Appearance: Lush, summery green.

Louche: Oily sunsets giving way to a beautiful hologram of colors...green-blue and deep red.

Aroma: Smell isn't particularly big or fragrant, but is sweet and has a nice perfumed wormwood scent.

Flavor: Lots of wormwood. It's very peppery, with lots of warm spice, mintiness, and almost a metallic sour tanginess.

Finish: Tounge-numbing and tingley in a warm, but not alcohol-heated way. Nicely sweet and cool, with a really lovely flavor.

Overall: After having tried some decent absinthes from Matter, and some excellent ones, this absinthe is definitely nearing the excellent camp. It would be hard to dislike this one.

I just opened my first bottle of Duplais Verte, and I must say I really enjoy it, my new favorite so far. I wasnt going to taste it at first I was going to let it vent a little if you will. I couldnt help myself, I have been wanting to taste this absinthe for a long time now, I just had to taste now.

Color pre louche: when I first popped the cork and saw the green on the cork my first thought was, wow this is going to be green(as in artificially helped) but in the Pontarlier glass is was a very nice Peridot green, nicest I have seen yet.

Post louche color: Very nice emerald green, what it should be.

Aroma: Pre louche the aroma was anise up front with some spicyness in the background, a few different scents comming from the glass. Durring the louche from a slow drip fountain, wormwood makes is appearance at about 1:1 as does maybe some corriander and fennel later on.

Flavor: I prefer my absinthe with a lot of wormwood flavor and this one does not disappoint. The wormwood used is very good quality. Wormwood seems up front with a sweet bittery finish, very nice. The only flaw is it seems thin on the mouth feel department.

Finish: A bit thin but sweet...no sugar was used in this taste I hardly ever use sugar. Finishes very nice a bitter sweet finish.

Overall I really enjoy this absinthe, it would be a 4.5 if available on the scale has a lot of flavors, wormwood really stands out as does a nice sweetness.

Color is a unique, deep green hue, to the extent of an emerald shade. Fascinating..
Slow forming louche with a resulting thick, almost solid, milky finish. The final color was translucent, rich, and green with amber highlights.
The aromas after louche emerged as a sweet balance with room filling herbal notes accompanied by a slight anise to the front. Wormwood and fennel began to emerge with hints of spice.
A rich, creamy mouth feel with outstanding, refreshing taste, slight numbness with substantial fennel and wormwood. A controlled, long, finish.
This Duplais Verte is about two years old. The taste has matured and the slight alcohol presence has mellowed into an excellent absinthe. If you have the opportunity to mature this absinthe just a bit, it will be worthwhile.

-Color-
Before Water: Very clear and VERY green. It’s nice and attractive, but it’s hue may lead one to believe that it might be artificial, so I felt that a 5 couldn't be awarded.

Color After Water: a nice thick, translucent, milky green.

-Louche-
Beautiful water trails, great layering, with clouds forming, bouncing and swirling. Not too quick, not too slow. The clear green line at the top of the louche disappeared for me at about 2:1.

-Aroma-
Before water, anise and citrus with an interesting bitter edge. After water, complex tones are detectable, with anise, citrus, and floral notes that contrast with a bitter wormwood and almost iodine-like scent.

-Flavor-
A very bold and complex flavor- Sweet anise and citrus are the most obvious leading flavors, accompanied by the spicy and floral notes hinted at in the aroma. This is followed by a very powerful and contrasting bitterness.

-Finish-
Pleasantly substantial body with a spicy/bitter bite and a clean, lingering finish. When the bottle was first opened, I found the contrasting flavors to be unbalanced and a bit too much to be truly enjoyable. It took between three weeks to two months for this absinthe to really to really settle down. Once it smoothed out, I was able to really get into the complexity- particularly in the crisp, long lasting and constantly evolving finish.

-Overall-
This absinthe has taught me above all others about how breathing can be beneficial, and in this case, I’d say very important. Some may find the contrasts to be unpleasant, and I would probably hesitate to recommend this as first choice for someone brand new to absinthe. But given some time to mellow, I really enjoy this one for its intensity and flavor. I remember reading someone describing Duplais Verte as “Wagnerian”, which is a great term for this drink!

Notes: Louched 3:1 with medium fountain drip, no sugar (when first opened, sugar helped round out the rough edges, but after breathing, there is already enough sweetness to render sugar undesirable for me).

Bottle Date Aug 2007. Bottle opened February 2008, tasted Aug 2008.

*Received as sample in absinthe explore set from absinthes.com

Appearance - Very nice to the eye! Extremely clear and natural and one of the few we have sampled that we agreed was "jewel-like" in appearance. Moving it around in the light reveals a virtual kaleidoscope of color, from golds and reds to blues and greens.

Aroma - Strong anise and a bit too much alcohol to the nose. This quickly subsides when water is added, but it was a bit offputting to smell straight in the glass.

Flavor - Excellent. All of the alcohol disappears and reveals a great anise-centric absinthe. The wormwood is definitely there, as are other herbal tones, but anise definitely rules the roost. While it isn't terribly complex, it is incredibly balanced - you can taste everything that is supposed to be there on its own and easily identify the very correct complements in flavors.

Finish - Very good finish, but not overly complex.

Overall - An extremely enjoyable absinthe. We plan on ordering a bottle soon. Of the ten we sampled, this ranked in the top two and was very close to the favorite. For a "traditional abinthe" experience, one could certainly do much worse and, if our samples were any indicator, it would be difficult to do a whole lot better. Excellent!