Sample louched December 2008, from an unknown bottling (it was a gift in trade). Louched to 4:1, with 1/2 sugar cube.

The color when neat is a perfect light green, which louches up beautifully. The louche begins at the very bottom of the reservoir, and builds fairly slowly from the bottom, until about 2:1, when just a thin line separates the unlouched top layer from the other 7/8 of the glass. It doesn't go completely milky until just short of 3:1.

The aroma when neat is a slightly minty alcohol. During the louche, it fills the room with anise, and quite noticeably so. Upon stirring, the aroma sniffed up close reminds me of Egg Nog, and in a very good way - it's milky, boozy, and quite alluring. It could just be that I sampled it the week before Christmas, but this definitely has notes of cream, nutmeg, and smoky bourbon.

The first taste is quickly mint, then fennel/anise, then a long finish of very bitter wormwood. The wormwood stays with you for quite a while, until you take another sip just to mitigate the bitter. I really didn't enjoy it as much as I expected I would.

The Edouard surprised me with just how bitter it is on the finish. It's reminiscent, as another reviewer noted, of Lucid, though much less "earthy" than Lucid. It's not difficult to taste the family resemblance, both being Ted Breaux productions. I need to try the others in the line, but Edouard didn't strike me (admittedly with my first sample) as one I'd buy a whole bottle of.