Agua de Colonia Concentrada
Most Spanish colognes are citrus and nothing else, and what makes Alvarez Gómez Agua de Colonia Concentrada Eau de Cologne 300ml worth attention is the dry wooded second half that almost no competitor bothers with.
Get through the opening first. Amalfi lemon, lemon, grapefruit and mandarin orange arrive together, perfumed and sour and bitter and sweet in that order of appearance, and for the first few minutes this behaves exactly as you would expect. Bergamot links the citrus to a middle built on lavender and rosemary, both clean and herbal, with coriander adding a dry pepperiness and rhubarb cutting in with something tart and vegetal that stops the whole thing turning into a soap bar.
The base is where the money went. Cedarwood is dry and sharpened, sandalwood creamier and softer, and the two of them give the skin a pale wood smell that lasts well past the point where the lemon has gone. Patchouli sits underneath with its earthy, slightly damp depth, vetiver adds a rooty bitterness, and a trace of cumin warms it from below. Fourteen materials, arranged so that the scent gets quieter and darker as it goes.
Three hundred millilitres is the practical size, big enough for a household and small enough to keep on a shelf without it looking like a decanter. At this concentration it is meant to be used in quantity rather than rationed, and the splash and the spray both suit it. The composition dates to 1912 and has outlived every fashion since. It works for men and women, in the morning, in hot weather, and after a shave.
Behind the bottle is a family firm from Madrid, founded in 1899 by three young men who left Leon for work in the aroma business and set up shop on Calle Sevilla. Their concentrated cologne, hand blended in the shop basement, became the thing the house is known for, and the business is in the hands of the family's fourth generation.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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