Color:

Very nice clear mid-green tint, neither olive nor atomic. Stays light peridot tinted even after water. Essentially perfect, the precise color a verte should be.

Louche:

Couldn't really be much better I think, using very cold water and getting to my usual dilution of 4:1 faster than I like (anticipation and all ya know), it formed a nice clear layer at the top that lingered and then vanished. I didn't notice the usual "oily trails" business like I usually see though, but that may have been because I was simply rushing it. Once fully louched it's maybe, just maybe a tad on the thin side, but I'm picking nits here.

Aroma:

Before water, very much green anise, with just a hint of wormwood and herbs. No trace of grass or other overly herbaceous things jumping out at you. After water, much more wormwood, much less anise. Minty and sharp, with just a tiny bit of Christmas spice in the background.

Flavor:

No sugar tonight in my absinthe. Not to start anyway. The result is wormwood and mint, with a very crisp refreshing aftertaste. A rounded fruitiness makes itself known as well. This makes it not go well with chocolate (since I don't like mint and chocolate), but did help with the roast for dinner, although the flavor was perhaps not up to the top competition in all respects, it is very clear, very clean, and present.

Finish:

Moderately bitter but smooth, the finish is not so much aromatic as it is cooling. Not numbing though, with less of that than I like, but cooling there is plenty of.

Overall:

Taken as the sum of the parts, I like this absinthe, but only just. Although this bottling is said to be about 6 months old, I wish the flavor had just a little bit more complexity to it, and the mint notes were toned down slightly. Maybe with time. But, what it lacks perhaps in richness, it makes up for in its refreshing qualities and ability to hold its own with other foods.