Top Notes 
Petitgrain
Lemon
Heart Notes 
Lavender
Tarragon
Base Notes 
Clove
Patchouli
Vetiver
12/10/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
1
Azzaro pour Homme goes Scot!
1445 by Castle Forbes is among the nicest alternatives to vintage Azzaro pour Homme which I’ve ever tried so far. While current Azzaro is still great, but – like pretty much any contemporary designer fougère – feeling a bit flat, tame and washed-down, 1445 brings back quite the same mossy-herbal-woody round richness of the vintage, even replicating the same sage-lavender anisic trademark of Azzaro. The differences are subtle, but remarkable enough to make it not too redundant if you already own Azzaro: a muskier, “grayer” base with a sort of “damp stones” feel, some more citrus, a bitter herbal side of tarragon, more cloves (especially on the drydown) and overall, sort of a simpler, more artisanal, and more natural feel, also with a drier, smokier drydown. Castle Forbes’s products are allegedly made in some small countryside in Scotland, and whether that’s true or not, 1445 does indeed smell somehow “simpler”, but rawer at the same time, if compared to the products of a major corporate like Azzaro. I mean – just as you would imagine something manufactured in a small workshop on the Scottish hills would smell. Old-school, natural, foggy and grassy, kind of damp and dark, classy yet straightforward and easy-going. The evolution has some interesting, pleasantly natural transitions; the smell remains herbal and woody, just becoming drier, smokier, darker, spicier (cloves) and with a prominent camphorous feel of mossy-earthy ambergris, with a sort of light metallic aftertaste.
Overall a really traditional, mature, completely uncreative yet very pleasant aromatic fougère. Nothing astonishing, but it smells really good (isn’t that the most important thing, in the end?). The only “unique” feature being that sort of countryside-artisanal feel which makes 1445 smell more easy-going, more natural, somehow more breezy than a proper vintage fougère. Very solid and fine for the price. By the way the bottle I based my review on is a bit older than the ones which are sold today (tartan motif, no allergens listed, I guess it dates back to a dozen years ago at least), so I don’t know if it’s still that good.
7,5/10
Overall a really traditional, mature, completely uncreative yet very pleasant aromatic fougère. Nothing astonishing, but it smells really good (isn’t that the most important thing, in the end?). The only “unique” feature being that sort of countryside-artisanal feel which makes 1445 smell more easy-going, more natural, somehow more breezy than a proper vintage fougère. Very solid and fine for the price. By the way the bottle I based my review on is a bit older than the ones which are sold today (tartan motif, no allergens listed, I guess it dates back to a dozen years ago at least), so I don’t know if it’s still that good.
7,5/10
