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| The Best Drugstore Brut in Years |
I saw a bottle on eBay that I thought was High Ridge Brands’ Brut cologne and bought it. When it arrived, there was no mention of HRB anywhere on the label. Instead, it says it’s distributed by Sodalis USA in Westport, Connecticut. A quick search shows that High Ridge Brands was acquired by Sodalis in October 2024, and Sodalis took over manufacturing and distribution for several brands, including Brut. Like the HRB version, this one is made in Mexico for the North American market.
It smells great. It’s a slightly stronger take on the HRB Splash-On. That version leaned heavily into lavender, with a fresh, powdery feel. This cologne brings out more of the amber, but unlike the Idelle Labs releases, it doesn’t push too far into sweet, vanilla-heavy territory. There’s not much separating this from what was sold in the 1980s and ’90s. It’s fresh, ambery, lightly sweet, and a little musky. I like it a lot. It’s better than HRB’s reformulated Splash-On and probably the best plastic-bottle Brut I’ve smelled in years.
What’s interesting is that recent manufacturers seem to be steering the formula back toward an earlier profile rather than continuing down the cheaper path Idelle Labs took. My guess is that Sodalis has people closer to my age involved in these decisions, and they’re paying attention to what enthusiasts are saying online. Maybe they’ve seen discussions on forums like Badger & Blade, Basenotes, Fragrantica, or even this blog, and realized that people want Brut to have some swagger again. Whatever the reason, they made the right call, because this Brut actually smells quite good.