Appearance: totally fake. Not your run of the mill neon green, but still not appealing in any sense of the word.

Louche: Surprisingly thin and flat. I was expecting a much thicker louche based on the apparent levels of anise.

Aroma: I'm not sure how a low proof option like this can put off so much heat, but it sure does. Some anise, lots of licorice. Undertones of mustiness.

Flavor: Woof. Like anise flavored cough syrup. Very thick and cloyingly sweet. No complexity at all.

Finish: Numbness and grass. Just yuck.

Overall: No need to even give this a second thought. It's a low quality, gimmick product. Pass on this and pick up even a mid-level authentic absinthe. You'll be much better served.

Color
Unlouched, light medium yellow-green. Lighter than La Fee Pariesienne, and more yellowish. Very artificial looking (it is colored with FD&C Yellow #6, FD&C Blue #1, and FD&C Yellow #5). Louched, an atomic milky lime green with a blue undertone. Very monochromatic, with only the slightest gradients to yellow at the edges, and blue at the meniscus.

Louche
Actually a restrained louche, more transparent than I expected. No depth or nuance. Very synthetic looking.

Aroma
Unlouched, vanilla/caramel with a vague herb background. Very faint. Louched, still faint, mostly low quality vanilla. Not much of a sense of anise of any type. No real impression of herbs, flowers, etc.. Only with a really strong swirl can I detect some poor quality wormwood. The overall nose portends substantial sweetness.

Flavor
Viscous, sweet, and round on the attack. Like the nose, a combination of low quality vanilla and wormwood on the mid-palate. No nuance or sense of other herbs and flowers. Other than the base alcohol, I suspect that the artificial colors are half the ingredients.

Finish
The roundness retires first, leaving the drying combination of poor vanilla and wormwood, backed by a light coating of star anise that gently chisels away at the tongue. As the finish wears on, the wormwood becomes a little more apparent with an almost "weedy" character.

Overall
Why bother? This is so unlike genuine absinthe that it's hard to understand why anyone would voluntarily buy it (my bottle was given to me), unless they just wanted to appear to be drinking absinthe. It's no bargain, either, since what you essentially have here is a partially pre-louched absinthe (the first approximately .8:1 of dilution has been done for you to make it 38% abv). In my market, this costs $25.00 to $28.00. If you work the math backwards, to account for the extra water, this would be $45.00 to $50.00, bottled at 68% abv. At slightly above this price there are plenty of authentic alternative choices. I really struggled here between 1, Unacceptable, or 2, Barely Acceptable. I landed on 1, because of the combination of low quality, and the strange vanilla dominance. Honestly, if I were tasted on this blindfolded, I might not even guess that it is supposed to be absinthe.

NV? Where does that name come from? NV-ous of what? Am I supposed to NV it? Clever can be fun, but in marketing it is always best backed up by some substance. Lacking that, I can only see this as a deadly sin. Can I hear an Amen?

Done with a 1 ounce dose, diluted 2:1, 2.2:1, and no sugar.

NV Absinthe Verte, 04/30/11.
At this score level, will not do multiple evaluations.