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 I'm kind of out of date, stopped absinthe for more than a year now.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.

Preparation



A thin stream from a fountain of iced spring water.



Color Before Water



A very pretty deep olive. The color is natural and quite attractive but far to dark for my taste -not the eye popping Peridot or Emerald that are so prized. But nonetheless very pretty and perfectly translucent without even a hint of sediment



Aroma Before Water



Delicious. Albeit unusual in that the Anise, Fennel and "licorice notes" were further back than I'm used to but this was a welcome surprise. The aroma is delightful and mild with wonderfully herbal and floral bouquet. No heat of alcohol whatsoever. Very clean and appetizing. But again, very faint



Louche



The Louche began quite quickly, at first swirling puffs and smokey rolls that filled my glass quickly - not dramatic in the sense of a thunder storm in your glass but very decent. I stopped the water at half way and noticed the color was almost a very light Amber. There was a nice opalescent quality at this point and if I held the glass and swirled it little glimmers of greens could be seen. At full finish the color appeared much closer to what I've been accustomed to, thick and milky with a nice olive green hue. Mouth feel is thinner than the Louche leads you to expect but for me this is a plus.



Aroma After Water



Still just as inviting but very delicate and soft. It reminded me of Martaeu in the way it left me wanting more volume to these unique and fresh new notes. There's something grass like and soothing and what I detected to be a bit floral. In short, crisp, clean and most inviting. Zero odd or off putting scents of any kind or degree.



Flavor



Wow, I expected the flavor to follow the aroma and boy was I wrong. At first there's a real bite of bitter Wormwood that's really delightful and unexpected. I felt it pinch my tongue and give way to more subtle and a bit sweeter notes from the Fennel and Anise. Even with sugar this is much more of a savory drink but that said the harmonious balance between sweet and savory is intriguing and delicious.



The Finish



Nice numbing of the tongue and a lingering grassy taste with delicate hints of something minty and fresh. The finish lingers which is really very nice. There was a bit of cloying residue after it fades.





Final Impression



Exceptional, beautifully complex and satisfying. It packs a punch of Alcohol at the first few sips but this may have more to do with water ratio than anything else. Definitely one of the nicest Absinthes I've tried. I might have liked more of kick from Anise but if I learned anything from this Absinthe it's that Anise and Fennel don't have to bowl you over. They can be part a tapestry of flavors and still bring their unmistakable presence to the table without drowning out everything else.Stop reading and order yourself a bottle.

My gracious thanks for the Sample so generously provided, as it was actually a pleasure to put my tastebuds to work on this one.



the Color is a bit dark.



the Louche is actually pretty nice, given the initial color, but could be a bit nicer if it started a bit lighter.



the Aroma is for me one of the strong suits of this particular offering. A decided citrusy element that is not at all unpleasant and invites additional sniffery. Smells lemony/tangeriney to me; my Wyfe and a friend said Orange Peel so I'll just say Citrus, in a strangely harmonic and not overpowering way.



the Flavor is in keeping with the Aroma (although the citrus element is mostly a nose thing), but maybe a lil' bit more Wormwood would help it along. Got a bit of the Juicy Fruit/Big Red thing, but not enough to put me off. Still quite nice.



the Finish wasn't unplesant, it could have lasted longer though.



Overall, I'd say go out and buy a bottle. It's the first domestic absinthe I've had that actually gets me there without any qualifiers thrown in. A nice traditional product but still individual, and I'm a guy who likes that.

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.

I applaud North Shore for a well made American Absinthe!



The olive green color color is nice, but maybe a little too dark.



The louche slowly builds from the bottom to a thick, opalescence. Though, nearly opaque,light shines through and gives off brilliant colors.



There is a nice anise and mint in the aroma. Something else is there that I am not sure of.



I really enjoy the flavor. Anise, citrus, mint, followed by a nice wormwood.



The finish is nice and stays with you for quite a while. There is something there that is a bit odd to me. It must be in the coloring (grassy?).



I think this is a very nice absinthe. I am tasting this from a sample and would buy a bottle. After tasting the verte, I can't wait to try their blanche.

Well Done!