Black Walnut: Limited Edition Perfume with American Perfumer

When Dave Kern of American Perfumer and I tossed around ideas about a fragrance that we would work on together, there was no shortage of mental paths we could wander along. What surfaced repeatedly was the idea of the black walnut (Juglans nigra) - a species of walnut tree that grows in the eastern United States - and one that produces the most curious, ubiquitous, fragrant, nourishing and confounding fruits imaginable.

Harvested Black Walnuts

As they grow and mature, they fall from the tree looking like tennis balls, making a resounding thud as they hit the grass, emitting a citrus-like fragrance in fleshy capsules. Once you break through the outer skin (which contains a powerful golden brown dye) you eventually find the hard, woody nut. The smell of black walnuts is beguiling: like traditional English walnuts but amplified, stronger, much less refined. They are prized for their pronounced, wild flavor, but because of how hard they are to open, they've never been commercially viable, so they remain rare, odd, fascinating.

You can submit your name and address to be drawn for a chance to purchase a bottle of this limited edition of 50 here. Black Walnut comes in a 30 ml bottle at retail cost of $125.00. Winners will be contacted by email. You can submit your information for the lottery up until Friday, October 25th, 2022. Winners have until Sunday, October 30th to complete their purchase. One submission per person.

Black Walnut by American Perfumer by perfumer John Biebel of January Scent Project

I hope you enjoy the creation. There are much more things happening at January Scent Project before the close of the year, and I’ll be sharing a lot of that info as the next few weeks pass. Thanks - J