Absinthe Duplais Verte

Absinthe Duplais with 500 ml. and 72 % vol. COLOR BEFORE WATER 9.5/10
Beautiful, rich green/amber. Very similar to Verte de Fougerolles 72, but deeper. Enticing. Only receiving a half-point reduction due to a bit of cloudiness. This doesn't bother me at all with Jade's Verte Suisse either - at least not with the final production release.

LOUCHE ACTION 9.5/10
Wonderful, slow-forming with a very evident solid green line at the top of the glass, completing the louche. Possibly the best I've seen. Rich in oils.

COLOR AFTER WATER 10/10
No complaints. Rich, splendid, natural green. Opaque. There's some hits of blue around the edges of the glass at the top. This is not from the lighting in the room.

AROMA 21/30
From the bottle, the liquor has an inviting combo of fennel and wormwood. There's some spice going on as well which I wouldn't begin to know how to peg. Where this one loses points is in the kind of dirty odor that comes out of the glass during watering. I don't know about dirty dishwater, but more like the smell of Verte de Fougerolles 72. I'm hoping the flavor isn't compromised.

MOUTH-FEEL 8/10
Rich & creamy. If there's star anise in here (guessing there is) it's in ample, but not overwhelming proportion to the green variety. Tongue numbs substantially after 2 glasses, but doesn't hide any flavor.

TASTE 15/20
Outstanding, with exception to the slight twinge of that Verte de Fougerolles 72 flavor. I knew it would taste a bit like this gauging by what I picked up during the louche, but it's not unbearable. In fact, the positive qualities of substantial fennel & a good bit of wormwood make it very worthwhile. Still can't peg that spice, but it's a welcome addition to the rest of the constituents in this drink. If the good people of Kallnacher could back off on whatever that Fougerolles-esque flavor is, it would be even better.

OVERALL IMPRESSION 8/10
Mighty fine absinthe. There's room for improvement, but not so much as to make it run-of-the-mill. This has worked itself into my top 10, possibly top 5.