Plum Brandy

Note Profile

Prepared

About

Plum brandy is the note of a plum eau-de-vie of the slivovitz type: plums fermented and distilled, not a sweetened plum liqueur. It smells of spirit first and fruit immediately after, with the plum reading as skin and stone rather than flesh.

Scent Profile

Boozy leads, and it is the facet that separates this note from plain plum. Every source treats it as a distilled spirit: eathealthy365 calls the unaged version 'fiery and intense' and Agoratopia opens on 'sweet, fermented plums with boozy, fruity, and slightly woody undertones'. Fruity sits directly under it and is nearly as strong, because the plum is never in doubt - 'a powerful bouquet of fresh and fermented plums', 'the primary flavor is unmistakably plum'. The fruit is qualified, though, and that is why fruity is not higher than boozy: eathealthy365 says the plum is 'the sharp, aromatic skin and the earthy stone of the plum rather than the sweet flesh'. Sour carries that sharpness. It is the same source's 'sharp, clean plum aroma' and its warning against reading this note as sweet, plus Wikipedia's remark that some producers drop the pits to make the spirit 'less acerbic or bitter'. Nutty is bitter almond and reaches the note by two independent routes: cask ageing brings 'subtle notes of vanilla, almond, or a gentle woodiness', and imitation slivovitz is made by 'flavouring spirits with prune juice and artificial oil of bitter almonds'. Dry woody is the cask, oak or mulberry, named by eathealthy365 as 'a gentle woodiness' and supported by Wikipedia's account of ageing. Below the line, sweet vanillic is the vanilla the barrel gives, held down because eathealthy365 opens by ruling out 'a sugary-sweet liqueur'. Earthy is the stone. Warm spice and floral are traces, and both come from sources describing plum in general rather than plum brandy, so they are the least secure values here.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~6h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Fruity

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Distilled from fermented plums, mainly in central and eastern Europe and the Balkans, where the drink is called slivovitz. Wikipedia records one or more distillation stages and says ageing is common to enhance the distillate's finer flavours. Casks are usually oak or mulberry. No perfumery raw material of this name is sold. In fragrance the note is a reconstruction, which Agoratopia describes as built from combinations of fruity, sweet and boozy notes.

Usage in Perfumery

Used to put an alcoholic edge on a stone-fruit accord. Agoratopia places it as a middle or base note and pairs it with spices, woods and gourmand notes. It is the drier alternative to Plum Liqueur when a composition needs the fruit to read as spirit rather than as jam.