Color
Unlouched, amber-green tending toward olive drab (a little brown push). Not drab in clarity, however. Very clear, very natural and organic looking, with a strong level of color. Nothing phony baloney here, one of the most believable colorations I've seen.

Louche
Nice thick trails at first. Pretty yellow, gold and green reflections and highlights continue until the drink reaches 1:1, at which point it becomes pretty fully clouded, with a thin unlouched layer on top. Now here's where it gets interesting. Over about the next ½ oz of drip, the louched portion just visibly thickens up until it looks almost like you could eat it with a fork! I mean milkshake thick. This character holds fully through 3:1, on to 4:1. Final color is a creamy amber-green with yellow-amber highlights and a bluish-white at the meniscus. Good sheen and opalescence... assertive and masculine looking.

Aroma
Aroma neat is anise, immediately backed by wormwood, spiciness and a minty/volatile (phenolic?) edge. Very piquant. No heavy alcohol sensation... impressive considering this is 72% abv. Aroma louched at 3:1, forceful wormwood with an almost melon rind character, piquant, minty, volatile. Lots of spice and citrus. Very fresh, but very dense. I'm thinking this can take a lot more H2O. At 4:1 and nosed still, mostly wormwood with a high-toned spiciness (almost coriander like) and citrus. A little swirl brings the anise and fennel to the fore and in good balance. Still fresh, the wormwood starts out woody/spicy, and with swirling and air becomes more fruity. Densely herbal, almost primal. For fun I took it to 5:1. Spiciness reduces somewhat and a host of herbal and floral aromas, much more delicate, become apparent. I can't ID most of these, but I can tell this is something very special.

Flavor
OK... attack, very creamy/milky mouthfeel. Next, wormwood in spades. Anise and fennel are clearly present, but the wormwood is clearly in charge. Has a spiciness to match the aromas and a firm "pull" on the back palate. At 3:1, it's like chewing on herbs. At 4:1 better balance, somewhat less aggressive, but still powerful. Anise and fennel share the stage a little better. At 5:1 it reveals some pretty lighter herbal flavors and spice. Still not faint. In fact, I don't see this as feminine at all. Both flavors and aromas become more cohesive and balanced as temperature comes up.

Finish
Finish follows nose and palate perfectly. Ever so slight tongue numbing and a persistent drying. All flavor components hang so nicely, in good balance, and for a long time. Still that spice, and if you wait long enough between sips, the anise and fennel creep out to have the final say. Almost ironic.

Overall
Simply one of the best I have tasted so far. This really makes an impression. It does not seem like a "designed product", but rather a "created absinthe", catering only to the true connoisseur. Serious quality, seriously distinctive. Spicy, herbal, floral, forceful, and feral. Which brings me to the name. This is the first time I've ever felt just a little manhandled by an absinthe. Gets me to wondering if this is one coquette that just might be a cross-dresser.

7/06/09 Revisit - Holy S#*!... I haven't tasted this since my last evaluation of 11/27/08. This just comes at you like a freight train. I'm almost speechless! Not the usual fare and, as such, I'm leaving my original review intact, with exception of punctuation corrections to the best of my ability. With my current experience of a year of absinthe tasting, and 35 or so CO's tasted, I would have to say that this is one that doesn't exactly follow the rules. This reminds me of the most freakishly huge Barossa Valley Shiraz, in the wine world. For something very different and forceful, try it. But you'll deal with it on it's own terms! Oh, and if you don't want to get KO'd in the first round... try 5:1.

Done with a 1 ounce dose, diluted 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1, and no sugar.

La Coquette 11/15/08, 11/19/08, 11/27/08, 7/06/09.
All evaluations had consistent notes.

This is a very good glass of absinthe. Very good anise and a nice complexity. The Wormwood lingers in the background (perhaps too much in the background?) allowing other flavors to play on the palate. Nice mouthfeel initially but becomes a little thin as the glass wears on. The color is a little dingy which makes for a less than sparkling louche but it is nice enough. There is a touch of a cloying flavor that compelled me to markdown the finish but after a few moments, I reconsidered...the finish is very pleasant (although the cloying flavor remains when I take another sip).

I enjoyed this absinthe very much. It is not necessarily a remarkable absinthe but perfectly drinkable and I am delighted to finish my glass.

Colour before water is dark green, slightly olive. I don't think I'm doing anything different, but the louche is just the most fantastic I've ever seen. It started out average with a slow build from the bottom, but once it reached what I figured was the final thickness the fun really began. Even paler clouds began cascading from the left half of the side of the glass I was watching toward the bottom of the right half. The final colour is so solid and vibrant it's a tad surreal.

Before louche aroma is warm and fruity (specifically reminds me of pineapple) with a pointed anise profile. A tad medicinal. Some floral wormwood notes peek through. After louche the aroma still has a lot of fruit in it but has blossomed and smoothed considerably. Baby powder settles on the nose like snow. Sweet.

The taste is quite different than the aroma; it's less sweet than I had anticipated and considerably more bitter, though not unpleasantly or inappropriately so. Wormwood is more dominant than other herbs with anise falling behind even the fennel. Spicy instead of fruity. How odd it is that it tastes so different from how it smells. There is a funk I could do without; it's a bit off-putting. The fruitiness just barely reasserts itself during the underwhelming finish, during which the slightly numbed palate oddly dries out considerably.

I'm enjoying this but I definitely see it as one I'd have to be in the mood for. As of right now I enjoy looking at it and smelling it more than drinking it. I believe that's a first.

Color: No sediment. A very intriguing and inviting deep green.

Louche: Much easier to coax out a louche than its cousin, Belle Amie. Great trails start immediately, bringing about a louche that starts at the bottom and creates a fantastic layering. An attractive opalescence with hints of greens, yellows, whites and blues.

Aroma: Not as complex as I was expecting, but very clean and crisp. Anise pairs nicely with a touch of minty wormwood.

Flavor: Sweet (even without sugar) but not cloying. The spiciness of the wormwood is preceded by the anise, with touches of white pepper and veronica in the end.

Finish: Nice finish that coats the tongue and lasts a long time. It stays with you, urging you to take another drink.

Overall: Another enjoyable addition to the line. One of my favorites.