this was a weird one, it's so lemon-citrussy on me. I've been ordering bourbon sours lately and it smells like those taste. Nothing at all like I expected, much sweeter and lighter.

[Finny]

This is not what I expected.

 

In the bottle, sweet and a little boozy.

 

On, I smell candy corn. It reminds me of Trick or Treat, and is reminiscent of Lughnasadh. A little hoppy, a little grainy. It is a bit powdery on the dry down, but a lovely sweet skin hugging scent.

[jehrichardson]

In the bottle: Musty grains

 

On the skin: Musty grains, hay, and a touch of an all night bender.

 

After a while: A bit of buttery vanilla pokes through, sweetening it. Still strong on those musty, beery grains.

 

Verdict: Cool concept, well executed. I can't imagine when I'm going to want to smell like boy-who-has-been-on-all-night-bender, but it might be fun to get in the mood before a party. I could see myself wearing this layered with something very feminine, like a sweet musk or a strong rose to truly get that bordello feel.

 

ADDED Nov. 29:

 

Wow... beery, grainy, and a bit bitter. I'm getting strong banana tones too.

 

On the skin it starts to mellow out a bit, the weird banana tone fades a bit and I start getting hay/straw.

 

Barley. Beer. That's it.

 

Interesting fragrance, and nice, but I'm not sure I'm going to want to smell like this though. Smells a bit like a bender gone bad to me. We'll see if aging mellows this out - otherwise I might try layering it with something astringent like Jabberwocky to try and overpower the weird high notes, so it can just be a soft base.

 

ETA: After a while, this is much less strange on the skin. It gets a rich haylike tone, sweet and deep. Now, I quite like it! I would wear this on its own now.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Shollin

[goblinshark]

OK, I'll be honest, I read the notes for this and went "BLECH!!!" I never ever would have tried it, but my dude expressed interest in it so I got hold of a decant for him. I didn't even plan on testing it out (foolish!) but when I opened the imp for a little sniff, it surprised me. It smelled...GREAT. Sweet, slightly oaty, reminded me a lot of Gunpowder, actually, which I love.

 

Wet on skin: smells like a caramel apple, but not overly-sticky-sweet. There's a muskiness that grounds it.

 

Drydown: I cannot believe how nice this is. Sweet and softly musky, with a slight metallic tang around the edges. I do not smell beer or blood or whiskey at all! SO GOOD! I'm not sure if I need a bottle of this, but I am DEFINITELY going to try to get my mitts on a couple more decants of it if possible.

 

ETA: I ended up grabbing a bottle, and this is one of my most favorite scents now.

Edited November 13, 2008 by goblinshark

[gingiemay]

Wet in bottle - Wow, barley, whiskey, beer and a sort of musky burnt caramel smell. Very manly.

 

Wet on skin - whiskey and barley. There is still the faint sweet undertone that must come from the barley. Surprisingly yummy.

 

Dry on skin - Darn, the sweetish barley has turned soapy and powdery on me. Shoot! This had some great potential. I think I'll put it away for a bit and try it again in a little while.

[Little Bird]

I love the label art for John Barleycorn, but the scent is awful on me. It takes me back to trying on Mad Sweeney, where the whiskey comes on strong and smells like the chemical horror of rubbing alcohol. Blech. In the drydown, it's beer, rubbing alcohol, and baby powder on me. I smell like an awful, drunken nanny... I don't get any of the sweetness or grains that other people have mentioned. My skin chemistry doesn't seem to handle these beer and whiskey scents too well.

[Iceblink]

I'm only sniffing this from an empty bottle--barley, barley, barley and booze! And sweet from the blood.

[yewberry]

As a gal who spends a decent percentage of her life with her nose near malted barley, I can say pretty unequivocally that there's no actual barley malt essence herein. There is, however, a most charming quasi-emulation. There's a rich, almost buttery quality to this oil. Like a distant caramel and vanilla (sweetgrass? woodruff?). Over that is the "alcohol", which, again, doesn't smell much like whiskey. It does coat your nasal passages like huffing a leggy tawny port, though. Then comes warm musk and a hint of rusty nail.

 

After a while the vanilla and something traditionally "perfumey" dominates, but the wet and just-dry stages are really delicious. I can see why folks note a masculine quality. Fortunately, my hubby doesn't like men's colognes, so this one's all mine.

 

Light throw (I like to wear it on my neck, for nuzzling), relatively short wear length (on me, anyway).

[othelloperrello]

It's an out-an-out race, the grain and a lemony-sourmash note neck and neck out of the gate (ie, wet on the skin).

I think the lemon is gaining inch by inch, length by length, on the drydown and looks like it's going to take this scent away.

But Wait! What's that emerging from the background? Is it a spicy rumble of godforsaken debauch? or is it babypowder and bedtime already?

 

Yeah... though I follow it to the bitter end and fade out, it's lemon and babypowder by a sniffly nose in the end.

[FandF]

Sour!!! And first smell almost made me gag, like spoiled or rotten food. Waited a minute...Light scent overall, a little like cleaner? Ammonia? Lemon? Definitely the first whiff is bad news for me but it settles down to something interesting. Not strong at all, lemony and hint of something minty. Very pleasant. Not for me but this is the first time I've sniffed something so vile on first whiff morph to something so benign overall!!!

[steelxrose]

John Barleycorn - I didn't have high hopes for you upon sniffing you in the imp, but you surprised me, John...

 

Sweet, sweet like I've had the "hay" smell described to me. None of the booze or blood. Just sweet hay (or barley.) I think this might just be a keeper decant.