And how is it?

Dunno.

#30 has landed, though.

Good, but not as crisp and fragrant as the Pignon et l'Épée sample a kind soul sent me (which has to be the best Verte I've ever tasted to date).

Revertnig back to MM#30: slightly grassy taste; lots of wormwood (which almost masks the anise, if it were not for the obvious presence of bucketloads of anethole), not that much fennel, probably quite a lot of hyssop (but how *does* one recognize the contribution of hyssop precisely?).

It's rumoured to have melissa in the macerate, but I doubt it has made the same kind of contribution melissa in the colouration phase makes. No hint of the melissa in the taste I seem to recognize in other products.

The alcohol base is very good - it's obviously got some wine alcohol in its base, but not enough to make a buttery sweet sherry/vinegar taste invade the absinthe.

hee hee!
Told you it was Tha Bomb Shit.

Yep.

Hyssop makes absinthe a deep emerald green colour when used in the colouring/2nd flavouring step. If one uses the flowers only, the effect is even more intense and the fragrance is pronounced. Hyssop's flavour contribution to the distillation step is tough to describe, but one could call it "grassy" or "spicey". Too much hyssop in the colouring definitely makes it taste "grassy".

Lemonbalm, when used in the distillation step (original Pernod Fils did this), creates a nice bridge between the anise/fennel and the wormwood. It has non-piquant citrusy flavour that seems to tie everything together.

And yes, the Pignon is awesome. It has quite a unique and large flavour profile. I like that oakiness.

Ah -- forgot to mention that the colour and louche of MM#30 is just AWESOME!

With all that you've said, I'd probably vote for it having slightly too much hyssop - I'm wondering if more educated palates will concur once they have a chance to taste it.

Tasting it once more today, I've noticed that it's better with very cold water -- it's slightly crisper than with my 8 degrees C water I used yesterday, and there's less of that grassy taste.

A second thing I'm wondering about is a slight "bite" (also less noticeable with very cold water).

Can't believe it's star anise (which is what I took a similar property to be in Abisinthe Lemercier -- the regular one, not the new "enhanced" pork ribs one), and I don't think it's a side-effect of the alcohol heat, but what can it be?

Angelica seeds can lend a bite to absinthe. However, from what I remember of Moonman's email regarding #30, it has no Angelica seeds. I'm pretty that sharpness would come from an emphasis on the Hyssop.

I'm sure Moon#30 isn't as sharp as Nephilim's stuff though, which was the Hyssop Bomb™. Yummy, but it's the spiciest absinthe I've ever had.

My Ricola Lemon-Mint cough drop says (en Francais) that it's Citron-Melisse flavoured. It includes the following ingredients: lemon balm, elder, horehound, hyssop, linden flowers, mallow, peppermint, sage, thyme. No wonder I've been tripping Balz™ for the past two days.

Interesting. I had some HG that had something like 25gr of hyssops in teh maceration for the 750ml bottle. It had a very flowery perfume like aroma/flavor which I was thinking was due to the hussops. If not the hyssops, I wonder what it was?

Was it 25g of herb, or flower?

Herb, about 25% flowers in it I think.

Probably not the hyssop then. Grassinthe.

There's a lot more melissa in #30 than usual, much more melissa than hyssop.

We could call #30 the "melissa experiment".

Not my favorite R&D test, I prefer more hyssop and less melissa like in the #29 and every "vertelune" batches.

In fact the vertelune was composed based on the results of the 29-31 experiments...

Moonman appreciate the comments anyway.

Strange -- there's no "lemoney" quality to it, but it's rather grassy - not what I'd expect melissa to yield.

It looks like tons of melissa in the macerate can achieve wierd results.

Not my favourite R&D sample either -- but still pretty good, if a bit of an acquired taste. Still miles ahead of any commercial product (and of one non-MM HG I've tasted).

You'r right that the taste of a macerated herb (coloration) can be very different than the taste of an herb used pre-distillation.

post?

pre-dist. and post-dist can taste different ;-).

Next time I'lll try drinking a cup of coffee before reading anything...

Has anyone gotten #31 yet? I'm stil waiting (and hoping it's worth the wait).

Nope, I'm waiting too!

Fortunately, I have 29 to hold me over( also 26, and a lil'22&23)
(..and not to forget those fine products of a few other HGer's out there ( Swizzle',Felix,ET10, and Piggy Verte )!

Talk about seeing a change! There is a definate evolution in the product from 22 to 29. The wine basing of alcohol is a definate plus.

P.S. Any other HGer's that would like to let me know of their products pls PM me!

Don't be Bashful!

I'm still perfecting mine and trying to build up stock - but it ain't easy 'cause I'm always drinking it . . .

I wouldn't mind trading a little once I'm stocked up with properly aged stuff however (and of course paying due tribute to da mayah).

