My first time tasting this was only a few months apart from trying a certain natural, distilled Czech absinthe known as Oliva. Verte de Fougerolles actually has a similar character, so if you can hunt down a bottle, try a comparison tasting. Just a little fun fact.

Colour is the spitting image of olive oil. Louching this one up shows off some wild oil trails and is plenty thick, not fully louching until just past 3:1. The result is a shade close to a whitish-gold, with just a touch ‘o green.

Rather enticing aroma, I must say. Deeply sweet and fruity with anise, veronica, and hyssop slapping you in the face with intensity. Slightly funky from the grape base. Post-louche some spiciness and hints of genepy are revealed, but mostly still the fruity anise.

I was still catching some heat at 3:1, so I tinkered with a few dilutions before deciding on 4:1. Starts numbing rather quickly. With the inviting, complex aroma, I didn’t expect such dominance from one herb. Palatable, but you really have to sip slowly from the intense anise, which stands in the way of the other herbs more than I would have liked. Aside from the anise, there’s a fair bit of pontica, but I wasn’t getting much fennel or grande wormwood at all. That said, there’s not a great balance of the holy trinity. The finish is spicy, then suddenly bitter and convoluted.

Adding sugar livens things up, strangely intensifying the spiciness in the aroma, though the anise still gets in the way enough that it’s hard to taste a drastic change.

Devoille is 0 for 2 in attempts to impress this man’s palate. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm.

Other Notes: Bottle was aged for at least a year, tasted both fresh and after aging; notes were consistent. I enjoyed this absinthe best at about 4:1, no sugar.

Presentation: 7.5

Louche: 8.0

Taste: 5.8

Value: 6.2