Color: Orange, pink, amber. When I received the bottle, it had been bought at the distillery in Kentucky and then sat in the trunk of a car during the hot summer for a week before it arrived to me in Canada. Despite the intense heat, the color was still bright pink and orange. I’ve now had the bottle for over a year and the brightness has faded and the color is a little be more amber now. It’s obviously naturally colored. I’m not going to remove points for the changes in color due to the extreme temperatures the bottle has been subjected to.

Louche: Nice trails. Thin milk, pale orange/pink. A little dull.

Aroma: Sweet, citrus, floral, red berries, sharp minty pine. Very nice.

Flavor: Flavor is more spicy and herbal than the aroma. Definitely a lot of wormwood in this one. Bitter alpine wormwood is up front, spice, grass, tarragon, rose petals, violets, grain alcohol and astringent. The use of hibiscus to color the absinthe explains the astringency. Body is thin. I did a few tastings of this absinthe over the span of several months. I’m not 100% sure on this but going by my notes I think the flavor has changed slightly. Bitter wormwood flavors seem more prominent and the sweet & floral flavors seem more subdued. This could also be from external factors that can affect taste perception. Thought I would mention it anyway.
Finish: Finish is dry and tongue-numbing. Dry bitterness lasts a long time. This left me wanting to take another sip.

Overall: I generally sugar vertes and drink blanches without sugar. Since this is neither a blanche nor a verte I tried it both ways and I found it benefited from sugar. The sweetness enhanced and complimented the floral notes. It also helped with the bitterness.
Despite the gimmick of a red absinthe this absinthe is on the right path. Based on the fact that it’s red, it’s the only absinthe the distillery produces and knowing that it would be different I expected it to be worse than it was. They’re definitely creative with their spirits over at Corsair and it shows in this absinthe. It has the traditional components but with a twist. I don’t mind that it’s eccentric but it needs to be more balanced and show higher quality.