Ingredients · Leather & smoke · dry-down

4-Ethylguaiacol

Say itFOR-ETH-il-GWYE-uh-kawl

Smoked meat, oak barrels and aged whisky, with clove and woodsmoke.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab.

Where it comes from

formed by yeasts and in wood smoke

When you smell it

Dry-down: hours later.

What perfumers do with it

Smoky complexity in leather, tobacco and gourmand accords; needs careful, low dosing.

Worth knowing

Winemakers dread it: Brettanomyces yeast produces it, giving spoiled wines a smoky, barnyard 'Brett' taint.

Also called

2-Methoxy-4-ethylphenol