Color
Pre-louche it is perfectly clear and colorless. Louched it is milky grayish white with pewter highlights.

Louche
Starts out with thick entertaining trails, and clear delineation of louched/un-louched layer, but don't look the other way. FAST! It all goes cloudy real quick, even with a relatively slow drip. If you wanted to belly up with a batch of popcorn and watch the show, you would have to drip so slowly that you'd never get to drink it! Fully louched by 1.5:1. Final color is very straightforward... nothing wrong, nothing compelling.

Aroma
All anise and fennel pre-louche. Post louche, anise really predominates. Wormwood and fennel are there, but definitely secondary. Not particularly complex (it's the trinity), but very fresh and inviting. As the temperature of the drink comes up, the nose comes into better balance.

Flavor
Palate impression follows nose very accurately. Anise, wormwood, fennel, in that order. Clean and fresh, gentle, gentle drying from the wormwood. Really very pleasant and satisfying. The wormwood sensation, although dominated by the anise and fennel, builds gently in the mouth with each sip.

Finish
Follows palate very well. Nice soft drying on finish, and a little minty. Absolutely nothing wrong.

Overall
A very pleasant blanche. No surprises, no disappointments. Not challenging, but very refreshing. Solid. I would call this conventionally pretty as opposed to distinctive. I want this one around.

Revisit 7/04/09 - Most original observations persist, however I have lowered the scores for both Aroma and Flavor from 4s to 3s. A year of experience with this beverage, and my ability to detect a slight "off" aroma and flavor are the reasons for this. Also, in both categories, this absinthe doesn't quite exhibit the kind of completeness or complexity necessary to garner 4s. Still, an acceptable and refreshing beverage.

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

Kubler 53 USA 11/06/08, 11/08/08, 7/04/09.
All evaluations had consistent notes.