Appearance: A clear dark and heavy yellow. Very topaz and a bit dead leaved.

Louche: Thick and milky while retaining lots of color but surprisingly hued. Not opaque but definitely thicker than perfect.

Aroma: Coriander, and as expected vanilla jump out at me first. Star anise and an upfront wormwood play a bit with a mild citrus note. Menthol tone is in the background.

Flavor: As expected this is strong and herbaceous. Star anise is heavy with coriander spikes. The vanilla smoothness plays a nice role but it's not as smooth as one would expect. Thankfully the mentholated tone is further in the background.

Finish: Vanilla hits up-front and a decent sweetness shows up that is spiked with the spice tone. There is an interesting astringency on the side of my tongue as well as a mentholated background note.

Overall: While the barrel aging seems to have improved this one it still suffers the flaws of what was put into the barrel. A few of the defects have been aged out but not completely. Maybe give it another year in the barrel?