Le Diable Noir
Country of origin: Spain
Distillery: Not sure (can’t read Spanish)
LCBO price: Not available in Canada
Neat colour: A strange, murky black which glows with reds, blues and the ubiquitous green when held to the light.
Neat aroma: Highly alcoholic. Little in the way of anise. It seems to me there’s just enough for it to be present. Lots of wormwood, though.
Neat taste: It’s got that medicinal quality that so many absinthes seem to have. The alcohol seems to dominate everything, though there’s not as much sting with this one as with others. You can taste wormwood, but the anise seems absent. Final taste seems spicy, somehow.
Louched colour: A surreal thing. There was very little louche, but it did come. When it did, it came as a bluish-green-grey phantom, starting at the bottom and slowly rising to the top until there was just a black film at the meniscus. Final colour was unearthly.
Louched aroma: Alcohol still a little present. I may be imagining the anise, but there’s a suggestion of it there.
Louched taste: The spiciness is subdued with the water. The flavour has some traces of wormwood and I get surprisingly cool hints of something almost minty. Trying to find the anise. End result is refreshing, nevertheless, and enjoyable.
Vinnie Approved
So my boss goes on a Mediterranean cruise. My coworker got a shirt from Greece. I got a small bottle of absinthe from Spain. I like my boss.
I had a glass when I first got it, and then let it sit undisturbed for a year, wanting to ration it out. Last night, my lovely lady and I celebrated another anniversary and opted to have a glass.
I remembered thinking the initial glass I had was a huge paradox. It looked murky and swampy. I must have been looking at it in better light this time, as it looked like some strange dark jewel sitting in my glass. As far as absinthe is concerned, it’s not overly remarkable in its flavour, though said flavour is enjoyable enough. It’s kind of like the difference between Coke and Pepsi. One is preferred, but in a pinch, the other will get you through.
It’s not stellar, but nevertheless, Vinnie approves.
The House of Wormwood 
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