Color is a medium peridot. It's radiant refractive and appealing. The louche is an excellent gradual development with lots of delicate snowy cloud action, and ending up with a delightful thickness, with lovely opalescence. Color after water is peridot with white shades, with excellent reflection of a creamy gradient green. The aroma neat is of an alpine meadow and louched it opens up with a balanced scent of anise, fennel and wormwood. It is extremely balanced with a fresh clean nose. Mouth feel is creamy soft and full. The taste is balanced with soft delicious herbal notes. Slight spiciness with a sweet fruity tinge..a nice balanced wormwood finish. An excellent, delightful, fresh absinthe. The alpine herbal, sweet tinged flavor with the excellent wormwood finish is superb.

very cold water drip to 3.5:1 and then additional water to probably 4:1, no sugar

color: beautiful clear green, slightest hint of yellow/gold. Not the deepest color I've seen but by no means pale. Very attractive, natural, and appropriate.

nose (neat): soft and clean, nothing sharp or funky. You wouldn't guess this is 62% alc. it's so pleasant and easy to smell. Nicely herbal, you can find the anise in there and maybe I'm getting a notion of citrus. I'll get into the aroma more after the louche.

louche: not a super thick louche, but use very cold water and take your time and you will be rewarded. Nice swirling, slow building cloudiness with good layering. At 3:1 or so appears fairly thin and more translucent than most, but color is very nice and the glass is attractive. Hints of blue, I'm still trying to get a handle on "opalescence" and this may be it.

aroma: my (in)experience is letting me down here. The aroma is wonderful and inviting. Maybe I picked up some mint and citrus, thought once there was a hint of cut celery, but really, just an extremely pleasant anise and herbal aroma. It's the kind of thing where rather than trying to critically analyze the aroma, you just want to smell it and smile. I'm unable to pick out any individual aromas beyond the familiar anise/fennel.

flavor: wonderful. This is an anise drink, as absinthe should be, but by no means one-dimensional; there's very nice herbal character supporting the anise, and a good balancing wormwood bitterness. Very nice mouthfeel, feels richer than the post-louche appearance led me to believe.

finish: long and well balanced. Mildy pleasant tongue clinging and numbing. Leaves a refreshed feeling in the mouth. Cool, sweet, and clean.

overall: Pacifique is incredible, nothing more needs to be said. To my taste it leans towards the delicate/feminine side, and seems to be an amazing feat of balancing complexity and restraint. This is easily up there in the top tier of absinthes I've tasted.

Color- Very nice green. Not a true peridot but closer to a more pale ‘green amethyst’ like color. There are a few sprinkles of sediment at the bottom of the glass.

Louche- Oil trail action starts at about 1/1. Nothing too crazy in terms of cascading explosions. A little weak but I’m really nitpicking. There are pretty gold and blue refractions under natural light.

Aroma- I get a sweet, candy-like vanilla scent. Very refined and not cheap smelling at all. Deeper aromas of anise, fennel and melissa invite you to start drinking this stuff.

Flavor- Anise, fennel and a mid-palate wormwood bite are all in harmony here. Different depths of melissa are present depending on the sip. Some mint and hyssop round out the flavors and linger on to the finish. This absinthe is both savory and fresh at the same time. Very pleasant and extremely complex- I’m having trouble picking out all of the flavors and describing them.

Finish- I primarily get anise and melissa with some quality wormwood bite. One of the longest finishes I’ve experienced.

Overall- This is a top-tier absinthe. A few improvements in the color or louche would put this in the elite category. This is a great value, at least in the ‘absinthe world.’ Pick it up.

I found the Pacifique to be well done, but it probably will never be a favorite of mine. It begins a pale shade of peridot. The color before water is attractive but not as intense as some other absinthes. With the addition of water, a pleasant louche forms. The final color is a very slightly greenish white, not very different from a typical blanche. The louche is a bit on the thin side.

The aroma of the Pacifique is its best feature. There is a nice, clean and delicate spice which is very pleasing. One detects a hint of pepper in the aroma, but nothing too intense or distracting. In the flavor and finish, the pepper comes through even more, and I was reminded a bit of Lucid, though Pacifique's flavor is more subtle and refined. The finish is very similar to the overall taste, with pepper being the predominant note.

Overall, I like this absinthe fairly well, and its certainly a good value for the money. However, it falls a bit short of the standard set by the top-tier absinthes available in the US.