Appearace was typical of an EP product. Perfect peridot, crystal clear. Very clean and practically inviting the water to come in.

Louche was a beauty to behold in the beginning. Try just a splash from a carafe and watch the show. Interweaved threads swirl slowly back and forth in the light green absinthe for probably close to a minute. Mezmerizing to watch. By 1/1 becomes fully clouded.

Aroma of the Berthe neat is vanilla, anise and powdery with the very nice wine base showing through. With water this absinthe opens up into beautiful herbal bliss. Definitely an Emile Pernot product.

Flavor Is perfectly blended. That punchy Pontarlier wormwood bites you on one cheek and kisses you on the other. With a sweet floral softness close behind. Nice summery absinthe. Seems to my tastes just a little bit lighter absinthe than the Vieux Pontarlier. Very nice though.

Finish is lightly sweet and mouthwateringly pleasant. Like chewing a stick of Wrigley's DoubleMint Gum.

Overall a very drinkable absinthe with all the elements in right proportion. Can't go wrong with Big Bad Berthe. Holds it's own among others. Diluted at 3/1 served me best.

Straight from the bottle the color is a very natural, deep green color, very leafy, and transparent.

The louche begins with oil trails that are easily visible. It builds out nicely around 1:1 and 2:1. Around 3:1 I noticed it started to thin out and is a little transparent at 4:1 and 4.5:1. It's thinner than I like and that's the only flaw I really have with this absinthe.

Pre-watered aroma is very herbal and clearly an absinthe. It is very reminiscent of the Jades. After water has been added the aroma is more subtle, but notes of wormwood and anise are there. Very nice aroma before and after water.

The flavor is very complex, and suave. Berthe de Joux has a very good wormwood flavor, and the rest of standard absinthe herbs are there was well. I'd call it suave, subtle and reserved. There is some baby powder flavor in this absinthe. It's not over done, but it's noticeable.

There are nice notes of melissa and baby powder on the finish. There are some root like undertones on the finish as well...almost like ginger. Very nice.

This is a very good absinthe, but a little bit reserved. It's very complex and expertly balanced, no flavor really jumps out and dominates more than any others. I think it'd be great everyday, and it's a good standard for defining what absinthe should taste like.

The Berthe de Joux is an absinthe which I can't pretend I didn't receive with some level of expectation, based on its glowing early reviews. Nonetheless, here is my objective review.

The color was acceptable, though not exceptional. I found it to be a composite of green with a strong citrine yellow overtone. All in all, it was fine, but not perfect.

Likewise, the louche was active, but rather short-lived. Again, it certainly didn't set the bar for the category, but neither was it disappointing.

The aroma and flavor are both categories where the BdJ's uniqueness comes into play. The aroma is noteworthy for sure, being far more flowery than anything else which I've experienced. It was nonetheless balanced, but I found the profile to be of narrow appeal, meaning that it would be quite welcome on a warm spring or hot summer day, but certainly not an everyday favorite.

As for the flavor itself, it took me a long while to warm up to it. Fresh out of the new bottle, I found it to be skewed heavily toward an aromatic floweryness, but as the open bottle aged a bit, it mellowed out into a nicely-balanced absinthe in which the fine wormwood was finally able to emerge.

Overall, while the BdJ wasn't able to live up to the gargantuan expectations which early reviews imbued it with, it's still a fine absinthe.

I am afraid I have to buck the trend on this one.

La Berthe de Joux is very pretty. It pours a lovely peridot green, and louches to an attractive jade, with all the usual visuals. Perhaps the louche is a trifle thin, but not enough to penalize. The aroma before water is pleasant: herbal and fresh, with a bracing tonic scent from the alcohol.

After that first impression, however, I found it rather disappointing.

Aroma, flavor, and finish are all dominated by an intense peppery flavor that tends to obscure the anise and wormwood. This comes as a great surprise to me, as I generally love Emile Pernot's products (including the controversial Roquette 1797). Generally, however, Pernot can be counted on to produce a balanced (or at least nuanced) product. This one lacks subtlety.

Overall, I think it shows promise, but I would rather drink Vieux Pontarlier, the Roquette, or Doubs.

UPDATE: This absinthe has improved considerably since I first opened the bottle...more than I have previously seen with any other brand. While the flavor remains a bit one-dimensional, with "white pepper" dominating all other flavors, it has mellowed a bit and I find I'm enjoying it more. Accordingly, I raised the rating on flavor from 2 to 3.

This is still my least favored offering from Emile Pernot, but overall it will do.

colour:
Nice green with yellowish tinge. Reveals a decent and proper colouration what was not always the case as regards Emile Pernot products.

louche:

Delicate louche, at 1:1 leaving an unlouched layer. Green and opalescent. Not too whitish. Opaque enough

aroma:

Fragrant melissa and Pontarlier, non-mistaken, wormwood. Aroma is very fruity and clean. It has the scent of other absinthes from Emile Pernot, but that one is particularly pleasant and inviting. There is a really evident hyssop flowertops note in the middle. Absinthe ain't heavy

Flavour:

It begins with colouring herbs, so melissa, pontica, maybe a little mint and very potent hyssop. There is an interlude for short anise sensation and really powerful wormwood-like smelling the flowering branches-in the finish. Actually, the finish is comprised of 30% spiciness-very delicate, coriander maybe? and 70% top notch strong bitterness.

I have been disappointed with many earlier Emile Pernot offerings, from terrible undercoloured Emiles via decent Wormwood blanche to weak and smelly Roquette or Doubs. This is a milestone and if the Master Distiller does not allow some certain people messing with alembics, the true Art shall emerge from the distillery. Alas.