Estate Spirits Solstice Scents 2022

On a sultry and rainy autumn night, I opened the heavy doors of this fragrance, which is almost reminiscent of an old manor house in which I am looking for shelter.

As soon as I opened the door, an extremely sweet haze crept up on me, as if someone had lined the room behind it with liquid amber.

As I entered, I noticed a bar stocked with dusty rum bottles. These were labeled "Estate Spirits". Candles burned in the corners of the room. Their flickering light made shadows dance like ghostly bartenders.

The stuffy, heavy air had been so permeated by the aroma of dark rum over the years that it was almost intoxicating to breathe here.
The further I ventured into the room, the deeper the smell became. The base of the house itself seemed to smell of burbon-infused oak. Warm and rich. As if the timbers were telling stories of decades of rum barrel storage. Sweet molasses and sugar cane clung invisibly to the walls - heavy, dark and almost forbidden in origin.

Suddenly I was overcome by the scent of orange peel. Sharp and bitter, as if someone had just torn open a fresh fruit. The citrus notes cut through the sweetness of the rum aroma like a knife through butter. I blinked, but instead of a fresh fruit, all I saw was a glass on the counter - half-filled with golden rum that shimmered like liquid gold in the candlelight. Next to the glass was a bowl of dried raisins. Dark and heavy, they almost smelled of earth. Cloves, nutmeg, allspice and a hint of cinnamon also entered the room - as if I was no longer alone.
Then there was something else. Something smoky and soft that settled in the air like a secret pact... a tobacco shadow even though there was no tobacco to be seen. Perhaps the ghost of an old drunkard who still spent his evenings within these walls?

I closed my eyes and felt a velvety warmth on my skin, as if someone had poured vanilla liqueur directly into my pores. The scent enveloped me. Clothed me like an invisible cloak.

I finished the glass, let the situation sink in once more and opened my eyes again. The candles had long been extinguished and the glass had been dusty for years. Was it all just a dream? I promptly left the old building and never came back... but I took the scent of the house with me and it stays with me to this day.