Alford & Hoff
Alford & Hoff (2009)

Baldessarini Baldessarini, Vera Wang for Men, Tom Ford for Men,
The One - if you've smelled those fruity-woodyamber masculines from the 2000s, you know what Alford & Hoff Signature is doing.

It feels like an also-ran in the subgenre despite a fairly nice, slightly mineral-feeling mid and spicy drydown just because it presents with no distinctive effect or accord (like Vera Wang's yuzu overdose opening) that might make it stand out from the pack.

I sought this out over a year ago as a fan of Rodrigo Flores-Roux's work. It didn't “wow” me then, but Zealot's review prompted me to get out my sample of A&H to try again. I remembered trying this and thinking it too much reminded me of greased up body builders (maybe it was the marketing I remembered from this).

Perhaps it's the now-cold weather, or perhaps I've come around to this style of fragrance, but I really enjoy this. Zealot's review is spot-on, so I need not say much more.

I think A&H could be worn in the office. It reminds me of what I would have pictured my father or grandfather to smell like when I was a kid and the word “cologne” was used, just with a slightly more modern, boozey touch.

7.5/10

Alford & Hoff is a skincare firm founded by Barry Alford and Jefferson Hoffman, and is so exclusive as to be almost obscure, with little to no information available outside the few retailers that carry their goods. The firm seems to have a male lean, making it no surprise that the debut fragrance from the firm is also a masculine-marketed one. The firm chose to exclusively use Rodrigo Flores-Roux of Givaudan, who has also played unofficial house perfumer for John Varvatos, despite being basically a Givaudan contracted perfumer. Rodrigo Flores-Roux composed Alford & Hoff (2009) the fragrance just a year before Bleu de Chanel (2010) effectively changed the male landscape in the same way Calvin Klein Eternity for Men (1989) did in the decade preceding, so the stuff was somewhat squeezed out of the running despite being very good, and gets a lot of tongue lashes from the perfume hobbyist community for being perceived as vague. I find Alford & Hoff to be anything but unfocused, as it mixes a dry fall kindle kind of aesthetic with fruit and citrus, leather, amber, boozy elements, and a touch of oriental class to bring in a sharp cold weather affair. Anyone who loves scents like Pasha de Cartier (1992) or Jazz Prestige (1993) will find favor with Alford & Hoff, although it is drier than both of those and not tied to a fougère base like either of them.

Alford & Hoff opens with a lovely grapefruit and dried apple accord, the zing of bamboo, and some ginger. A nondescript kitchen herb feel does bring in some of that "generic" feel which I can see others saying about this, but it really isn't enough to throw the baby out with the bathwater for me, because every fragrance is bound to have elements acting like a filler unless we're talking about a soliflore which stars a single note. The herbal elements keep the crisp citrus and spiced fruit dry enough to transition into a heart of Givaudan "Orpur", a registered name for a line of distilled naturals from the chemist firm, but here it reads mostly as white florals. There's a bit of boozy feeling that Alford & Hoff call "sweet rum", but honestly it's much more tart to me, with whatever vanilla and tonka being listed playing a smaller role than marketing materials suggests. The base of leather, amber, Iso E Super, and oakmoss is almost chypre-like, if not for a total lack of cistus labdanum or anything remotely pasty in that nature. The final result is as described above: a spicy, fruity, yet dry, herbal, and leathery take on the autumnal theme running through the aforementioned 90's fougères, so I guess consider this the leather chypre version of that style, just not "tanning chemicals" isobutyl quinoline leather like Aramis (1964). I'd call this formal to business evening use, and maybe romantic in an upscale way. You'll only find this at Nordstrom outside of the internet, so options are limited for those interested.

Alford & Hoff comprises an interesting niche of fragrances that existed in the late 2000's through early 2010's which mostly ignored the growing proliferation of aquatic top/abroxan base "Freshientals" that began taking over right as Bleu de Chanel set the pace for them. Scents like Terre d'Hermes (2008), Avon Signature (2008), Hervé Léger Homme by Hervé Légere (2010), and Collection 34: 34 Boulevard Saint Germain by Diptyque (2011), all relied on dry woods and spice, or vetiver and patchouli and a foundation for a brief resurgence of aromatic fragrances that were once again shoved aside for "fresh, clean and sweett" which has been the lowest common denominator in masculine fragrance marketing since the advent of calone or dihydromyrcenol. I get it, these kinds of things are not really versatile, and I'd never tell somebody to wear Alford & Hoff to baseball game or on a first date, but I also see nothing generic about a really well-executed aromatic chypre-like fragrance that captures the feeling of that cherished late October to early November vibe of the leaves turning colors, and fireplaces being stoked for the first time in a year. If that is boring or nondescript, then go ahead and keep all your blue juices or syrupy sweet clubber musks, because I'd rather smell "generic" than like I'm trying too hard to impress. Certainly try before you buy here, but Alford & Hoff is a very comfortable twilight kind of scent to my nose, in a simple but elegant cylindrical bottle with real wooden cap. Thumbs Up

mixed emotions on this one....it's kind of 50/50...
GOOD...nice orientalish smell...totally non-offensive...perfect office scent...not overpriced...does smell nice and pleasing...
BAD...semi-generic...nothing to really make it stand out from the pack...

mostly reminds me of something between Tom Ford for Men and D & G One for Men...

semi-sweet - citrussy - woody - suede...maybe just a smidgen of rum...

Nice, generic, refined, masculine scent. Reminds me of a mix of Gucci pH I and Bill Blass Mr. Blass. I prefer this over the Mr. Blass, but I'll take Gucci pH I over both.

Seems to project nicely and last through the day. My first thought is that this would be good for office wearing but wouldn't be out of place at dinner.

After sniffing this again the comparison to D&G The One is spot on.

It's a summation of all things oriental, hence why it comes across as generic. one sniff and you know right away this is an oriental. The bottle and packaging match the scent.

It smells great, good projection and lasting power, but the issue is the price. It's worth 40% of the asking by my estimation. It's only a matter of time before it gets to those prices.

The company itself is presented as a luxury goods for today's man kinda thing. Works for the average guy who wants to feel like he's on t o something special.