Burberry the Beat for Men (2008)
by Burberry

Burberry's The Beat is quite possibly one of the sleekest and sexiest packaged colognes on the market today. The bottle and graphic design invokes southeast London middle-class smugness with working-class rebellious hipness, neo-new wave and dance rock and roll sophistication and youth, drawing from mid 1960's pop art and merging it with modern practicality and faux-metal plastics to create something all-together representative of "hip" for the times. A fragrance house very conscious of its English associations and Beat is the epitome of Burberry showing no shame in celebrating the popular perception of London as the rock and pop elite youth couture and doing so by deliberately seeking something traditional and classic yet repackaging it in a brilliant, modern way.
Pepper and an interesting combination of violet and vetiver form a very appealing and balanced opening that quickly vanishes to pure pepper overtones thirty seconds in and drones out anything else except in short flashes. The bourbon never really introduces itself formally while cedar seems to poke its head in despite not being on the pyramid. The nicely conceived synthetic leather shows itself in flashes and seems content to take a back seat to the black pepper notes that dominate completely and make Burberry Beat a very linear fragrance. Sort of a wasted effort given how well the leather was done in this one.
The violet leaves give way very quickly in the opening to the black pepper note and from that point on this is purely a spiced affair. Settles in quickly as a skin fragrance two to three minutes into the initial spray and nests there for the rest of its life without ever really projecting.
Amazingly inoffensive for a pepper fragrance, but that could be due to its weak projection and skin scent pretensions. Nothing really stands out as exceptional, none of the notes really seem tremendously blended or mixed in a sophisticated manner that resonates. What we are left with is a brilliantly marketed and packaged item that leaves us feeling a bit dissatisfied and desiring more substance but is just smooth and spicy enough to tide us over until dinner time. And with very average longevity, generally four hours, dinner will be ready sooner rather than later. A fun fragrance none the less, nice for work and certainly a welcome respite from the plethora of over-indulgent citric fragrances on the market.

6th December, 2011.

Really like the scent after it settles. Not really a clean scent, but I would say it is smooth. The initial scent to me was a bit overwhelming, but after about 30 min it smells great. Longetivity would be an issue though.. For me it only lasts for about 4 hours, but I think that's a thing with most Burberry scents-- sharp first scent to great smell to gone.

I'd still give it thumbs up, I like the personality and vibe it gives off.

I personally enjoy this fragrance so it gets a neutral because, everyone has commented that they did not like this scent on me. It's not a people pleaser because you start liking this scent as you wear it more, so people that do not smell it hate it.

24th August, 2011. (Last Edited: 20th January, 2012.)

Not a typical Burberry fragrance as said above but it is quite unique for a mainstream fragrance.

Sprayed this one many times, and each time i have done so i'v liked the smell, when first applied you can smell the pepper straight off i can smell a bit of citrus but not alot. As it dries down you can smell Bourbon which too be fair the inclusion of alcohol ( booze Notes) has became a trademark for Burberry Fragrances.

Overall i think this would be perfect for fall and winter in the lower temperatures, i tired it in summer and you could properly get away with it but i feel it will come out even more so in the winter.

One to buy for the coming fall/winter.

2nd August, 2011.

I can see it got its share of bashing here but I completely love this scent! It is so youthfull and free. Zesty scent for summer evenings and a casual style, definitely a scent that will get noticed. Pepper is strong in the inital burst but quickly settles down to a nice spicy, aromatic and a tad bit woody scent. Just love it!

16th June, 2011. (Last Edited: 25th June, 2011.)

I miss the citrus completely in the opening: Rather, I get an aromatic blast of pepper and cedar. The pepper must be very powerful because usually I can’t smell it in fragrances, but I can surely tell that it’s here. The opening is stark and dramatic, and what follows is a linear, arid, masculine aromatic fragrance dominated by pepper and cedar without a speck of sweetness. There probably is vetiver in the accord, because there seems to be the ghost of some a grassy note in the pepper / cedar accord. I really can’t judge the sillage because it’s whole delivery seems to be aromatic, which makes the sillage difficult to judge. The aromatic output comes off as a lesser quality ingredients… the notes have some substance to them but they still seem thin and stretched – I get no richness from them. Also, I quickly become anosmatic to The Beat so I have to leave off sniffing for five – ten minutes before I can smell it again. I never do find the leather in the base.

In spite of its weaknesses, The Beat is an interesting offering. It doesn’t seem very Burberryish, and I appreciate its uniqueness. I enjoy The Beat now, but I believe that it’s the kind of fragrance that I would get quickly tired of wearing. I’ll give it a thumbs up for its drama…

9th January, 2011.

Top notes feel like they've been delivered directly to my nose via a shotgun shell. Thankfully they fade away after an hour to a nice british tea vibe. 2 sprays with this one. I guess this is for fall? Comes in about 4th place in a 7 man race. It's definitely worth a try.

1st September, 2010.