Review Detail

4.2 7 0.5
Just Wait Till This Cat Lands On Its Feet
Overall rating
 
4.4
Appearance
 
4.0
Louche
 
4.0
Aroma
 
5.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
5.0
Finish
 
4.0
Overall
 
4.0
Appearance
Unlouched, a light-light-medium peridot with an overall slight yellow wash. Just a little pallid. Perfectly clear, bright, and contaminant free. Louched, significant retention of what is a somewhat lighter coloration. Beautiful. Light medium yellowish green with bluish hints at the edges and meniscus.

Louche
A very pretty louche on the opaque end of the translucent spectrum. No real opalescence as a result. A beautiful sheen however. Very pearl-like and very “glassy” looking.

Aroma
Prelouche, fennel, anise and other herbs, with a slight earthiness, in that order. Louched, a very balanced presentation of the wormwoods and other finishing herbs supported by the fennel/anise duo. Slightly minty with hints of oregano, conifer, flowers and something just a little earthy/rooty. Wonderfully complex and immediate. Nothing really dominates and so impressions seem to change with each schnoz-full.

Flavor And Mouthfeel
Smooth, silky mid-weight on entry with very good balance (there's that word again). Spice and pepper then ramp up as the wormwood begins working over the entire palate. Just like the nose, the fennel and anise are in good support but don't dominate. Lots of little nuances and details continually trading places. The overall tone is very assertive. My only real nit to pick is that it displays an overabundance of fine grained powderiness, bordering on graininess, on the entire palate with time in the mouth.

Finish
Wow! An even greater bloom of spice and pepper than on the palate. The anethole sources (fennel and anise) kick in to create a nice little tingle. A little mintiness provides a cooling waft and the wormwoods demonstrating why this is absinthe. The finish goes on seemingly forever with the only deficit being the aforementioned “powderiness” that has built on the palate with each sip and is now a little overbearing and unclean feeling. It's a shame because all the aroma and flavor impressions are so nice. If not for this, the finish would score an easy 5.

Overall Impression
A very nice offering. Very balanced, ultra high-quality herbs, everything right where it belongs. My favorite dilution is right around 5:1 where I think the combination of anethole and pepper, while still amply present, settle down to let me see the other herbs and flowers. The only thing holding this back from getting a really top tier Total Score is the graininess that builds and coats the entire palate. It unfortunately is the final impression, and right now it just prevents the perception of real elegance and refreshment.

Something tells me, however, that this characteristic is likely to fall out and this absinthe will further refine with some more age. How much age? Well that's hard to say. But knowing the brain trust behind this I'd be surprised if it didn't happen. Several have observed the distinct changes this very interesting absinthe has made in the first few days of being opened, so there is no reason to believe that more won't occur. My senses say this is just it's second life. That makes seven to go. I'll keep you posted.

Done with a 1 ounce dose, diluted 4.5:1, 5:1, and 5.5:1 and no sugar.

Blues Cat Absinthe Superieure, 5/12/12, 5/13/12, 5/14/12, 5/19/12, 5/20/12, 5/26/12
All evaluations had consistent notes.
M
Top 10 Reviewer 53 reviews
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