The Bear in the Cellar

[absinthetics]

Whiskey, tobacco, and incensed bear musk.

The bear musk is a nice brown quality that probably takes the bite out of the whiskey note. This is a very smooth, brown scent that has great throw.

[strahlend]

Started out with a strong scent of whiskey like in Mad Sweeney. It fades quickly here as it does in MS.

Now the tobacco and musk are reminding me of a mix of Black Lace and Haunted.

 

The tobacco and whiskey notes both have a bit of sharpness to them, but the musk does round things out.

The overall impression is of expensive perfume wafting around a parlor where guests are drinking whiskey (but not smoking).

The tobacco here is not like in cigarettes or pipes, it more like what I imagine tobacco smells like raw or dried.

In the end it is the bear musk that is the longest lasting note, it is warm and strong, this is not a subtle bear. The whiskey and tobacco provide interesting dimensions as the perfume settles in. My initial impression was that I probably could find a similar scent in my existing collection, but that's actually quite false. The bear musk is new to my nose and the companion notes set it off beautifully.

 

Edit to add: many thanks to the lovely person who sent this to me from the NYCC!

Edited October 20, 2014 by strahlend

[lamenteuse]

Tried this on my husband because it smelt a bit too masculine in the bottle for me.

It's AMAZING on him. Warm leathery-tobaccoy with a sweet undercurrent, totally sexy.

 

And according to him, it smells like "leather, wet grass, and sweet corn."

[HighPriestessIce]

Bananas. The whiskey for some reason smells like really intense banana bread to my brain. WAT. As it dries the bananas thankfully disappear to reveal a smooth musky tobacco with a bit of a bite. The whiskey isn't in your face as usual but hanging lightly in the back ground. It's a bit fuzzy feeling probably from the bear musk.

[Gateau]

I find this super sexy and a wonderful unisex. The tobacco is strong on me, and in the French Tobacco SN vein, so definitely nothing wrong with that. The whiskey adds something sort of woody, but it doesn't smell like you spilled a drink on you or anything. I get a lot of sweetness from the incense-warm brown musk combo. Nice warm scent.

[samarablackcat]

Whiskey and tobacco while wet, with a snuggly musk underneath. It reminds me of being in a close conversation with a person who has been drinking whiskey (no bourbon) who has been smoking a cigarette and has a nice, musky personal scent about him/her (or kissing said person) with whiskey/tobacco breathe. Now you may think, eww, but that is one of my favorite scents ever, and this takes me back to younger days. As it dries the musk is the most prominent note but stays close to the skin.

 

I seem to do well with three or four note perfumes and this is wonderful. Had it not been for a decant circle this would never have been something I would have tried, but I am very glad I did! The musk reminds me of the musks in Hunter Moon 04, Buck Moon and Ivanushka, warm, slightly feral and oh so snuggly when dry.

[zankoku_zen]

Whiskey and tobacco, with a nice snuggly brown musk anchoring it all. For me it's mainly whiskey and tobacco, and it very gender neutral. The musk reminds me to Hunter Moon 2004 as well.

 

I feel like this one would work for a guy.

 

Boozy, tobacco rich musk.

[batsy]

A friend procured a 5ml of this for me from NYCC as an extremely early Xmas gift.

 

Just a bit of a preface: I adore Cerberus and Ivanushka, and was hoping that TBITC would be similar.

 

In the bottle: strong but sweet sour whiskey, with a hint of wet fur.

 

On the skin: It smells a lot like Cerberus when initially applied. It has a fair amount of throw at first. After several hours of wear, it dries down into a soft, sweet blend of whiskey - almost like the alcohol has burnt away and left just the sweet sugars - with a whiff of tobacco. This is great because it's got decent staying power, although not a lot of throw; it plays very close after that initial application. Which is unlike Ivanushka, which totally goes powdery and dies quickly, no matter how much I put on.

 

Really, I adore this blend, and the story behind it, and feel fortunate I have a great friend who went after it for me.

[milo]

This is a bit sour at first, along with a definite animalistic musk. Sourness fades, and it kind of reminds me of other musky animal blends, like Hunter Moon and others. This is nice, I tend to like these kind of musks and will certainly finish up my half decant.

[tharsei-thanate]

Just noticed I haven't reviewed this yet, haha.

 

In the bottle and immediately on my skin it's all sharp alcohol (dunno if this makes sense but it's not quite Beth's whiskey note itself, just the alcohol burn). A few seconds later the alcohol dissipates and it's predominately tobacco (think French Tobacco SN) with whiskey and musk just behind it. The musk is very brown and snuggly and the whiskey is smooth and woody, not sharp at all. Super lovely overall and perfect for a tobacco lover like me. And to think this wasn't even on my to-try list at NYCC! I tested it on a whim and it wound up being the only NYCC exclusive perfume I bought.

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Bananas. WTF? Just momentarily though. But I had to go back and sniff from the bottle, and I can smell banana there, too. The tobacco blooms once it's on my skin, and after a moment all traces of banana are gone, thank goodness! The sweet, stickiness remains though. Actually, maybe the memory of banana, if that makes any sense. I don't know how to describe it, other than - I can still smell the thing I thought smelled like banana, only it doesn't really smell like banana anymore, but my brain wants to THINK it smells like banana.

 

 

Dry: All the other notes fade away (banana and not quite banana included) and this dries down to musk. It's like an interesting mix of a dark, murky musk, and a clean white musk. I think it's different than any other musk I have. Not sure I would wear it, and I don't really know why, I love musk. It might be good to layer though. I was expecting to be wowed by this a lot more, based on the notes. One my skin, it's just OK though.

[Blood onmy hands]

A sour booze and dark woods smell from the whiskey (like whiskey poured over a polished, dark, wooden bar table), a smoky-sweet note from the tobacco, and a fuzzy, warm, powdery brown musk that amps up way too much on my skin. I think this is a fun scent, and I've kept my decant, but I don't love the dry, powdery musk in this one.

[torikitty]

Received this bottle in a swap. Wet it smells like candied almonds. I wouldn't say the whiskey is as strong as it is in Mad Sweeney. I think I'm bringing out the musk the most right now. The tobacco starts to come out, and it's a bit more astringent. Not as sweet as SN: French Tobacco. During drydown, it starts loosing sweetness. Then, magically, it starts sweetening up again with the whiskey. This is weird. I'm trying to think of a good situation where I'd want to wear this. It's leaning on the masculine side on me. I might play around with layering. I can see adding a bit of sweet vanilla to this to make it wearable for me. Hours later, the tobacco settles down, and is more wearable, less masculine. It's still a bit dry, though.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Carrie