I was joined on the phone by Chris Carlsson, aka Mr. Spirits Review, and dedicated two evenings to a 4+ hour epic Vieux Carre phone conversation. Lots of discussion, a little difference of opinion, and some off-topic rambling ensued, including thoughts on Vicodin, Tales of the Cocktail '09, and I got to hear the story behind Chris’ death threat, which made it all worth it. After an hour and a half, Chris discovered a call-record feature that would’ve been very handy an hour and a half earlier. After much tedious recapping, piecing together, and endless trimming, I present the first-ever TARN/Spirits Review absinthe discussion and review:

Ben Lopez: Chris, what were your initial impressions of Vieux Carre?

Chris Carlsson: Bouquet is a wonderful mixture of wormwood and fennel, citrus, herbal savory, what not to like? No jarring notes like too much alcohol or mint, very balanced and subtle.

Ben: I found it to be aromatic and sweet with pontica, genepy and melissa taking the lead. The high-quality fennel does wrap everything together into a charming little package. Good overall.

Chris: Lovely green going to gold color,

Ben: A little sediment on the bottom, quite dark neat.

Chris: The cap was hard to get off; it’s a hazard!

Ben: Yes, it’s liable to splosh about when opening, and you could hit yourself in the face with the sudden release.

Chris: It’s not traditional, but the bottle is nice. Be careful, absinthe stains like a bad grass stain.

Ben: It is a snazzy package, you're right.

Ben: Little swampy resulting louche; almost as dark as St. George.

Chris: Very visual louche - pools of oil swirl nicely before changing to an iridescent green. The louche is quite good, a little slow and the oils pool around a bit. A little light on the louche, nice colour, but you have to be careful about how much water you add. Needs very cold water for full effect.

Ben: Yes, it seems as if the water isn’t arctic, it’s slightly translucent. Water drip must be very slow, too.

Chris: It doesn’t have the glow that some of them do, that shine. You know, like the Vaseline kind of glow.

Ben: “Vaseline“, eh? I need to steal that comparison sometime…

Chris: Or a flat vs. high gloss paint look, you know? It’s leaning toward flat.

Ben: Genepy, wormwood, and hyssop, backed by some heat on the nose. At 3:1, melissa and pontica come forward more, not a ton of anise, decent measure of wormwood.

Chris: Bouquet is a wonderful mixture of wormwood and fennel. Aromatic mint and genepy finish with a pleasant drying on the tongue.

Ben: It’s sweet from start to finish, with the background herbs chiming in periodically. The finish retains the overall character, with a little more of that mintiness lingering, like you said.

Chris: It‘s very herbal, though doesn’t seem to have a lot of sharp edges. I think the genepy kinda sands off some of the rough edges a bit, maybe too much. It sort of glides you toward the anise, toward sweetness. But it’s very pleasant as a cocktail ingredient because of that.

Ben: I haven’t used it in any cocktail myself, so maybe you could elaborate on that.

Chris: I used it for Sazerac and Death in the Afternoon. It worked very well for Death, because it was very smooth and balances out the dryer champagne a little bit.