Lucid - Absinthe Superieure - Reviewed by Experts and Consumers at The Wormwood Society

 
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Lucid Absinthe - New Bottle

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Available in USA?
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8 reviews
Overall rating
 
3.4
 
3.5(4)
 
3.5(4)
 
3.3(4)
 
3.3(4)
 
3.3(4)
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Solid Centerline Verte
(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Overall rating
 
3.2
Appearance
 
3.0
Louche
 
3.0
Aroma
 
3.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
4.0
Finish
 
3.0
Overall
 
3.0
Color
Quite pale olive oil green. Natural looking, but not riveting in any way.

Louche
Good oily looking trails at first while cloudiness builds from the bottom. They quickly turn from trails to big rolling explosions. Nice to watch. Cloudiness builds pretty quickly, and the drink is mostly opaque by a little over 1:1. Final color is a light greenish yellow, white highlights, and greenish white meniscus. Nothing wrong with this color, just nothing particularly arresting, either. Kind of flat.

Aroma
Pre-louche, anise and some wormwood and a lot of alcohol. Louched, primarily wormwood with good support from the anise and fennel. Aromas are fairly faint, not very assertive. Nonetheless, all the expected components are present and in good balance. Still nicely herbal, with a little florality and spice. In the second evaluation, I detected a slight "stewed vegetable" funk.

Flavor
Certainly proper absinthe. Wormwood, anise, and fennel are all in quite nice balance. Not a powerhouse of flavor, but nicely correct. A little excessive heat on the palate. As with aroma, all facets of palate are in good balance. The "funk" in the aroma does not carry over to the palate. Both flavors and aromas improve noticeably with air and increased temperature.

Finish
Nice gentle drying and astringency on the finish followed by a little burst of spice and some heat. The finish accurately wraps up what the nose and palate portend. There's a little prickliness in the tongue from the alcohol, a little more water may help, but I'm concerned about really diminishing the aromas and flavors.

Overall
This would be a fine intro to absinthe for anyone. Everything is correct, nothing overdone. Not distinctive, but I'm sure the producer went to good lengths to make sure they would have dead consistency in this product. It almost seems to be designed to not offend anyone, and there's always a sacrifice when one plays not to loose... diminished personality, distinctiveness, and excitement. On the other hand, someone needs to make that centerline product that defines the category. This may be it.

7/06/09 Revisit - All original scores and text is unaltered. New observations are that the "funk" to which I refer in the original review, I'm sure, is the beet alcohol base showing itself from time to time. Also, more water didn't hurt it at all. This offering, in my opinion, is exactly as I titled it... "Centerline". Knowing what I know now, I think it is remarkable that Mr. Breaux can make so much of this and have it in such wide distribution as he does, and maintain this quality level. Many others do not. This was my 4th review on WS. With another eight months and 30 CO's of absinthe study under my belt, my current opinion is that it is one to get to know, after which it is easier to understand "for better or for worse". And believe me, you could do a lot worse. A LOT worse.

Done with a 1 ounce dose, diluted 3:1, 4:1, and no sugar.

Lucid 11/08/08, 11/12/08, 7/06/09.
All evaluations had consistent notes.
M
Top 10 Reviewer 53 reviews
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Simple, clean and tasty
(Updated: September 28, 2007)
Overall rating
 
3.7
Appearance
 
4.0
Louche
 
3.0
Aroma
 
3.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
4.0
Finish
 
4.0
Overall
 
4.0
A wonderful first absinthe for America! Call it "Jade Lite" but it is a smooth and absolutely drinkable absinthe. Sure it's not as complex as the Daddy Jades but it doesn't pack the hefty price, either. I especially like the sustained flavor long after the drink has been swallowed of wormwood and a warm spiciness.



Consider the price and factor in the delivery charge if it was shipped from Europe and you have to give Lucid credit as excellent bang-for-your-buck. Besides the price, it's an excellent everyday absinthe.
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The first absinthe to hit US shelves since the ban
(Updated: May 29, 2011)
Overall rating
 
3.3
Appearance
 
4.0
Louche
 
4.0
Aroma
 
3.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
3.0
Finish
 
3.0
Overall
 
3.0
05/29/11 Revisit

The colour has improved to a bright gold with a hint of green. There is a very slight haziness but it is otherwise quite attractive. The aroma is anise-forward, with some caramel and notes of green apple.

The louche is also improved. Almost white with a hint of greenish blue. Nice lightplay. After water the wormwood comes forward some. There's a dose of funky cumin. The unwanted caramel aroma is still there but has backed off a bit.

The flavour is dominated by very sweet, strong anise, but unfortunately the second most dominant flavour is the annoying funk. The wormwood lays back some. The caramel taste thankfully isn't anywhere near as strong as it used to be, which has a huge impact on the perception of freshness. There's a slight tartness and some spicy notes. The finish is a wall of numbing anise and not terribly complex.

It's definitely improved. There are still some crippling flaws but it has gone from being nearly undrinkable to a decent, middle-shelf absinthe.

Original review:

Lucid pours a pale, clear, natural olive. The louche is everywhere at once and lacking theatrics, but it does have good definition and refraction as it turns a pale yellow-green. The light aroma is of mostly anise and wormwood but also seems caramelized. All of these characteristics carry over into the simple, flat flavour. There are no noticeable notes of colouring herbs. Another flaw is a funky, sweaty taste but it's not dominating. However, I find the caramelly flavour over the top and highly distracting. The mouth-feel is fairly creamy and not too numbing. The finish is wormwood that seems to transform into fennel as it lingers. Lucid just doesn't taste like I expect absinthe to. It's got the basic, required components but they don't add up right.
A
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A very nice introduction for the US market
(Updated: September 13, 2008)
Overall rating
 
3.3
Appearance
 
3.0
Louche
 
4.0
Aroma
 
4.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
3.0
Finish
 
3.0
Overall
 
3.0
ORIGINAL REVIEW FROM 7/27/07: Tagged even by Ted Breaux as a 'Jade light', this is the first authentic absinthe to be released for purchase within the U.S. since the early 1900's.

The color isn't as bright as the Jades, but very natural and pleasant. There's just a hint of murkiness.

The louche starts with wonderful oil trails and builds slowly from the bottom to the top, with a clear delineation of green and milky white.

The aroma is spicy and herbal with nice amounts of anise and fennel. Quite powerful. The use of beet spirit instead of grape spirit is noticable, but not off-putting.

Upon tasting, I didn't expect as much anise as I got. Given his notes that he had reduced the amount of anise to comply with American tastes, I was taken by surprise. The balance of anise and fennel and wormwood is much better than I anticipated. It also leaves nice legs on the glass when drinking or swirling.

The finish has a hint of the same spiciness that I taste with the PF 1914 vintage. Almost peppery. When asked about this at the Tales of the Cocktail 2007, he attributed this to the use of commercially available herbs, which have different qualities and tastes than the small scale harvesting of herbs that he uses for the Jades.



Overall, this is a great introduction of absinthe to the US. It's an absinthe that doesn't overpower the novice, and will leave them wanting to try more. A success as a door opener. OVERALL REVIEW: 3.8



UPDATED REVIEW 9-13-08:

Most of my opinions above still are valid, but with the recent influx of high quality absinthe into the US market, the original scores just couldn't hold up to the competition. It's still a great introduction to absinthe newcomers, but it's a mid-range absinthe. Made th right way, with the qualities one looks for in authentic brands, just not a blockbuster.
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