L'Italienne is a most unusual absinthe. It seems unremarkable at first, pouring a natural gold-olive with a strong, medicinal scent before water. The louche action is as it should be: all the usual visuals and ending in a thin, yellow jade.

After water, the aroma is quite odd. With a long inhale I get lavender, grapefruit, and white pepper, all mixed together. "Peculiar" is just the word for it. The flavor is odd and way out of balance. The white pepper becomes more intense, while the citrus remains, but there is also an intrusive bitterness which is not pleasing. That bitterness lingers in the finish, along with notes of pepper and a weird floral air, none of which can be mutually reconciled.

What I do not get with this absinthe is much in the way of anise, or the clean herbal bitterness I expect from a good absinthe. I am afraid I cannot recommend this one.