Iron Duke
Eau de Parfum, Beaufort London (2017)

To my nose, this is a strangely cool and fresh leather scent with a strong and persisting smokiness underneath. The freshness largely stems from the soap note, which leans more to the sporty/shower gel side of soapiness than the luxurious soap bar variety that is often used in these kinds of fragrances. Admittedly, I have no idea what saddle soap smells like but that aside, it works well enough here. Furthermore, I don't think the rum or bourbon notes stand out very much, so if you are looking for something sweetishly boozy, this is not it. I find the fresh and soapy aspect very appealing, but the smoke and the hay make it a bit of an exhausting experience for me. Suitable for night time wear in autumn and winter or colder, cloudy days.

Thematically, Beaufort London is all about aromatic symbols of bygone masculinity: leather, tobacco, gunpowder, smoke.

Iron Duke is arguably one of the more coherent compositions in the line, though it still has the rugged directness of many in the lineup. While I like the leather-tobacco facets, I can't get along with whatever is contributing the "gunpowder"/metallic facets here. It's a piercing, distracting element.

Amazing perfume, this really does smell like a perfume of the time it is portraying. It opens up with a blast of gunpowder, ashes, incense, tobacco, and a hint of rum. Gunpowder fades after 10 minutes and the soapy suede cleaner scent comes up, it shows up and lingers for the remaining time of the perfume which; this perfumes easily lasts on skin 12+ hours, on clothing expect it to be latched on for atleast a week. As it settles down, there's no mistaken there is an animalic oud but it is tamed down by the suede soapy accord followed by the tobacco/rum base notes. Overall it performs so well and it really is an experience.

Beaufort may claim leather, gunpowder, animalic notes, rum and who knows what else for this one, but what comes out of the sprayer is a brassy fougere – ready to do battle, for sure, as it insists on bellowing, when a simple hello may have been more effective. In that sense it lives up to its name, but I wonder whether a big, braying pine air freshener effect with a bit of saddle leather thrown in was really the intention. There's a big, puffy cloud of aromatics in the middle of this one, including the stalwart lavender, and there's nothing unbalanced about the composition, but it still makes me want to walk the other way. A few hours in, there's a change of direction, where the ring of woodsmoke that hovered around the edges closes in a bit and a leather and dried herbs theme emerges – less fresh now and more interesting.

The worn in seat of a saddle just after the well-groomed rider has dismounted the steed.

Iron Duke opens as promises with a sharp metallic clang although it's more polished, like stainless steel rather than iron. Beneath that lies a tough leather that's slightly worn in and sweaty, a little animalic even, but never overtly feral or unwashed. Although I do have a very high tolerance for skank.

Roughly an hour and a half into its development, a sweet accord, accompanied by a soapiness, becomes more harsh as the metallic note fades. The sweetness remains quite unpleasant and strident for at least an hour before beginning to fade. After a few hours, when the fragrance has died down to a skin scent and its harsh sweetness has disappeared, it smells fantastic bringing my nose right up to my skin: leather with a suggestion of realistic animal warmth and a touch of smoke.

I don't agree with posts I've read stating Iron Duke is a commercial scent. It seems that Beaufort is first criticized for not producing something easily wearable but when it tones things down, it is then deemed uncreative. Iron Duke may not be as extreme as the other Beauforts I've tried but I think the combination of metal and hide is too odd to be a crowd pleaser. For me, my main criticism is that while the Beaufort fragrances are interesting, I've yet to come across one that is not markedly unbalanced at some point in its development.