A 40ml dose louched with 200ml chilled water, no sugar was used for this review.

Color: copper sulfate solution.

Louche: thin oil trails that eventually manage to coalesce into a slight fog.

Aroma: Now. This is not an unpleasant aroma, but neither is it the aroma of absinthe. Cardamom/coriander-ish, with some lemon/flowery undertones a'la Avon Skin-So-Soft. Really kind of a pleasant aroma, but not necessarily like the aroma of something you want to *drink* with just chilled water and sugar.

Taste: please don't make me taste it again. It tastes like it smells: cologne-ish. Anise is missing completely.

Finish: Buy some sugarless minty gum. Chew it for 17 minutes. Put it on your bedpost overnight. In the morning, put a tiny tiny tiny drop of wormwood extract on it and chew it again: that's about it.

Overall: I read where the makers are marketing this as a drink additive, that is a better idea than claiming it tastes like absinthe when mixed with chilled water and sugar. It is a very complex flavor, and I do think it is a matter of balancing it with other drink ingredients: there are plenty of liquors that don't taste good on their own. Adding just 5ml of this will impart its flavor and some of it's color, and I can see where the swank mixologist could earn some points just for waving the ornate bottle over a libation. BUT, much sympathy for anyone who tries this as a "first absinthe experience". Much like losing one's virginity to a... well: something unpleasant.You can fill in the blank.

The color is not natural-looking to me, and I wouldn't be surprised if this absinthe had artificial coloring in it (1/5). The louche was also very thin, and looked fake, for lack of a better word (2/5). Anyone who has had really good absinthe will know what I mean when I say that an absinthe's color and louche should seem herbal, thick, oily and nuanced - these qualities go a long way in setting the mood. This one was more like a vodka painted green that turned slightly chalkier when water was added.



The spirit is obviously grain, not grape-based, which makes this absinthe taste harsher and makes it more of a cheap knock-off rather than a recreation of what Van Gogh drank (2/5). The idea of adding eucalyptus is an interesting one, but ought to be tried by a distillery that puts more effort into authenticity. The mint was also far too strong, mint has a strong natural flavor that is too overpowering which is why those 19th century distilleries that used it used only very limited quantities - Pernod Fils had something like one bushel of mint per 10 kg of herbs, I believe.



There was no finish to speak of - literally as soon as I had sipped this drink, all the flavor was gone (1/5).



The only thing that makes me rate this absinthe 2/5 overall is the bottle, which has a very interesting design. Tourment Vert is the missing link between 19th-century absinthe and the "absinth" of the bars in Prague. It was obviously rushed for release on the recently opened American market, and the whole point of a ratings guide is to help people avoid wasting upwards of $60 on something that isn't even authentic. For people who are stuck with a U.S. brand, I would strongly recommend trying Lucid or St. George instead.

Bottle purchased April 2008, review based on sample consumed December 2008.

This is an entertaining, if not authentic, drink. My wife brought it home from the liquor store, her having been talked into it by an employee that I assume has since been sacked. I read the reviews before I opened it up, and had a sense of gloom that my wife had been taken for a ride.

Tasting this "absinthe" didn't allay my fears. As many others have noted, it presents a blue-green Scope mouthwash homage. The pre-louche nose is bright peppermint, a very slight touch of anise, and sweetness. Nothing traditional in the nose at all.

A very weak louche can be coaxed out of the LTV with a super-slow drip of very cold water. The louche is very thin, and the color ends up a muted blue-green, as you might expect. The nose post-louche turns mainly mint, with all of the anise disappearing. Sweetness continues to present itself, and you continue to think of Scope mouthwash.

The taste is mint, with a fullness in the center of the tongue that reminds me of the "fifth taste" - umami. It's not definable, other than saying it's a full, round taste that fills out the mint. It's not an absinthe taste by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not unpleasant, either. It's just... weird.

Overall, you can't characterize this as an absinthe. It belongs, perhaps, in the liqueur category, because of the sweetness and the odd flavor. It also has a relatively low ABV (50%), which is obvious, as you never notice the alcohol. Perhaps this would make an interesting cocktail ingredient for something presented in a martini glass - the weak louche and minty taste might compliment a chocolate or lemon vodka?

In a moment of weakness and pure stupidity, I decided to purchase 750ml of Le Tourment Vert from a local Bevmo.

I have purchased only 3 bottles of Absinthe since I began drinking the delicious spirit in late September of this year. Every time I purchased a new bottle I decided to stick with my original choice, Kubler; I guess I should have known better to switch it up so early in the game. Allow me to explain myself more fully.

When I opened the bottle of Le Tourment Vert I was hit in the face (much like a brick) by a wall of alcohol, followed by a slight minty smell, followed by something similar to a mix of bleach and licorice, mixed with a little more alcohol.

After crossing myself, I looked down into the bottle and noticed a strange aqua color; a mix between neon blue and neon green. There is no natural substance I know of that will produce this sort of coloring so I am 100% positive that the coloring step was skipped almost entirely.

Upon the addition of water I noticed the color change from the strange mix of neon blue and neon green to a sluggish aqua marine. I could see directly through the glass, there was absolutely no louche what so ever (at least as far as I was concerned).

If there are any children in the room, please have them leave immediately; what you are about to read is extremely disturbing.

Shortly after downing my first shot of the Le Tourment, my senses were overwhelmed with a burst of alcohol and mint mixed with a bit of bleach, followed by a strange, booming and prolonged groan that seemed to come directly from my stomach.

I rushed into the bathroom, rinsed my mouth out with some scope (which strongly resembled the Le Tourment Vert, too much for comfort if you ask me), spit it out, poured a glass of Pernod and enjoyed the rest of my evening sipping on the Pernod and a bit of Kubler.

To some it up, this drink is not Absinthe. It is disgusting, toxic and has been found wanting.

I have since purchased a bottle of St. George, Obsello and Kubler and am currently awaiting their arrival so that I may flush this horrifying encounter with the Le Tourment Vert from my memory, entirely.

The color is an aqua unlike anything found in nature. It looks like Ty-D-Bol.

The louche is almost non-existent. I worked very hard to coax even a faint louche out between 2 and 3 to one.

The aroma is dominated by mint and a sharp herbal scent like summer savory. A citrus note increases the overall sharpness.

At the start here is some sweetness from anise, but a ver strong minty/sage taste overwhelms everything immediatley therafter. Following that is a strongly herbal flavor (sage? summer savory?, thyme?) which really seems out of synch with the rest. A little bit of wormwood creeps through at the end.

The finish is a bit of mint, mothballs, and a lingering bitterness. Ultimately, this is an unbalanced, fragmented and unpleasant drink. Sugar actually makes it worse, as it makes the sage flavor and bitterness linger.

This is one that I really did not like at all. However, the bottle is really great. Buy it for the bottle. Put something else in it.