Absinthe Supreme

Absinthe Supreme from Urbano pleme is the first absinthe to come from Slovenia. It is presented in a good looking, modern kind of olive-oil style bottle with modern looking labels.
The label includes some basic absinthe information along with some rather irritating blurbs about how absinthe has been told to have aphrodosiac properties and what not and also the classic mention of thujone levels. But ok, it's marketing - I'll give them that.

Through the clear bottle a very nice green absinthe is visible. The color is indeed very good with a nice yellowish brown tinge to the emerald green. Good job. The color is artificially enhanced though so that is bit of a bummer but atleast it's not bordering on blue as most other artifically colored "green" absinthes so often are.

Opening the bottle and pouring a dose in the glass first reveals a nice scent of anise, wormwood and a faint vanilla scent. After only a short while this turns into a very sweet strange smell though and not much can penetrate through it. There's a lot going on in there but everything is overthrown by this vanilla-like sweetness. This is a bit sad because I really do believe there is some good stuff hiding in there.

With the bottle I also got a quite nice "modern interpretation" of an absinthe spoon. Just the right size to keep in a keychain or your wallet. Though with the sweetness presented in the drink itself, I doubt there will be any use for sugar in the Absinthe Supreme any time soon.
So, without sugar - slowly adding water to the Supreme produces a really nice and thick louche. Not too quick but just right and the drink turns to a light green thickly louched glass of absinthe waiting to be savoured.

I can't quite savour it though given the sweetness and rather one dimensional profile it presents. Again, I guess it's simply this vanilla thing that turns me off and even though it has a nice enough mouthfeel the aroma and taste is just a bit too off.

I'm sure there is room for the Supreme at the bar shelf in nightclubs and I'm even sure there are people that really like it but for me - it's not a favorite absinthe. Though at the price of (at the time of writing this) €35 ($45) it's not a the worst choice you can make. Just not the taste of a truly great traditional absinthe.

The Supreme was initially introduced in 2009 and when talking to the makers back then, I was told that they (Urbano pleme) had plans to make a 100% natural product as well and also with some alterations to the recipe. If this ever happened, I don't know...