Eau du Coq 
Guerlain (1894)

Fresh out of the shower, I spray on Eau de Cologne du Coq and it serves its purpose completely and wholly; an eaux that serves as a sensory enhancement rather than a bold statement. While EdCs such as this are ephemeral by nature, du Coq isn't as fleeting as others might suggest, at least not on my own skin. It is a panoply of bergamot and other citruses ushering in neroli and lavender.

Of course the dry down is classic Guerlain, with a smidgen, just a smidgen of that Jicky profanity in the dry down. Don't be alarmed if Jicky is too much for you in that department, here it's subtle and provides just the right sort of "ooh" to the "ahhs." It's great to freshen up with du Coq.

This is a lovely historic cologne. Lemon and bergamot in it are beautiful. It's slightly herbal. Also has that slightly dusty quality that many old scents have - 4471 original cologne too - that I'm not too fond of. But it's refreshing and very nice, and a joy to imagine how gentlemen groomed themselves more than a century ago. Thumbs up for bringing the history to my skin.

The opening is a citrus fest: Orange, touches of mandarin and lots of bergamot - fresh and bright, but not a fresh and crisp refreshing blast, as the orange is left with a modicum of natural sweetness, and there is not tartness in these top notes - especially it lacks petitgrain. After a while, a neroli appears; a slightly shadowy smoldering neroli flame that adds depth the the lightheartedness off the bowl of citrus fruits. This is a soft neroli that lacks any earthiness, as is expected in such an Eau de Cologne.

The drydown adds a bunch of florals, with a jasmine being in the foreground on me. A herbal-green is dominant in the jasmine, and this is enforced by a concomitant lavender note; I get whiffs if rosemary it it too. Soon I get a touch of a darker and gently spicy patchouli, which, in spite of this spicy touch is a smooth and round patchouli without any harshness.

With a glimmer of the citrus still in the background of the floral heart notes, the patchouli is the harbinger of the base. Here a touch of transient skankiness is noticeable, which is due to a touch of oakmoss, but the skanky note is quite weak and never takes on a dimension that perturbs the overall civil and pleasant character of this composition. There is some vanilla-based sweetness in the background, which is mixed with touches of a nonspecific woodsiness; although I do get a hint of sandalwood form time to time.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and an excellent nine hours of overall longevity on my skin, and very impressive performance for such a citrus-centred Eau de Cologne, although the citrus in it is
much weaker after the first two or three hours.

This beautiful scent for summer evenings is not a refreshing daytime cologne, but a refined citrus-base creation than has so many other facets to it that discern it from many other, less complex Eau de Colognes. The quality of the ingredients is excellent, especially in older vintage samples, and is is blended exquisitely. 4/5.

Eau du Coq is a classic Guerlain eau de cologne, remarkably close to Eau Imperiale. It brings all of the citrus notes and fresh florals associated with the classic EdC construct. Where Imperiale opens with a strong and delicious lime note, du Coq relies on lots of Bergamot. Where Imperiale taps into the famous Guerlain vanilla, du Coq uses a dollop of Civet. Nothing to scare the horses, still fresh and clean.

Eau du Coq has a similar theme to Mugler's Cologne (which came out a century later) which is a clean, bright, fresh EdC but with a little underlying humanity in the form of Civet (which is the elusive "s" note in the Mugler offering).

Long gone before I even finish typing this review but, like Imperiale, worth reapplying at regular intervals.

Guerlain Eau du Coq (1894) is Aimé Guerlain's take on the traditional eau de cologne recipe, and differentiates itself not just from the original Eau de Cologne Impériale (1854), but other earlier traditional eau de colognes like the very first Eau de Cologne by Johann Maria Farina (1706) or the more-ubiquitous usurper 4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser by Wilhelm Mülhens (1792) through the use of a slight animalic/indolic element that is likely a small puff of civet. Aimé Guerlain really put the animalic on the map with his Jicky (1889), but in these early years after its release, he was likely still tinkering with the note. It's a shame that more of his creations don't survive in the current production catalog of the house, as I bet they would be interesting to smell. Guerlain describes this now as being "delicate yet tangy like a spring morning", and I can see how this can be perceived as such with its small animalic and sharp twist, but at the end of the day, it still fades into dry woods then vanishes like any old-fashioned proper eau de cologne.

Eau du Coq opens with a strong and somewhat off-putting bergamot, lemon, and neroli with a hit of that civet. Whether or not this has anything to do with Jicky doesn't effect the results of this mixture, which are almost the sour lime aesthetic of later aromatics chypres for men that became popular into the 1950's and 1960's; here in Eau du Coq way back in 1894 this opening was making what is probably its first appearance. Soon neroli and lavender take us in a direction similar to Eau de Cologne Impériale, but dry indolic jasmine enters the mix to reinforce that brief dirtiness a moment longer before the standard dry woods base of an eau de cologne brings us home. This time we get sandalwood in place of Eau de Cologne Impériale's cedar, with a dry patchouli bringing in a bit of green aromatic flourish right to the very end. Aimé Guerlain was not about to let you forget that he was a perfumer who took a walk on the wild side, even with a simple eau de cologne. Wear time is the typical 2 hour max and usage for any eau de cologne is casual, even an oddball like this one, due to the evanescent nature of the genre.

For a brilliant wake-up call, one can do worse than Eau du Coq, which livens the senses then gets out of the way for a proper fragrance for day-long use to take its place. I wouldn't use this one for after a shower in the evening unless you really get down with animalics, since it misses some of that simple clean most eau de colognes possess. However, morning use or before heading outdoors seems appropriate, since the slight dry sourness of Eau du Coq is perfect for merging with sweat for those who like going "all natural". All jokes aside, I can see why not many people speak of Eau du Coq in the breath as Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain's Eau de Cologne Impériale, Jacques Guerlain's Eau de Fleurs de Cédrat (1920), Jean-Paul Guerlain's Eau de Guerlain (1974), or even Thierry Wasser's Cologne du Parfumeur (2010), and the reason is Eau du Coq is just a bit uncomfortable for what it is, even if it is still enjoyable in its own quirky way. Eau de cologne fans definitely need to try this, but for everyone else, sampling this cat lifting it's leg on the traditional citrus aromatic formula of an eau de cologne is little more than an academic exercise. Still, it gets a thumbs up from me for being unique.

Traditional dusty EDC with some neroli similar to Imperiale, plus that citrus that borders on galbanum. It also has some of that overcast lavender, and some herbal rosemary. It fades away quickly, but I like it as much if not more than Eau de Guerlain. Another good one!