Belle Amie

The Absinthe Belle Amie is another absinthe coming out of the Les Fils de Emile Pernot distillery in Pontarlier, France. It is based on the traditional Nimes recipe and a rather nice effort at that.

Already the bottle itself is quite a treat with its sort of clean design and a very nice classy label. The red wax seal with the Pernot distillery's stamp on it completes the package. It's all good. This all leads up to the question if the content will live up to the expectations.

Well, the color is a nice green with a golden amber hue to it. Quite nice and completely free of sediment. The aroma which rises from the glass is a nice well balanced complex herbal mix of wormwood, fennel, anise and coriander up front - finely accompanied by the touch of hyssop. It's all very good though it's still just a little too flat in a way to be perfect. It lacks a little oomph to make it really amazing but it's certainly nice.

Slowly dripping ice water into it builds a decent louche and ends up just fine. There's nothing spectacular about the louche here but it turns out fine and the water further enhances the aroma slightly. The louched color is just a bit too dark green for me but I guess most people will not care about that.

The taste of the Belle Amie is as expected from the aroma not bad at all. It presents a nice complex taste, in some aspects with similarities to vintage absinthes I've had, though a bit lighter. I'm not saying the Belle Amie is as good as an excellent pre-ban, because it's not, but there are qualities in it that are excellent. Over all I'd say it's maybe a bit too light in some parts but it's definitely a quality absinthe, a nice interpretation of the Nimes recipe.

Keep your eyes open for it when you see it, it's produced in limited batches and they tend to go fast. Liqueurs de France would probably be your best bet online to get it, which I think you should. It's a nice refreshing drink.