Review Detail

the color is perfectly crystal clear. An easy 5.

the louche is a bit weak, as is to be expected. Still, we have nice opalescence. I give it a 3.

the aroma neat is one of wormwood and alcohol and not much else. Louched, it opens up to wormwood and alcohol with a little teeny bit of anise and fennel. Not balanced, but not unpleasant. 3.

the flavor is not balanced in the traditional sense. The other herbs take a back seat like faceless sidemen in identical suits whilst the wormwood solos. And a long, loud, and brilliant solo it is. A 3 that is actually a 3.5 because of the tradition thing, but I'd give it a 4 myself.

the finish is lengthy and quite pleasant. A wonderful floral fruity dryness permeates, making the nasal exhale so nice. The sweetness comes way later, and I am sure sugar would help it along but I drink it sans sucre. A bit of astringency on the sides of the tongue as well, but not to the point of being a detriment. Technically a 3, personally a 4.

Overall, I give it a 4. A very interesting product that I would like to have a bit of for that special day when I want to be slapped across the face with some wormwood. After tasting a couple of HGs that were extremely wormwood forward I wondered just how far they could push it with the Artemisia. I'd say this is as far as I would want to go with it. Unless you want to call it something other than absinthe...