Zero to Fifty 2018

Jungle: Sri Lanka, mixed region

Distilled: May - August 2018

Wood: Gyrinops

THE IDEA

This was an unusual project. It yielded an unusual oil.

We took a "compound soaking" approach.

Several lots of mixed region wood was divvied up into 6 evenly weighed portions.

We soaked 1 lot for 50 days. One for 40 days. One for 30. One for 20. One for 10. And a final lot with no soak.

All 6 of those lots were then combined and distilled as a single batch.

It took the better part of 4 months to gather the material, soak, and then distill the oil - and what the experiment yielded has confounded everyone that has smelled the oil...

THE SCENT

I launched this oil at the 2019 London Oud Fest, and it was a lot of fun seeing folks quirky faces and getting their feedback.

"It's a Hindi!"...nope!

"It's a Laos!"...double nope!

"It's a Burmese!"...tripple nope!

You're getting colder and colder;)

"It's a... I give up, what the heck am I smelling!?"

(It's literally what everyone who smelled the oil said. haha)

And to their amazement - Sri Lanka!

This might be the most un-Sri Lankan Sri Lankan oil you've ever smelled.

Does it have a barnyard opening? Yes, but no.

Is it farm'y? Yes, but no.

Is it cheesy? Yes, but no.

Some tell me it’s a little fermentation - others tell me there is only a yogurty sweetness. It seems to reveal itself differently to different noses.

But is any of this negative or unpleasant - or even in the normal spectrum of "too much"? No. This is fermentation taken to a high art.

ZTF is all the best things you'll find in a Hindi or a Laos or a Burmese while being distinctively...different.

Its complex. It's unusual. It's unexpected.

It's nothing like what you'd expect from a Sri Lankan oil...which makes it everything you want from an artisan-distilled Sri Lankan Oud oil.

EDIT - APRIL 2021:

Now that this oil has aged for several years, I feel the need to comment on how it’s been developing.

On the front end there is a soft, almost oceanic breeze over distant farmland. There’s a Berry note that has started to develop... like a gentle chewiness underpinning the ocean breeze.

The complexity of this oil continues to amaze me as it continues to age and further develop. I can only imagine what a decade will do to it.

ZTF is truly one of the overlooked gems in our current arsenal of aromatic treasures.

Materials: Sri Lankan Oud Oil