Syngenesophobia

[roseus]

Fear of Relatives and Relations

 

God damn it, Uncle Steve. Nobody cares what Hannity has to say about anything.

 

Buckets of red wine, a splash of aftershave, and copious amounts of blossoming gin.

Oh my goodness this is gorgeous. I originally got the decant for my guy because he loves gin and I thought this was going to be a lot darker. However it is bright and sparkling and a bit on the sweet side. The wine is lighter than I expected and I expects gives the blend its sweetness, and it is not profoundly grape-y either. The gin and aftershave combine to give a clean but not too strong bite of juniper. Classic, sophisticated and very fun. It makes me think of a glittering party of the 1920s.

 

[zankoku_zen]

Okay, on wet, both the effervescent gin and red wine made this a bubbly fruity affair. However, the aftershave makes an appearance and now it smells like a drunk uncle on gin. Medium throw and wear length.

[Soupy Twist]

In the bottle: a bad sangría and gin. Goes on as mostly gin. A gout of eye-watering red wine splashes in, but hold on, because this passes shortly. It starts to calm down more as it dries, developing into a blend of gin with a warm, almost tobacco-y aftershave note. Like you started the evening with the screechy, gossipy aunts but then escaped to the other room where the cool uncle hangs out, and you spend the rest of the visit sitting with him on the couch playing weird old card games and listening to him rumble stories about him and his brothers when they were all kids.

The Lab's tobacco and gin notes are two of my favorites (ironic because I don't smoke and rarely drink), so this certainly ends well, but wow, that opening is tough.

 

ETA okay, as the day goes on, the tobacco note gets stronger and really gorgeous. It's deeper and more fruity, almost a cherry tobacco, not the high white tobacco of Sherlock Holmes. I'm glad I gave this a shot, because it went from to huh... I might need a bottle of this.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Soupy Twist

[Little Bird]

I really miss the Lab's discontinued blend "The Hamptons," but Syngenesophobia has a similar feel to it (and it's currently available on the Lab's etsy page, which is where I got my bottle ).  I don't really smell the aftershave at all, but I do get a hint of earthy, sweet chewing tobacco that is more present in the bottle than it is on my skin.  Once it's applied, this is all gin and red wine, in pretty much equal measure.  It isn't as sweet as The Hamptons, but the red wine has a pleasant sweetness and red fruitiness, sidling up to the crisp gin.  I adore the Lab's gin blends and I wish that the gin GCs had stayed around more.  It's like a crisp, clear, chilled booze (minus the alcoholic burn) infused with melting snow and evergreen/juniper.  Very boozy, but I really enjoy the Lab's red wine and their gin notes, so this is a win for me.