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Ordering
About As Blanche As Blanche Can Be
(Updated: October 29, 2024)
Overall rating
 
4.1
Appearance
 
4.0
Louche
 
4.0
Aroma
 
4.0
Flavor / Mouthfeel
 
4.0
Finish
 
5.0
Overall
 
4.0
Appearance
Unlouched, crystal clear and contaminant free and just a little silvery. Louched, Nice milky white with just the barest platinum tinge.

Louche
A very nice blanche louche. Milky white with a platinum undertone and beautiful sheen. Translucent, but minimally so. Opalescence is somewhat restrained as a result.

Aroma
Neat, the grape base is quite evident, backed by a melange of very balanced herbals. Louched, a dark profile dominated by wormwood, pontica and other herbs. Anise and fennel are in a supportive role. In general, however, very balanced with nothing out of proportion. The more subtle complexities show themselves as it warms.

Flavor And Mouthfeel
Smooth, silky, and round on entry. And just like the nose, very balanced. Anise and fennel are set back just a bit, with all the “green” and “tan” stuff doing the heavy lifting. Focus is provided by a hint of spice/pepper/lemon/mint that works away especially at the edges of the tongue.

Finish
A nice slow bloom of pepper and spice, combined with an even slower bloom of the anethole sources, the first strong evidence of the anise and fennel. Seriously, these really do happen at two different paces. The wormwoods are really showing as it warms. Beautiful. This finish is what this absinthe is all about and it really gets 'er done. Fresh, clean, and very long. A great range of impressions, dark to bright. The entire palate is left with a fine powdery sensation with very gentle pull.

Overall Impression
A very nice, complete blanche with excellent mouthfeel. Solid. Just a little more impressive than some of the “la bleue” styles that rely a little too heavily on the anise/fennel combo. This is high quality and very clean. My favorite dilution is right around 4:1, but slightly lesser dilutions really provide some zing. While finishing up this review, I've been randomly searching some other things on the web for quite some time, and the finish is still hanging in there. That's pretty impressive.

I've commented two or three times in my reviews of vertes that some particular example should serve as the prototype. I've never done that with a blanche... until now. This is the mold, the model. The Venus de Milo, The Mona Lisa, The Persephone.

Done with a 1 ounce dose, diluted 3:1, 3.5:1, 4:1 and no sugar.

Absinthe Duplais Blanche 10/23/11, 4/21/12, 4/28/12, 5/25/12.
All evaluations had consistent notes.
M
Top 10 Reviewer 45 reviews
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