Appearance: Clear. Not much else to say about this blanche.

Louche: Holy milky thickness Batman! It is hued at the edges but this is an overly strong louche.

Aroma: A bit strange with come odd notes of cucumber, licorice, anise, camphor, mint, and some other unusual smells.

Flavor: Very licorice root tasting that is also sticky and mentholated. Strong on the cool mint as well. The tastes denote good craft in distilling, so that's not the issue. But the recipe is way off base. It's unusual as all hell.

Finish: Sweetens up as well as the mint becoming more pronounced. The flavor rounds out and improves a bit.

Overall: Well crafted but freakishly unusual. I can usually tolerate a lot of weirdness but this is too far for me to consider absinthe. If this was redone with the same herbs and a stronger influence from the absinthe trinity of wormwood, fennel, and anise I'd probably be more of a fan.

Appearance: Clear, without any hue or tint.

Louche: Milky and thick. Pretty plain in the color...there isn't much iridescence here.

Aroma: There's a lot of mint, along with a very floral, perfumed scent, and something that reminds me strongly of cucumber.

Flavor: It's FULL of flavor, it's just not a great flavor. Definitely not an absinthe flavor, and I'm not a fan of whatever it is. It's very chilling, and not very smooth, with a fairly flat, floral, perfumey freshness. There is some hint of licorice here...but almost more along the lines of licorice root or star anise, but it's subtle.

Finish: The burning perfume flavors recede into a minty feel that lasts for a little while.

Overall: I do not care much for this one. It seems to be a quality distillation, but doesn't have much along the lines of what I would consider to be absinthe.

Sampled at 3:1, 4:1 and 4.5:1, where I found it most drinkable. No sugar.

Color: A very faint yellow hue. It is almost clear, and looks natural.

Louche: It develops quite quickly, and is fairly thick. At 4.5:1 however, it looked appropriate and pretty.

Aroma: Neat, it smells delicious; honey, pear, traces of anise and wormwood way in the back. It seemed more liqueur-like than absinthe to me. As water was added, it grew less and less sweet and fruity, becoming a bit medicinal. Still, it is a quality aroma, just not one I personally equate with absinthe. For this reason, I gave it a 3.

Flavor: I struggle here, as it is not bad tasting. It is in fact quite well-crafted, it simply isn't very much like absinthe to me. The medicinal edge comes from a menthol element that reminds me a bit of cough drops...tasty ones however. Still this threw me a bit. The trad elements of absinthe were harder to detect at the higher dilutions, where I found this more drinkable.

Finish: Quite a nice finish. Gently bitter, layered elements, a nice build and decay. Perhaps the highlight of this absinthe for me.

Overall: The aroma, flavor and finish work well together and meld nicely. It is certainly a well-crafted drink. For me however, it is too far off the track of what I enjoy in absinthe profiles. Some however, may really like this, perhaps due to the mead element.

Appearance: bright and clear, no sediment

Louche: spectacular trails and a heavy, thick fog that rolls and tosses in the glass. Very nice, if a bit thick.

Aroma: unusual, to say the least. It had a familiar smell that took me awhile to place, but I eventually remembered a product we had as children that came in a toothpaste-like tube. We would squeeze out a blob of it on the end of a red plastic straw, then blow through the straw to make rubbery bubbles. This absinthe smelled almost exactly like that stuff. Not unpleasant, but not what I'd think absinthe should smell like.

Flavor: some menthol, some spiciness, a hint of honey, the tiniest hints of the trinity, a touch of mint. It's interesting and refreshing, but it's a long way from absinthe. In fact, I'd suggest this brand to friends who claim they don't like absinthe because of the anise flavor. This one has very little of it.

Finish: nothing spectacular, but nothing wrong with it, either

Overall: I went right down the middle with a three because while it's quite tasty and I do enjoy drinking it, it's so far removed from what I like about absinthe that if I'm in the mood for absinthe, this one won't even come to mind.