The colors of this cache vary from bottle to bottle, from rich amber to a startlingly fresh-looking peridot green. This one is a clear, pale amber with a slight hint of green.



The louche deserved a perfect score. Every now and again you get one of those perfect louches: it forms slowly and gently as the water drips into it and when complete, has a compelling depth and rich, jewel-like nuance that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. This has one of those.



The aroma is very pleasant, slightly spicy and perfumed. Not so much as the Pernod Fils 1910, but a similar floral note.



Like the Pernod Fils 1910 cache, I found this one to be a bit more crisp and bitter than most modern counterparts. Fortunately in this case, this is not unpleasant. There is a slightly medicinal twang, and the flavor counterpart of the floral aroma. The anise is not overpowering and the wormwood is very up-front. There are hints of flavors that I would not associate with the primary six ingredients of a Pontarlier absinthe. Whether this is due to the herbs marrying in age, or to other ingredients, is up to the GC/MS analysis to discover.



The finish is pleasant and lingering and what one would expect from a quality absinthe.



Overall, I think this is a very good absinthe, but in spite of the extraordinary privilege it is to taste any pre-ban absinthe, I'm wondering how many of these I could finish in a sitting before moving on to something else, like a 1910 Pernod Fils or an Edouard Pernod.