Bizarre Brandy

First wearing of Molton Brown’s seasonal (allegedly limited edition) offering Bizarre Brandy, an artistic boozy take on the eponymous brandy, which, as some have pointed out, is not quite as boozy as it is sweet and indulgent, but it’s a good balance some semblance of booziness and more dessert-like accords. It does have a rather prominent maple accord, something I’ve not experienced much in fragrance, and I like it for that reason. It has familiar touches that liken it to other boozy fragrances—it even reminds me a little of Gallagher Wicked Good—but it has its own character. The full note list is, per the house website: Top notes of cardamom, orange and ginger. A heart of aged brandy, coffee and maple. A base of incense, cedarwood and tobacco. I get the heart notes more than anything else: brandy, coffee, and maple could very well sum up this fragrance for me to the point that the top and base notes are really just supporting characters there to round out some of the sweet foodiness of the heart. On the one hand, I can see how some might regard Bizarre Brandy as nothing new, but for me, it does scratch the neverending boozy/sweet itch and executes on that vision in a both artistically interesting and wearable way. At EDT concentration, its full retail pricing is $120 for 100ml but it currently appears to be on sale/clearance everywhere it’s sold, including Neiman Marcus in the US, so now is the time to buy. Who knows if it’s actually a limited edition or one-time offering, though. 8 out of 10

Oof. Splurge guns at the ready, this is a randy dandy, ra-ra jazz-pizzaz scent in a bottle. The scent of this perfume will send your brain to a dimly lit speakeasy, in prohibition times, where people smoke loads of cigarettes and dodgy deals are done. It has a strong woody base, which allows the warm brandy note to sing at the top of it's lungs, like a desperate cabaret act, struggling to keep their booking at the speakeasy. The brandy tone, much like the desperate cabaret act in your imagination, does eventually succumb to time, as it slides away from the profile, leaving only a hint of it's past existence, amongst the wood tones and tobacco notes left in it's wake. It's boozy up to a point, almost like the rozzers have burst into the speakeasy and removed all of the alcohol after a few hours. It's pleasant, but needs topping up every 2 to 3 hours, as it was only ever released as an EDT. It remains one of the only EDT's in my vast collection, as I appreciate how rare it is. The fact that it is rare usually means that someone is asking a lot more for it than it is actually worth. You will struggle to find this in a brand new, boxed and sealed state. I got mine on eBay for a very good price. 8/10. An EDT doesn't punch much harder than this!

My boyfriend bought me this as he loved it on me when we were in the shop, although I thought the cardamon and tobacco were strong at first and I wasn’t sure. It smells like smelling a bag of loose tobacco. But I’m glad he did as I got past the strong masculine opening and it’s really unisex. The tobacco and cardamon fade, and the booziness takes over with Brandy and maple. And a lot of woody notes throughout. Gets sweeter as it dries, a cardamon flavoured sweetness. Very strong and long lasting, can’t believe it’s an EDT. Smells AMAZING layered on top of a simple vanilla like The Body Shop Vanilla or on top of the Bizarre Brandy body lotion, which makes it sweeter and last forever!

I love this for its dark, leathery, and spicy character, combined with a touch of sweetness. It behaves almost like a luxurious boozy gourmand, rich with spices, wood, and leathery notes. It's rich and addictive. To me, this scent invokes thoughts of spending a cold winter evening at an old village pub, drinking brandy cocktails and keeping warm in front of the log fire until late into the night. This shines on cold winter nights. With hints reminiscent of Muddled Plum, Tobacco and Black Pepper, the delightful brandy notes and caramelized maple provide a subtle sweetness. Longevity and Sillage are strong. This scent is fabulous!

This is absolutely glorious. It's like the steam rising from a hot coffee made with brandy, brown sugar, and maple, sprinkled with ginger and stirred with a cinnamon stick. The boozy maple note is strongest for me, with the coffee and spices taking a back seat, but it isn't overly sweet or cloying at all. It's cosy and warm and comforting and I didn't go anosmic to it all day. It lasted around 8h on my skin without fading very much. Very, very well done by Molton Brown.

