A look at Pernod Absinthe Superior.
Posted in Absinthe, Spirits on August 19th, 2009 by halw – 3 Comments
A bottle of Pernod Absinthe Superior.
“In 1805, Henri-Louis Pernod partnered with Major Dubied to found Pernod Fils and the first commercial absinthe distillery.
After the reinstatement in 2008, Pernod Absinthe returns with handcrafted quality and tradition that transcends time.”
The above was written on a cardboard attachment that came on the bottle of Pernod aux Plantes d’Absinthe Supérieure that we looked at.
Not much to live up to is it? A recreation of one of the first absinthes available in the 1800’s based on the Pernod Fils original recipe.
So does it live up to the legend, or does embarrass itself and fall into that category of absinthe we’d recommend staying away from?
Well luckily Pernod did a nice job with its Absinthe Superior with one minor issue, using food coloring including FD&C Yellow #5. Though I do have to respect their choice to post it right above the front label and not attempt to hide it as some other brands have done. Putting that aside, flavor-wise it’s a good representation of an absinthe.
The nose hits you as soon as you open the bottle with heavy notes of anise, and it continues to impress as you begin to sip it.
After adding water, the scent of anise came out further, and showed how much the Absinthe Superior fits what absinthe should be.
We watched as the Absinthe Superior louched after water was added, so we discovered that the product does contain the correct herbs such as star anise, hyssop ,mint, fennel, and coriander.
The use of these herbs, allowed the Pernod Absinthe Superior to behave itself in front of an audience. After allowing it to louche and sampling it we were greeted with flavors of minor spice, anise, a slight bitterness and vegetal notes.
Adding the traditional sugar cube it became more balanced and the previously slightly bitter flavor was replaced with notes of sweet.
The Pernod Absinthe Superior does louche correctly, so while it does list artificial food coloring as an ingredient, it does use also make use of the correct herbal ingredients as well. If it did not, it would not louche(as demonstrated in earlier reviews of Czech varieties).
The Pernod Absinthe Superior louching.
At first we had our concerns about the Pernod Absinthe Superior, especially with the use of artificial coloring, however after tasting the product and seeing that they do also use a good portion of the correct herbs to allow it properly louche, we can say without a doubt it is what an absinthe should be.
Final Score: 8/10
Note:Recommended with the traditional sugar cube.
