Color:

Very nice clear mid-green tint, neither olive nor atomic. Stays light peridot tinted even after water. Essentially perfect, the precise color a verte should be.

Louche:

Couldn't really be much better I think, using very cold water and getting to my usual dilution of 4:1 faster than I like (anticipation and all ya know), it formed a nice clear layer at the top that lingered and then vanished. I didn't notice the usual "oily trails" business like I usually see though, but that may have been because I was simply rushing it. Once fully louched it's maybe, just maybe a tad on the thin side, but I'm picking nits here.

Aroma:

Before water, very much green anise, with just a hint of wormwood and herbs. No trace of grass or other overly herbaceous things jumping out at you. After water, much more wormwood, much less anise. Minty and sharp, with just a tiny bit of Christmas spice in the background.

Flavor:

No sugar tonight in my absinthe. Not to start anyway. The result is wormwood and mint, with a very crisp refreshing aftertaste. A rounded fruitiness makes itself known as well. This makes it not go well with chocolate (since I don't like mint and chocolate), but did help with the roast for dinner, although the flavor was perhaps not up to the top competition in all respects, it is very clear, very clean, and present.

Finish:

Moderately bitter but smooth, the finish is not so much aromatic as it is cooling. Not numbing though, with less of that than I like, but cooling there is plenty of.

Overall:

Taken as the sum of the parts, I like this absinthe, but only just. Although this bottling is said to be about 6 months old, I wish the flavor had just a little bit more complexity to it, and the mint notes were toned down slightly. Maybe with time. But, what it lacks perhaps in richness, it makes up for in its refreshing qualities and ability to hold its own with other foods.

Appearance: A light grassy green that is clear and bright. Hardly any of the usual yellow tone at all. Nice and clear with no sediment.

Louche: A nearly opaque and milky green. Hardly any nuance at all.

Aroma: Smells like a distillery. There is a strong mint aroma that dominates the scent. If you search behind the mask of mint and still, there appear to be some citrus and anise notes as well.

Flavor: A big ol' mint bomb that has a thick and vegetal texture. Once again you have to search for other notes. Unbalanced and I regret to say, tailsy.

Finish: A mint and citrus combo that reminds me of mouthwash. Lasts a decently long time but not necessarily in a good way.

Overall: The vegetal and mint combo trample over anything else. This is surprising considering that the same distillery produces some extremely good absinthes. Maybe when it was launched it was a decent offering but now many absinthes and even the distiller have surpassed this one.

with & without sugar - 2.5:1 water ratio

Appearance: Very nice, clear light green that shines like a gemstone. I only wish it was a tiny shade darker - then it would have gotten a perfect score.

Louche: It took a little while to build, which is good, but after that things went rather quickly. There is a lack of "trails."

Aroma: Un-louched - very sweet flavor that initially reminds me of anisette toast cookies. There is a classic absinthe profile that has a bit of that 'alpine freshness' I love. For the first time, I would say I sense a vegetal quality to the nose both from the louched glass that is not particularly pleasant (without sugar added).

Taste: My first impression was that I found this absinthe to be extremely sweet without sugar, and way over the top with it, but later, probably due to the slightly vegetal nose, I went back to the sugar. I don't have a whole lot to say here - It's balanced, and there is no strong alcohol bite. It has the taste I expect from high quality absinthe, but with no interesting complexities or special aspects, save for a dash of spiciness.

Finish: Very thin mouth feel - does not coat the mouth. Light pull on the tongue. The taste dies rather quickly and doesn't bring anything new to the table.

Overall: I was disappointed in this because at the time of purchase it seemed to be held in very high regard. I would say it is not at all on the level of the Doubs Mystique or Roquette offered by the distillery, which are both far more enjoyable to me. I don't want to make it sound like this absinthe is bad in any way, I just wasn't blown away. It is a top shelf absinthe... I guess I am spoiled by things like Marteau and also need to sense some sort of deep complexity in the absinthe to really score it high.

Vieux Pontarlier seems like it could have been great absinthe that hits all the right notes and has a pleasant flavor. But there is a hint of an odor and flavor that I can only describe as a vegetal flavor mixed with “burnt rubber”. This being one of my First bottles I had to power through it and drank the whole thing, but I’ve later found out that this flavor is that of the “tails”.

For newcomers this is the bit of fluid at the end of the distillation, the “tail”. It shouldn’t be collected with the body of the distillation that is to be bottled, as it gives the Absinthe these strong vegetal flavors. Artichokes are the common descriptor used when trying to explain what the tails taste like.

Pre-louche the color is a proper and natural green. A vibrant, lighter green. When louched, it is quite milky while retaining much of the green coloring. With that said... positives are over.

The aroma is odd. Sort of a mintiness combined with what I can only describe as a "bubblegum" scent. These attributes are also strongly present in the taste. Not what I would expect in an absinthe. I have known no other absinthe out of the 15+ varieties I've had up to this point to have any such characteristics. It's just plain odd.

Vieux Pontarlier looks the part with proper coloring and louche but falls so far short with these aroma and flavor oddities...

I really expected more from this absinthe!