Appearance: A deep amber. Almost like a cognac. Very attractive. No sediment, although it must be noted that this was from a decanted sample.

Louche: Fully louched within 1 1/2 measures of water. Fairly thick as well. My only complaint would be the post-louche color, which is almost like muddy water. Many vintage absinthes will see more greens and yellow hues come out, but this doesn't really. Almost as if the amber color came more from barrel aging than the breakdown of the coloring herbs.

Aroma: Pre-louche, you get a lot of caramel, port wine, anise, and cotton candy. It definitely seems very likely that this absinthe was aged or stored in wood for some time before being bottled. Post louche, huge caramel notes. The anise goes to the background while some minty wormwood aromas come forward. But the caramel and vanilla notes are the most apparent. Quite interesting.

Flavor: The wood notes (nutmeg, ginger, vanilla) play on the palate, but do so as a complimentary companion to sweet anise and astringent wormwood. It's tasty, but rather one-dimensional aside from the wood notes I mentioned. Although this was presented to me as a verte, I have a hunch that it might have actually been a barrel aged blanche instead, which would certainly explain some of the appearance, aroma, and flavor idiosyncracies. I'm going out on a limb, but based on the aromas and flavors, if this was indeed aged in barrels, the qualities seem to point to French Oak, which tends to lend flavors of baking spices and vanilla.

Finish: Mostly wormwood and a certain drying effect that could be attributable to the aforementioned theory of barrel aging/storage.

Overall: A very unique absinthe. I'd certainly love to get more of this for further study. Anyone who picks up a sample (or bottle) will not be upset that they spent the money to do so.