Alt-Innsbruck Eau de Cologne
Alt-Innsbruck (1953)

A classic austrian historical issue (an eau de cologne and a refreshing/soothing after shave overall in a unique product), a step back in to an old more traditional era and a very cologney uncompromising barbershop product a la 4711 original eau de cologne (or conceptually for instance Oriza L. Legrand in its recent jump back to chypré tradition), with a similar gentlemanly art-déco intellectual vibe. A very gentlemanly manneristic fragrance in line with a concept of traditional toiletries, old barber-shop, antiquities, morning rituals, vintage design and royal decorations, pump spray aftershaves, apothecarian atmosphere. This fragrance combines the floral sospiness of tobacco flower with aromatic mentholated notes despite I'd swear hidden undiscerned elements could be disguised somewhere in the mix. It seems actually to detect a tad of neroli, geranium, something as pine needles and fer, hesperides, spices as a tad of cloves, hints of tonka and chypré soapy-powdery-honeyed patterns. I detect just minimal hints of citrus in the blend. Tobacco flower smells soapy, vaguely medicinal and with a floral delicate cosmetic vibe a la Versace the Dreamer (which is anyway a different kind of more contemporary semi-oriental creation). It seems to catch somewhere a sort of chypré powderiness finally quite balmy and laundry with green accents. The general vibe is cologney, initially refreshing but finally warmer and fantastically retrò but I'd define this item and its marvel a timeless beauty. It's told its simple honest masculine formula is prized by cigar lovers and is the result of a traditional Austrian recipe originating in 1953 in Innsbruck. Recommended.

It's a struggle to *remember way back, when I was ~six, *certainly not earlier, though it will have been, when my olfactory gland will have been first electrocuted by our local Barber shop's ambiance and waftings of future memories.
Occasionally, my brain is 'physically' transported back to Tony's, one of many authentic Italian barbers. So it should come as no surprise that some of my everyday splashes cause me to reminisce back to that time. Well, there is a surprise, and it's this; how is it, that my stock of alt-innsbruck pre/post-shave emulsion, and its wonderfully uplifting and sensual aftershave, does, just that? Tony used to use a makeshift 'squirter'... a plastic bottle, modified with a crude wedge cut into the plastic bottle top he'd probably been using for '~most of his Barber's life', which, when quickly and repeatedly squeezed four or five times, would spray a mist around my neck and hair after being cut, and it's that which smells exactly like my alt-innsbruck in a diluted form; and it's not even Italian!! I wonder what Tony actually used back then which reminds me of it being so much like alt-innsbruck - some Italian concoction, no doubt; but what? I haven't yet listed all my scents I have used over the years, and use today, but alt-innsbruck is, and will probably always be, one of my top three favourites.

I have been using Alt Innsbruck for about 40 years. I discovered it, along with Tabac, whilst living in Germany in the 80's. The scent is very simple: tobacco flower and menthol. After the dry down, the nose will start to pick up the sweetness of the tobacco flower. It's not cloying, but it's my humble opinion that this scent would not appeal to a millennial. The menthol kick is a pleasant surprise. For the wet-shavers out there, this juice pair extremely well with the, sadly discontinued, I Coloniali shave soap.
They are a match made in heaven. 100% masculine scent.
For the price, this is worth a blind buy.
Recommended.

With tobacco flower and menthol as the only ingredients, it's surprising how complex and good Alt-Innsbruck smells. The ingredients must be top-rate.

A real classic!

As noted by Harvitz81 and ad_scott, the driving force behind this cologne is the flowers of the Nicotiana tabacum plant, not its cured leaves. I experience the menthol in this as a powerful enhancer/dispersant (too powerful for my taste) of the tobacco flower note. It would be interesting to know whether whoever had that idea in 1953 was thinking out of the box or this was a common practice in men's fragrance compounding at the time. I'm wondering whether the tobacco leaf note that folks are picking up may be the dried hay odor of the coumarin (tonka bean isolate) that's listed among the ingredients.

Very nostalgic , warm , sweet and soft scent. There is menthol and strong tobacco. Longevity is poor : only 1-2 hour for me. I can smell some similarities with Guerlain Vetiver, maybe it is the soft sweetness and tobacco.