Ingredients · Not for the smell

Denatonium benzoate

Say itdee-nuh-TOH-nee-um BEN-zoh-ayt

Odorless; ferociously bitter taste.

What it is

There to carry, keep or colour the perfume, not for its smell.

What perfumers do with it

Makes perfume alcohol undrinkable so it escapes beverage taxes (SD 40-B)

Worth knowing

Found while hunting for local anesthetics; people taste it at about 0.05 parts per million.

Also called

Bitrex