Dose was 40ml to 200ml of chilled water.

Color: I have purchased several bottles of Lucid. There is some inconsistency in the color. For this review, the color happened to be a pale yellowish-green, slightly cloudy, but I have had others where it is more green and clearer. Rather than a count against, I take this as a by-product of natural techniques applied.

Louche: I drip water from a measuring cup that has a "beaker-like" protrusion for pouring. The louche forms quickly from the bottom, and larger *blop* drops of water burst into clouds, as opposed to bursting into tangles of trails. So the louche is faster forming than some, but with nice refractive attributes and that "what color *is* that?" kind of green/greyish/amber hue.

Aroma: Pre-louche, it is somewhat strongly alcohol but with kind of a "smoky" melange around an anise core. Post-louche: I love this aroma. It is anise but subdued by a heady mixture, which seems to be that smokiness "exploded". That mixture... I live on a farm, in the spring, the meadow air has components of this aroma: that combination of flowery and weedy and grassy and woody. In this case, I am weighing more heavily in favor of the post-louche aroma with the number rating, because pre-louche is fairly harshly alcohol. Smelling the louched glass is almost as nice as drinking from it.

Flavor: Louched, I bring it up for a sip, and the combination of aroma and flavor reminds me of my great-grandmother's house. Is this because she was alive during the Belle Epoch? Because you don't just taste an alcoholic drink, you smell and taste it at once. Her house had a potpourri aroma mingled with a mixture of dusty antiquity and brass. Knickknacks everywhere, a clutter, but her ancient and thickly bespectacled visage also provided a focus, as the anise does in this flavor.


Finish: Yes, there is a murkiness, an indeteriminant jumble, like the items cluttering the shelves, and this fades behind the gentle insistence of the wormwood, but also a sweet clarity in the integration of the anise. The pressed meadow foliage reconstituted in the louche, tethered by the wormwood, dancing around that sweet anise maypole, fading softly into light anise notes as the wormwood dances up just slight into the sinuses! Did I mention I was slightly biased in the title of this review!?!

Overall: Ok, ok. So I have not tasted the greats of antiquity. The sole "solid 4" rating among these reviews that I have experienced is Kubler 53, and I would rate it higher than Lucid. But there is obviously a crafted effort that has gone into this liquor that surpasses an artful bottle and cashing in on the absinthe mystique. The sweetness of the anise, and the numbing of the wormwood is nicely balanced, with a host of herbal flavors that are at times maybe murkily tangled, but not unpleasantly so. The only real "dings" in the experience as I see them would be the aroma as poured out of the bottle, and some inconsistency in the coloration.

Color: Light olive. Somewhat dull and unremarkable but looks natural. After louche the color is murky, like dishwater.



Louche: The louche begins forming immediately. It could be thicker, but I wouldn't describe it as thin. It never becomes opaque. Not very attractive.



Aroma: Something immediately strikes me as "off" in the aroma. Not something I'd describe as clean. I find the peppery notes a bit distracting as well, but not all bad. Perhaps just a bit too heavy handed. The wormwood presence is more forward than I expected. And of course the predominant note is anise, no surprise there.



Flavor: Again I'm getting something I can only describe as "murky". It's pretty flat and uninteresting, like a light American beer. No flavors really jump out on my palate and demand my attention. Not very complex. I get that anise and underlying wormwood, along with the peppery presence.



Finish: The fennel becomes more noticeable in the finish along with a slight wormwood bitterness. Lingering but I wouldn't describe the duration as long.



Overall: I know that this is a quality made product, which is what I want to see entering the U.S. market. I'm just not a fan of this particular brand. I wonder if Ted attempted to cater to what we all know about the typical American beer preference (bland, watered down) when crafting this? This absinthe is to American beer as his Jades are to a full bodied ale.

Being a fan of the "Jade" line of Absinthe, I find it unfortunate that Lucid didn't expand upon it, but I suppose it might be understandable that the first US absinthe would try to play things a little on the safe side.



I found the color on the light side, and the flavor not as complex as I would like. But the louche was good, and it did have a fairly nice nose to it.



I don't see anything specifically flawed about Lucid, aside from the fact that it isn't as good as I know it could be. If you are wanting a gentle introduction to absinthe, then you could do far worse than Lucid.

the Color is nice, but I've seen clearer. Good peridot hue, not too blue or yellow.

the Louche is right there from the word go. I personally like the louche to be pretty substantial but not completely opaque. It comes on a little too quick for my taste but is lots of fun to watch.

the Aroma is nice, but not what I'd call complex.

the Flavor is also quite nice, but once again, Complex is not a word that comes to mind.

the Finish is technically what I like in a Verte, with a semi-crisp semi-peppery bite at the end. I really like this quality but with this brand it seems like a destination without much of a journey.I'm not sure how else to say it.

I must agree with Peridot,the components are there but don't all the way add up. Still, you can bet the farm that I like this better than he does.

I'd keep it around for guests or the occasional once in a while, but I don't think I'll be drinking it as regularly as Mystique, for example.

A good starter absinthe, if you don't like this stuff then don't drink Absinthe. If you do, then prepare for the rest of your life to be a delicious aesthetic adventure.

I had a gathering with some friends, served this brand along with two others and this was the least favorite.