We live and learn. Like I said in the revised description of
Khao Yai, ‘That oud could smell like
this hadn’t even occurred to me in my wildest dreams... It’s
beyond oud. Smelling it fills one with wonder and regret about
all the other ouds that could’ve been done this way and just weren’t, out of sheer carelessness, or ignorance, or lack of inquisitiveness on the distillers’ part.’
One of the things I learned from the Khao Yai Experiment is that I want my oils to be ultra translucent, almost as see-thru as water. Yes, as you correctly deduced, doing this
does take away from the ‘body’ of the oil. It makes for thinner oils. It makes for cleaner oils. However, if the oils age properly, some are naturally going to become thicker as time passes. Another connoisseur I recently discussed the issue with had this to say about it:
‘In Iran they make a soup called
ash-e-reshte. It’s kind of a peasanty soup – with big chunks of yummy veggies and meat. It’s peasanty but it’s also full of taste and flavor because it hasn’t been strained. Same with boulliabaise. On the other hand there’s the opposite spectrum of French and Japanese that are admired for the opposite reason – one appreciates the artistry as well as the taste. The only problem is – with those foods many people say there’s not enough to eat. They’re not as satisfying in the same way as the peasant stuff. Some people would rather have a hearty meal that fills them up (and costs less, because not as much labor has gone into it) as a beautiful presentation – higher price, but less hearty.’
At the end of the day, it’s all about
style. Every artisan has their signature style that imbues their distillations. As you smell more and more oils, you can’t but recognize this in each batch. But style evolves. As our knowledge and experience broaden, our style changes to reflect newly acquired knowledge, newly refined
taste. When I started, I was all for the ‘peasant soup’ distillations. Oils that are pure
bottled gubal, such as
Oud Idrees, attest to this. After seeing the way Khao Yai turned out, I’d like for things to be done a little differently across the board. What exactly I mean by this will become more and more apparent as we launch today’s distillations a few years down the line,
in sha Allah.