I haven't publicly reviewed an absinthe for ages, but I thought maybe I should this time.

First of all, Northshore clearly does take a traditional approach to making Sirène and I commend them on that. Where most new absinthe distillers are concerned with what new twist (or contortion, as the case may be) they can put on their absinthe, Northshore chose to show that they weren't too intimidated by time-honored standards to attempt a classic. Good choice.

The rich, golden olive color is a bit dark, and I'd maybe cut down on the amount of coloration herbs, although the herbal blend is nice. Sirène could benefit from a dark bottle as well, since the light will deteriorate the color before its time.

The louche is outstanding, and one of the most beautiful louches I've seen on a modern commercial absinthe. It has a complex opal character and interesting depth and colors. It would be great on a sunny afternoon.

The aroma is a bit timid for me, but pleasant. Aside from anise, there are hints of lemony melissa and mint and something balsamy.

The flavor is fairly well-balanced with the wormwood nicely behind the anise and all supported by assertive citrus notes.

The finish is intriguing and leaves me chewing and smacking to determine what those other herbs are, so, interesting.

All in all, this is a very pleasant drink and while there's room for improvement, it falls well within the correct profile for a proper absinthe.

I finished my glass.

Sirene, the alternative in Canada to verte through LCBO. At least, from the last infos I got. I'm kind of out of date, stopped absinthe for more than a year now. As I'm craving to return to my fairy, I thought of this notes I took when making the review of Sirene, so here it is (sadly not-that-much-detailed-due-to-too-much-time-passed-before-I-wrote-it)..:

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I felt bad these days... Left alone by a star that looked like a sirene and made me drown (or a sirene that tried to looked like a star and drowned me, depends of the point of view you take). One of these days, I was at my big appartment and the holy Father came by. My brother was there too. And Led Zep and Bowie were there too with the Black Dog and the China Girl.

So I decided to introduce them to absinthe, since I had some Sirene left from Toronto and some Taboo too. We tasted them side by side. My brother and the Father too prefered Sirene over taboo. There's a lot of of too and other double o in this review, boo hoo hoo!..

Color : Nice color, although quite yellowish.

Louche : A nice louche effect, interesting to look at, but too light to fully appreciate.

Aroma : I noted citrus-ish and cinamon-ish odors as others noted before.

Flavour : No suprises, but very good. Tastes as it smells, not very traditional but quite good still. The best I had, but I had not that much absinthes to compare and am (or not?) influenced by the opinions of the blood of my blood and want to balance my others notes too.

Finish : The finish lacks bitterness to my taste, it is a bit weak. Could be better for some people, though.

Overall : A nice absinthe and more traditional tasting choice for Canadian or Quebecer-passing-by-Ontario buyers.

Sonja was nice enough to send me a small sample of Sirene.



I really enjoy it.



Color great, Louche fantastic, flavor intriguing, finish interesting, overall very promising.



The only real flaw I find in it is a bit of harsh alcohol in the nose. Every time I taste/smell Sirene, this distracts me from the good points of the beverage. Certainly not an issue with cocktails, but for a straight up water and Absinthe, it is an issue, at least for me.

Appearance: A clear and burnt topaz with a dark green hue. Definitely a little too dark.

Louche: The color had me expecting worse but there is an impressive translucency to this absinthe. There is still quite a bit of color left but the translucent to opaque ratio is pretty good.

Aroma: Smells well balanced if a bit odd. Some sort of musky wine smell as well as bandage. There's also some nice notes of mint and citrus.

Flavor: Fruity and musky. If they are using a brandy base it comes across way too strong. The fruitiness dominates and shoves the absinthe trinity into the background. I'd recognize this as an absinthe but definitely not a usual one.

Finish: Some spicy notes and bitterness begin to appear in the finish helping the flavor out a bit.

Overall: This tastes pretty good but it is not something I'd reach for if I wanted absinthe. However I could see some interesting cocktail use with this brand.

Appearance: A somewhat unappealing olive oil color, not cloudy, but also not particularly clear.

Louche: Stays a green color with deep reds and oranges but it seems a little dingy. I would consider this to be just the right thickness,

Aroma: Sweet, minty, cool and floral, with something medicinal lurking if breathed too deeply...whatever this element may be is very nearly masked.

Flavor: The flavor is somewhat bitter and it seems as though the herbs were old and dusty, particularly the wormwood flavor. There's something flowery here, but it's hidden behind the seemingly poor herb quality.

Finish: EXTRA sour and mouth-watering, and very tingly and warm in the throat.

Overall: I wouldn't say that this absinthe is particularly bad or unpleasant, it's just not very remarkable or nuanced as it could be. I feel like if I had gotten this absinthe as my first, I could have gone either direction when deciding if I should try other absinthes or give up the hunt here.