Bramblesap

Rich, warm, incense laden Ponderosa pine forests after a fresh rain. A ponderosa forest (more specifically a ponderosa forest on the Mogollan Rim) will emit a beautifully warm vanillic aroma that permeates the forest when the bark gets wet. It smells like cereal milk with hints of strawberry, honey, and petrichor. Bramblesap captures that experience in a bottle. It’s incredible. Think warm, Smokey woods with hints of strawberry and florals so well blended you wouldn’t know they were there. There’s something so comforting here amongst all the rich coniferous materials that never feels gourmand nor does it feel entirely agrestic. Instead it’s fragrance for the soul. It’s a warm hug if that hug was made out of wood. There’s a raw aesthetic to this composition that serves it well but that’s not to say it’s poorly blended. In fact Valentino’s blending skills are impeccable and I look forward to more releases in the future.

Bramblesap opens with an immediate sense of standing in the woods, inhaling the crisp, alive scent of pine. Warm amber and cinnamon spice dust ripe stone fruit and dark berries. The result is grounded, and slightly intoxicating — a forest at sunset.