31 is now flying...

Jade- the only REAL Burnt™ absinthed : this is like trying to build up a wine cellar. Someone have to be able to supply at least twice as much as he drink, it gets expensive very fast.

I gave up the wine cellar idea but the absinthe reserve is slowly growing, mostly because I drink a lot less absinthe than before. Of course this sober situation will probably not last very long when summer heat will make me thirsty again..

I blame the heat too, that and my propensity of being a drunkard.

Gee, I was blaming the cold (I forgot about the heat).

I could probably stock up if I was only slightly more obsessed but I do other things and I work full time. It all gets in the way of production. It's enough to drive you to drink!

I just blame the booze itself.
Cuts out the middleman.

But, booze is my oldest friend!

Gimpy is my oldest friend.

Me too!

Gimpy's the coolest catfish in Tennessee

"The catfish is a plenty good enough fish for anyone"
- Mark Twain

that's a big fish you got there doc

Holy Crap! think of the catfish Po Boy you could make with that thing!

DG

My ferret tail is bristling with antici



pation.

I retasted #29 last night and found out it's quite yummy with a double dose of sugar and an extra part of water... That comment applys to most recent batches.

....pation.

DG

>I retasted #29 last night and found out it's quite yummy with a double dose of sugar and an extra part of water... That comment applys to most recent batches.


if anyone ever said this about certain commercial absinthes, they'd be laughed out of this place...

Heck, I´d laugh at it if I didn´t actually agree - at least as far as the #30 is concerned, it can actually stand a higher dilution than UE, and it´s better with a modicum of sugar.

Though I´d agree that latter characteristic is probably due to the rather special grassy taste probably caused by the colouration that can be detected with very little sugar, and its slight lack of roundness without sugar (though it´s less harsh than, say, regular UE68 Blanche by miles).

UE68 Verte can be had with less sugar, but tastes like dishwater at 4.5:1.

i never stated any commercial absinthe in specific, nor am i comparing.
it is already clear on this forum that to compare any commercial with MM or other HG's is fightin' words...
i find the statement amusing and that many mediocre absinthes (commercial or not) would taste better, maybe even yummy, if one doubled up the amount of sugar added to it.

Some of the commercial absinthe I've had would taste better if you added sugar and water, and left out the absinthe.

DG

I'd have to say that the fudgeroll tastes on par to a few HG's I've tasted. This is a complement (Ironic how the LDF offering we picked apart for being a "mix" is arguably the tastiest offering).

(I've also tasted a few HG's that were on par with bilgewater).

Once again, HG is not synonomous with quality. It's a common agreement that the upper eschelon of HG'ers make a vastly superior blend than any commercial vendor. But you can't just order up a bottle w/ a few keystrokes.




How do you know we weren't laughing?

PaPa,
Check out Wolf's handle. We're used to
him.

As do I.
Generally the better the commercial & HG, the less likely I am inclined to use sugar. I wouldn't dare use sugar w/ any BaMa, Swizzlé, Pignon or several other HGs (and also including Fou-juice) because the flavours are already balanced quite well and don't need any further sweetening or masking.

Same reason why people drink black coffee. Only coffee I ever put sugar in is Starbucks, because they over-roast their beans and it tastes like merde without sugar.

Well, Wolfie was talking about one particular absinthe, wasn't he, not about absinthes in general? And I don't think you could ever accuse Wolfgang of finding MM mediocre .

There are probably not many defects that can be somewhat cured with a little sugar - I was surprised it myself in this particular instance, and I only discovered it because I tend to drink my first glass of any new absinthe unsugared (just because I'm curious about the flavour profile and don't want sugar to get in the way) but otherwise use a little sugar.

We're only talking about a mild idiosyncracy, BTW, not a flaw sticking out like a sore thumb.

I think even Staro might be cured by liberal sprinkling of sugar -- at about a 100:1 ratio of sugar to Staro ;). The problem is that I'm not so fond of pure sugar either.

(can't comment on the BaMa, but replace it with Nemesinthe and the statement still holds) .

Well, to be honest, I indulge in a symbolic amount of sugar (1/4th of a Tirlemont cube) just because it's fun to watch it dissolve it over one of Frenchman's spoons.

Oh no, not the sugar debate again.

For the record. I dislike sweet things. I don't like deserts, I don't put sugar in my coffee, and I rarely eat anything candy like. BUT, when it comes to absinthe, sugar is almost always necessary. It rounds out the texture and adds dimension.

I LIKE SUGAR IN MY ABSINTHE!

DON'T SAY THAT! I mean -- Abby is already miswired, so you'll never know how she'll react to that!

I always use sugar. I used sugar when I drank Versinthe La Blanche.

As Verlaine used to say..."I take sugar with it!"