Question time!
What's the scent like?
Is there another soap that you feel is similar (in cushion, slickness, scent, texture, etc)?
Can you only buy it from them directly?
Not even sure you can buy from Johnny himself...as he's still not replied to any of my emails? But, yeah, I've only seen his stuff on his site or Etsy.
I agree with their descriptor of whiskey and wood but there's a sweet note - and it's prominent. Look a little deeper and it contains "Oil of cardamom, whisky, spiced rum, clove, cedarwood, shea butter". To my nose, with eyes closed tight, it smells like freshly baked sweet chunky apple pie with an extra crisp and sugary crust. Seriously evocative, seriously crunchy!
Performance isn't like anything else I've tried before. Has decent enough cushion and glide, not stand-out with either as for instance Tabac and Speick do better but to me the scent drives this stuff for a six. The Johnny Goodsir builds a thick lather (the lanolin and tallow probably helps here) and can take water, but - and here's the weird bit - when you rinse your razor in the sink post-strokes the lather just disappears. I'm used to spent lather floating in the sink or 'muddying' the water but this stuff disintegrates. If, like me, you freshen up the basin between passes then all your left with pre-plug-pull is deceased stubble. Odd! Also the post-shave face feel is extraordinary, I think we can thank the lanolin and tallow, again, for this….and the scent just lasts. You got that smell of home baked Jonathan apples and sugar all the way to lunch-break. Hence, why I hope there's a bit of that in the AS lotion so that just out the oven small can get me all the way through to the commute home.
BTW: don't even think about grabbing any mate, as you'll be getting a sample as soon as I get my own supply. Then you can tell me what it's like! C'mon Johnny, live up to your name and do me good sir.