Color: Topaz, but not in a "dead" way. Clear, and without sediment.

Louche: Extremely slow, but not too spectacular. Turns and attractive citrine color with amber tones. It can sometimes be finicky to get the correct temperature of water/texture.

Aroma: Once louched, the scent fills the room. It's absolutely magical. Very perfumed and beautiful, with the wormwood creating an easy bridge from the trinity over to the floral notes of lilac and jasmine. I would wear this as a perfume.

Flavor: I can't taste any flavors that I don't adore and I can't think of how all the flavors could be balanced any better. It's fresh and clean with a hint of lemongrass. It's strong jasmine and wormwood flavors have just enough anise to still be undeniably absinthe. So much could go wrong with all of these flavors, but this is so right.

Finish: Not so much of a "finish," as I feel 100% of the flavor lasts for quite a while before slowly diminishing.

Overall: It's hard to be too picky on what is clearly a natural color and louche, but I would like these to present a little better, but the taste more than makes up for this. Definitely my favorite absinthe.

Colour is beautiful and flawless. Sadly, L'Italienne belongs to small minority of absinthes being so properly coloured and having such a traditional tinge.

It contains enough of anethole buddies to louche in a nice semi-translucent manner, so let it be.

Aroma is really intense, both neat and louche, very fragrant, strong, assertive but delicate at the same time. And it smells of herbs, not of anise foremost.

Flavour is very complex, at 1:2.5 (the perfect ratio for that batch), builds gradually and everythings is slowly revealing its charm.

Finish is long, spicy, wormwoody and citrusy.

Overall, that particular batch needs neither critique nor feedback. Those who happen to have it, should re-think why absinthes they had in such a high regard previously, are simply weak when compared to L'Italienne #2

Here is a case where I feel that the whole adds up to more than the sum of the parts.

Yes, the color is yellowish, but only because its creator, Steffano Rossoni, had a vision of a super-floral, and perfumy absinthe, and the mystery herb that contributed those wondrous qualities also happened to be responsible for the lack of a peridot, or emerald hue. IMO, I'd much rather sniff that glorious aroma, and taste that profound perfume, and sacrifice some of the visuals.

As far as the louche is concerned, yes, it is on the thin side, but only (once again) to allow that perfuminess to hold sway over the palate, and the addition of more anise would have destroyed much of that delicate floral balance. That being said, I found the louche to be quite adequate for the style, and nowhere near as thin as those of the Roquette, or Belle Amie.

Some drinkers have been put off by the extreme perfuminess, but I find it to be exquisite, and there is an accompanying dryness (this is one of the more austerely dry absinthes I've ever tasted) that further emphasizes the aforementioned attributes.

For my money, this is the finest commercial absinthe (along with L'Artianale) to be produced, to date.