Borneo Diesel

In the genealogy of EO Borneos, we’ve unearthed profiles that range from golden honey to herbaceous green, Borneos that ooze cinnamon to wafts of white kinam. 

Some Borneos, like the 3000, practically carried around a megaphone – everybody who knows something about oud knows about Borneo 3000. 

But some flew under the radar. They were low yield or the connoisseurs who acquired them kept it to themselves. For whatever reason, there were a handful of gems that, if you entered the oud world only in recent years, you’d have never heard about.

One of the best of the best of these was Borneo 4000.

Very few own a bottle, and it may be because it sold out in the early days of oud when there was much less of a community that you don’t hear much about this nose-numbing oud. 

*fact check* When I first smelled it fresh off the still, I told my colleague, “Incredible! It has this diesel note that I’ve never smelled before!” It was easily one of the most addictive ouds ever.

Since Borneo 4000, I have longed to sniff that diesel again. But it took over a decade for that to happen. 

When we were done distilling this oud in 2016 after an Herculean mission tracking down a Borneo harvest from the same era and jungle that produced Borneo 4000, I smelled it and immediately told Kruger, “This is the new Borneo 4000!” (To this day, the source bottle still has a label saying “Borneo 4000” on it…)

Distilled alongside White Kinam, this is as good a Borneo as I’d be able to produce in my lifetime. Sadly, no future generation will get to smell the likes of it (unless you acquire a bottle for posterity’s sake) because we already had to go back in time to acquire a vintage harvest to get this smell! 

Borneo Diesel is nothing like Borneo 3000 or any of the golden-glazed profiles that are typical Malinau. You’d smell hints of those spicy cinnamony notes, but hardly any of the berries or vanilla.

Instead, it’s like you’ve got an assortment of slivers of the finest New Guinea, Borneo, and Abuyog chips, with a small shaving of Nha Trang to add a tinge of Guallam underneath the surface. It’s extremely oud incense-y, more so than a flavorful show of auxiliary notes. 

That’s why, unless you’re familiar with White Kinam or Borneo 4000, I won’t blame you for not instantly recognizing it as a Borneo, or any specific terroir for that matter.

Obviously, the ‘diesel’ note is more of an impression than the actual scent of diesel. An impression created by a smell akin to a fusion of intense Malinau ouds incense cast through a prism of New Guinea’s earthy aquamarine, with island fresh wafts of Abuyog piercing through – yet, 100% Borneo!

In my book, Borneo Diesel qualifies as proper senkoh-kodo oud:

As with White Kinam, the notes don’t change much over the hours, so the scent progression is super steady yet beautifully complex. I love ouds like this that give you the time to explore its wow! factor rather than ride waves of new notes and textures that emerge or dry down. 

Tenacity is great, and this may be the most heady kodo oud you can get – smells like a cloud of slow-burning incense wafting around you for hours. A ever-so slight camphorous, minty, cooling narcotic effect – numbing, in other words. And you know what that means…

We completed the distillation almost nine years ago, and every year that passes is a reminder of how special this oud is. How irreplaceable, unmakeable; how blissful oud can get.

If you love White Kinam, you’ll definitely love its dieselicious brother. If Borneo 4000 is news to you or you think you’ve smelled what Borneo has to offer, this oud is about to blow your mind!