Helfrich Verte

Mr Serge Helfrich has had an absinthe out on the market for a while now. I've tried the first version, I've tried a couple of "in between test runs" and now I got to try the version currently available. It has without a doubt been improved a lot since the last "public release"...

First of all it smells really nice and a complex herbal character presents it self. The very clear presence of nice fennel and wormwood is mixed with clear notes of citrus, mint and also coriander.

The color of the sample I had was a little less green than I had thought it would be but that could be just my sample having turned slightly "feuille morte". Not necessarily a bad thing but the color should be stable for a little longer than that. Adding water a nice and steady louche is slowly building up and at about a 3:1 water/absinthe ratio it's almost completely opaque. The drink has turned into a light green instead...

Again, the very clear citrus notes are up front and also the minty touch is enhanced. However, there's a certain lack of balance in it all. There's always something showing through a little too much. An otherwise rich and full mouth-feel is sadly distorted by some form of harsh strong herbal taste which takes away a bit of that creaminess. This same thing comes back in the taste, making it a bit too unbalanced. Sure, there are a lot of herbs and spices that aren't normally used in an ordinary absinthe so I don't expect it to be the same as everything else but this little something is the one thing that I don't quite like with it.

Other than that I must say that it's a quality product, no doubt. It's well made and it's been improved from previous runs and I am very sure that I will eventually end up loving it.