I am reviewing this from a sample that was sent to me.



As I open the bottle the first thing I notice is the smell of anise (star anise) and alcohol. As it's poured into the glass the aroma opens up and lingers in the glass. It is the smell of licorice and strong alcohol. I really can't pick anything else in the aroma.



At this point I notice the color is closer to a blanche with a straw-yellow tint. It kind of reminds me of Blanchette. This is surprising, since it is described a a verte.



I am louching my drink through a brouilleur at a drop per second. At the fifth drop the louch begins. By the time it is at a ratio of 2:1 the louche is complete. After continuing to a 3:1 ratio, the drinks aroma is still star anise and strong alcohol that lingers in the glass.



My first sip tastes like anise and alcohol with a bitter wormwood in the finish.The wormwood flavor is suspect. It almost seems like there may have been some used in the coloring (what coloring there is).



There's not a whole lot to the finish. Once I get past the alcohol flavor, I am left with a slight numb tongue and a lingering bitterness.



I'm glad I was able to sample Trillium. Unfortunately, I hoped it would be a little better for a small US distiller. Maybe, Integrity will continue to improve their product and will have something better to offer in the future.

The color is very pale, almost non-existent - somewhere between straw and emerald. The louche is very quick, oil trails are present, but there is no line of separation, nor any apparent method to the louche. The nose is fragrant, almost minty, but smells strongly of alcohol. The taste is hot, alcohol forward, with the mintiness continuing. The bitterness is pleasant, but what immediately takes over is the tongue-numbing effect. The finish is extremely short, with only the bittnerness lingering.



The overall impression one gets is that this is a young product, too quickly rushed to market. Perhaps future batches will prove fuller and less imperious.

Neat, I was surprised to see essentially no color at all. From the bottle, I smelled mostly star anise, a faint hint of what seemed to be cardamom, and perhaps an undertone of green anise but I can't be sure. Along with a little alcohol heat, it reminded me of nothing so much as Ricard pastis.



The louche seemed to happen all at once, after a brief delay that depended greatly on drip speed. Once louched, it seemed too thick by a third, as Dr. Seuss might say. The aroma after water, perhaps this absinthe's strongest point, was interesting, but it stayed in the glass too much.



As for flavor, I would characterize it as just OK, not very complex (somewhat blanche like, in fact), and it did in fact remind me of Kubler. There was still just a bit of heat/alcohol taste at 4:1. The finish was wormwoody-bitter with just a hint of that "Juicy Fruit" taste that marred the Taboo.



Overall I had hoped for more, ostensibly one thinks these smaller "micro-distilleries" are going for the higher end of the market due to all the personal care and attention that can be put into the product. That's all well and good, but a little more experience and practice will help with products like these.

These review comments are from the tasting notes I posted in the forum.



Color - Very pale, green leaning slightly to straw/yellow. The pale color made it difficult for me to judge clarity, it looked almost like a slightly cloudy blanche.



Nose (neat) - All I got was anise, with a background of isopropyl alcohol. It wasn't terribly hot or sharp or anything, and I actually like the smell of rubbing alcohol, so it wasn't off-putting to me, but inappropriate for absinthe.



Louche - Very nice trailing and swirling action in the glass. Beautiful layering. The louche action is by far the strong point of this absinthe. The weak color detracts a bit, but this might be the best performing louche I've seen to date. Finished glass had very weak color, almost like a blanche but without the clean, milky white. Finished color much lighter than Lucid. As it was getting late I had poor lighting so difficult to judge opacity, but it didn't appear as thick and heavy as, for example, Kübler. Difficult choice scoring a 3 or 4 for the louche; it should probably be considered "too strong" and scored a 3, but I enjoyed it so much I'm going with the 4.



Nose (post louche) - Very weak. I was surprised how the aroma seemed to just disappear after the louche. Faint anise aroma, and that's it.



Flavor - Anise, and very quickly tongue numbing, attacking the tip of the tongue. Ends with some wormwood bitterness. Balance between anise and wormwood seems good, but the flavors do not seem well integrated; you get the anise first, and then the wormwood quickly takes over. Could be due to the overall light character of the absinthe, the anise character just doesn't have any staying power other than the tongue numbing.



Finish - Very quick, and dominated by the tongue numbing and some lingering bitterness.



In summary, the whole experience can best be described as "weak". Weak color, and weak, simple flavor. There was nothing that I found offensive, but nothing interesting enough to entice me to a second glass. Light color, light flavor.