Agua Brava
Antonio Puig (1968)

I am so so glad I blind bought this. It starts with some really natural herbal culinary top notes, easy going pine and juniper, and dries down to a soft soapy clean, well blended fragrance that isn’t harsh. Comforting and masculine, in a relaxing way. One reviewer said it was like cooking a big Italian dinner and taking a walk through the forest…yeeeah, nobody else has anything like this in your local shops. This is safe for work, but distinct and uncommon enough to be a signature scent. My other favorite scent is Bowling Green by Geoffrey Beene, which is like a distant American cousin of this one. While Agua Brava goes hard on the natural lemon/herbal notes in the beginning, and gets really soft, BG starts with a ton of green and warm spicy notes and stays green/fresh/barbershop throughout. Nothing about this feels artificial. For the price it’s a safe blind buy. My wife loves it on me too. More often than not she kindly steers me toward it when I might be thinking about wearing something else in my drawer. More gentlemen should smell like this. It exudes confidence and approachability at the same time, modesty and politeness. It is completely unpretentious and very wearable today for something created in 1968.

Mmm....lemon and herbs. What's most noticeable to my nose with Agua Brava is the thyme and bay leaf, both with a sweetness and pungency that it uplifting and sensual. These savory herbs, with a punch of pine needles, makes my vintage 25ml version blissful. I had a newer bottle, and while decent, had been hollowed out in its dry down, while with this version, the herbs have been fixed to the base by oakmoss and vetiver.

I really just can't get behind Agua Brava, it simply smells bad to me.

It mostly smells like over-ripened tomatoes, dusty woods, and a little bit of pine. Or maybe just like tomato sauce that fell on a tree? I wish the pine was more noticeable, but it isn't. Overall it kind of just smells like a sour Acqua di Selva.

I do love the bottle though, and the sprayer works fantastic.

Agua Brava is an Italian style cologne - where the fresh lines of pine, citrus and herbs are blurred by a dark and rounded base. Its more fuzzy and lived in than formal, and develops the Latin cologne away from the hard and flat style of Pino Silvestre, and towards a less macho way of smelling like a man.
Not a small thing in the fascist Spain of General Franco.
A brave water indeed.

[Vintage EdC]

Another terrific Spanish cheapie. Honestly, every time I holiday there I fall in love with four or five masculines for their complexity and unashamed take on what male perfumery should be. This one is heavy on citrus, aromatics, evergreens, and the usual suspect base notes at a concentration that is not overpowering but has good longevity - i.e., just right. At the time I tried it, it was going for - in some local boutiques that tended to overprice everything, including Spanish scents some of Puig origin - around £20 for 200ml. So if you are in the market for a top-value Iberian-style barbershop cologne, it's a no-brainer.

Whenever I wear this I relish it and wonder why I don't find this short and squat bottle more often. Its my favorite Puig scent and always brings to mind a big heavy pot of hearty Mediterranean spiced beef barley soup, simmering away all day long while I expect fresh bread must be baking in the oven. I don't even know if such a dish exists yet that is the image I always get. Yes, spicy comfort food all the way.

It has good potency and if you think you could enjoy smelling that for about 6 hours or so this is a great inexpensive (