There is only one perfumer I buy fragrances from just because they made it, and that is karine dubreuil who made this fragrance. She is the master of sweet fragrances that are not too sweet that it will make you sick. Check out her perfumes from Lalique. You will OT be disappointed. Also this fragrance this very unique and awesome in colder weather!

Beautifully rich cinnamon, coffee and brandy. Perfect for the colder months. A very enjoyable scent, just like the shower gel.

On first spraying all the notes hit me at once. I like my scents heavy but whoa! This deep boozy, heavily smokey, spicy scent is the scent of Christmas. This is sitting around a log fire, brandy in hand, a slice of rich sweet spicy Christmas cake on your lap, while a relative sits beside you smoking a rich cigar. This leans more on the masculine side of unisex IMO but sweetens as it wears. It has pretty serious projection from just one spray and lasts for days on clothing. Not too shabby for an EDT. I think layering with the body products, spritzing and walking through the scent will be a real treat over the festive season. I've added a light spritz of Lush's Yog Nog, which adds a creamy caramel to the concoction. The combination is heavenly ❤️

Thank you to the reviewers below for saving me from spending $150 for the gift set on Molton Brown's website for Cyber Monday. I had it in my cart and was about to hit confirm when I read their comments and decided to hold on until I actually got to smell it. Thank goodness I did. I love the concept of a brandy smelling fragrance. Being from Wisconsin, I grew up drinking Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet (Wisconsin consumes more than 1/3 of the nation's brandy) And always wanted a fragrance that smelled like that. But this...starts with a blast of maple syrup pancakes, then a few minutes later it's washed down with strong coffee. Finally, you're left with a strong synthetic tobacco oud lingering cloud that just smells nasty. It is very similar to Molton Brown's Tobacco scent I have from a gift set that I just cannot stomach wearing. In addition, the sales person told me the lotion and shower gel have sparkles in them that stay on the skin - for a masculine leaning fragrance?? Not that I wouldn't want to wear a little sparkle now and then!

What a disappearing act! In the bottle (decant in this case, but I also confirmed it against the eponymous shower gel) it honestly smells like a brandy-infused christmas pudding. I get the warmth of the brandy, the cinnamon, the orange - I'm instantly transported to a postcard scene of a crackling fire, Santa stockings on the mantle, snow falling outside. On skin, this becomes much drier/smokier. It's as if someone had sat in that postcard scene and smoked a tobacco pipe, then extinguished the fire and left the room cold. There's still an underlying maple-syrup quality to this but on me the tobacco/smoke/incense overlays it all. I get less of the booze and none of the pudding, and it becomes a much lighter, woodier and more transparent scent than that initial sniff of christmas-plum-pud would suggest. At least the cinnamon sticks around! It's still well done, but I agree with koburi - I'd prefer this as a candle, if only because my skin seems to mangle it so badly.

This is the sort of smell that I see working better as a seasonal scented candle than a perfume. That said, it does smell rather nice. The dominant note is cedar, but with boozy, sweet, tobaccoey facets. Maple syrup is certainly present as well. This is not a sophisticated or complex perfume, but then again I don't think it was intended to be. I think Molton Brown set out to create a cosy, comforting, smooth, warm scent for autumn/winter that suits cold, dark, rainy nights. Crucially, it avoids smelling like gingerbread, which so many others in this general category do. If you like sweet perfumes with a seasonal/Christmassy feeling, give this a try.

I would have loved this blind buy, were it not for this cumin element that inserts itself like a sliver in your brain and explodes, scattering and emptying your perception of the other, Christmassy spices like a stinky hippie scatters and empties so many passengers on a crowded suburban commuter train.

Everything others have written is true— this is a boozy Christmas pudding of a scent— and therefore something I would loved, were it not for the presence of a cumin note, and that ruins it for me.

Definitely don't get the brandy here, as others have said - it is a very nice cozy spicy scent though. Reminds me of the store part of a Cracker Barrel in the best possible way.