Appearance: Damn near green, with a slight topaz hue. There's some slight haziness.

Louche: Translucent fire opal glow, creamy yet reflective. It's still clearly a verte, as the louche maintains a beautiful color.

Aroma: Pre-louched it smells wonderful and near-drinkable. Sweet and sour, vanilla, anise, candied orange zest, wormwood, and mild fennel notes.

Flavor/Mouthfeel: The anise is perfectly bold and spicy, the fennel perfectly balanced, and the wormwood is velvety smooth...there's a tingly euphoric warmth filling my mouth and throat.

Finish: Goes on forever but not long enough...peppery, juicy, warm, a whisper of earthiness, some sort of spice (perhaps allspice?) and candied orange again.

Overall: Mindblowing. Even the best modern reproductions are still a shadow of what this absinthe is.

Appearance: A surprisingly green peridot, although still more towards the yellow side. Clear with just a little haziness to it that is hard to spot. Natural and obviously very well preserved. The usual dead leaf look hasn't taken its full toll yet. Amazing for the age of the sample.

Louche: Perfect opalescence with a bit more yellow hues in the body of the louche. The edges display nicely with thick silver-blue hints. The end result is a tad thick but nothing too bad at all.

Aroma: The traditional Pontarlier smell with some spicy notes peaks first. The trinity is ultimately balanced with a background tease of citrus as well. Overall the aroma harmonizes floral, fruity, and herbal very well with a slightly noticeable age aroma, often compared to leather or tobacco.

Flavor: Very soft on the palate with a warm citrus and herbal flavor directly up front. Anise is displayed nicely along with the wormwood. The spice hints almost resemble allspice but not completely. The acidity intrigues me as both malic and citric, striking a flavor somewhere between apples and oranges for sweetness. The age related leather, tobacco, and such are far in the background but still noticeable. The simplicity to complex ratio is hard to figure out as multiple flavors seem to be combined with each other. In a sense, this is a beautiful enigma!

Finish: The finish lasts a surprisingly long time. Some earthy, almost mineral, tones show up but the spice flavors dominate for the most part slowly turning to the floral sweetness to fade out. Absolutely unexpected and stunning.

Overall: Exceptional. Every ingredient appears to be not only balanced but displayed well. The soft round texture is pleasant to the palate and the flavor, as well as the finish. A stunning example of what heights absinthe can reach.

A thousand and one thanks and gratitude to the Wormwood Society member who sent this sample.

I feel so fortunate to have had this fine time-machine absinthe! It's going to take a lot to really impress me from this point on.

Color: Clear sparkling crystal light amber.

Louche: Slow build with light oil trails quickly turning into milky ghost-like clouds in the bottom with a clearly defined thick clear layer above. At about 2:1 it melded together into a perfect opalescent whitish-yellow with the lightest suggestion of green. Not too thick, not too thin.

Aroma: Delicate and wonderful. Light, clean and balanced with yummy anise, fennel and herbs like a spring breeze. Not overwhelming...just right. No trace of alcohol heat.

Flavor: My God. Yum. Wonderful warm wormwood up front wrapped in the anise and fennel, tempered perfectly by the floral and lightly spicy tingle on the tongue. Smooth and creamy. I can't imagine liking any absinthe's flavor more than this.

Finish: Wonderful balance of elements. It lingered just right without being too bitter, with a light powdery feel and subtle tangy surprise at the very end on the back of the tongue. I wish it had a little more power and linger, but so good...I was sooo close to giving the finish a 5!

To me, this absinthe is as perfect as it gets. The only reason that I deducted a point for color was that it wasn't particularly attractive in the louched state, although it was a beautiful medium feuille mort, with a tinge of green still visible.



The louche was spectular with much volcanic swirling action, and wonderfully opalescent.



The aroma, both neat, and post louche was amazingly spicy, floral, and complex, and it was nearly impossible to pick up individual scents, expect perhaps for the outstanding quality hyssop that was redolent of baby powder.



The flavor was equally amazing, and interwoven, and was augmented by that incredible "Rolls Royce leather" component that only many decades of aging can add to an absinthe.



The finish literally lasted for hours, and the entire experience (every time I louche a glass) is a trip to Absinthe Nirvana.

I was fortunate enough to get a small 100mL sample of this fantastic example of what absinthe can be. Anyone who might complain about this absinthe is lying. It sort of gets a free pass since it is almost 100 years old and was distilled before the ban. However, even taking that into account, this would be a fantastic absinthe if it were brand new. However, I'm certain the aging had a very favorable effect. The color is more amber than any verte you will see today. It has obviously oxidized, but has lost nothing in terms of flavor. The mouth feel is full at a 3:1 ratio, and very smooth, with a dense yet opalescent louche that was formed by a slow drip of water, and I used no sugar. Fennel, Anise, and Wormwood are prevalent, but this is a very complex, floral absinthe. I can tell there are other herbs present, but it's difficult to pick them out because each examination reveals yet another flavor/aroma, and they are so fleeting that it's difficult to pin them down, which I like. The aroma fills the room as soon as you start adding water in a way that I haven't experienced with most other absinthes. I think the aroma is fantastic. I'm very glad to be able to say I've had pre-ban, and hope to have more as good as this one in the future.