Duplais Verte
Arthur FraynZunächst mal die Farbe ist wirklich ein hübsches Grün, nicht so tief wie Jade aber immernoch sehr überzeugend.
Der Geruch hat ein bi?chen was fruchtiges ist aber nicht alkoholisch sondern schon wermutig, kräuterig und anisig.
Seine Trübung setzt bei 1:1,5 bereits ein und ist ziemlich ausgeprägt aber keineswegs unnatürlich.
Ich stoppe bei ca 1:4.
Der erste Schluck: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm - lecker!
Erstmal anisig, im Abgang komplex kräuterig leicht wermutig, und ich habe jetzt schon das Gefühl, da? der letzte Schluck des Glases nicht schmecken wird, wie der erste, sondern da? er sich entwickeln wird
Er hat so ein bi?chen was von dem Jade Edouard, mu? ich sagen.
Sehr ausgewogen, für meinen Geschmack hätten Wermut und Pontica ruhig noch etwas aufdringlicher sein dürfen, aber sie sind definitiv ausreichend vorhanden.
Am Ende des Glases mu? ich sagen, da? die geschmackliche Entwicklung zwar da ist, aber geringer ausfällt als erwartet. Ich würde mir gerne gerade ein zweites Glas einschenken, um diese noch weiter zu verfolgen, aber dann wäre die Probe leer
Kurz und gut: Absolut gelungen! Mein Kompliment an Markus und die Kallnacher Destillerie - der erste Beweis, da? Schweizer auch Vertes herstellen können
Liquor Snob
The color of the Verte was the darker, more mysterious-looking green we had been expecting from our absinthe. The louche was muddy and dark green, but it was a behemoth full of hypnotic swirls. This might have been our favorite louche, and with its thick, milk shake finish we could tell why the Verte is known as the big daddy among the three. The color after the louche was a beautiful, opaque green.
The aroma before water was deeply herbal, with a light anise tone that could definitely have some star anise involved. After we added the water you could smell the Verte six inches above the glass, and the anise definitely stepped in front. Once again we were surprised at the lack of alcohol heat, though there was definitely some there, for such a high-octane concoction.
The mouth feel was big and very warm, as though the tongue was wrapped in an herbal sweater. There was a throaty roar to the taste after a small delay, with a nice dry finish. We liked the anise, and felt the bitterness of the wormwood was neatly counterbalanced by the other flavors that were present.
FeeVerte Forum
Reviewed by Artemis 11/7/05
COLOR BEFORE WATER 9/10
Nice golden green, unique.
LOUCHE ACTION 9/10
Muddy, thick, very much like a vintage absinthe.
COLOR AFTER WATER 9/10
Promise of the raw color is carried into the louche.
AROMA 15/30
Here the promise is broken. The raw smell is balanced, not powerful, but not bland either. The smell after louche has an unpleasant dishwater quality that’s not overwhelming, but strong enough to break the spell cast by the color and louche.
MOUTH-FEEL 7/10
Decent, not really thick, but not watery either.
TASTE 14/20
Decent balance, not an anise bomb, but not very flowery. The dishwater quality in the scent doesn’t make its way onto the palate, but the taste could be a lot better.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 7/10
This absinthe is better than average, with good promise for an even better future with better quality herbs and perhaps some tweaking of the recipe.
Artemis scores Absinthe Duplais 70 out of 100
Reviewed by precenphix 2/11/2006
COLOR BEFORE WATER 9.5/10
Beautiful, rich green/amber. Very similar to Verte de Fougerolles 72, but deeper. Enticing. Only receiving a half-point reduction due to a bit of cloudiness. This doesn’t bother me at all with Jade’s Verte Suisse either - at least not with the final production release.
LOUCHE ACTION 9.5/10
Wonderful, slow-forming with a very evident solid green line at the top of the glass, completing the louche. Possibly the best I’ve seen. Rich in oils.
COLOR AFTER WATER 10/10
No complaints. Rich, splendid, natural green. Opaque. There’s some hits of blue around the edges of the glass at the top. This is not from the lighting in the room.
AROMA 21/30
From the bottle, the liquor has an inviting combo of fennel and wormwood. There’s some spice going on as well which I wouldn’t begin to know how to peg. Where this one loses points is in the kind of dirty odor that comes out of the glass during watering. I don’t know about dirty dishwater, but more like the smell of Verte de Fougerolles 72. I’m hoping the flavor isn’t compromised.
MOUTH-FEEL 8/10
Rich & creamy. If there’s star anise in here (guessing there is) it’s in ample, but not overwhelming proportion to the green variety. Tongue numbs substantially after 2 glasses, but doesn’t hide any flavor.
TASTE 15/20
Outstanding, with exception to the slight twinge of that Verte de Fougerolles 72 flavor. I knew it would taste a bit like this gauging by what I picked up during the louche, but it’s not unbearable. In fact, the positive qualities of substantial fennel & a good bit of wormwood make it very worthwhile. Still can’t peg that spice, but it’s a welcome addition to the rest of the constituents in this drink. If the good people of Kallnacher could back off on whatever that Fougerolles-esque flavor is, it would be even better.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 8/10
Mighty fine absinthe. There’s room for improvement, but not so much as to make it run-of-the-mill. This has worked itself into my top 10, possibly top 5.
precenphix scores Absinthe Duplais 81 out of 100
Reviewed by Absinthesizer 2/11/2007
COLOR BEFORE WATER 8/10
Deep, mysterious green, with the tone of a fine olive oil but much more richness.
LOUCHE ACTION 9/10
Slow and deliberate. As with Eichelberger, a distinct layer of bright green appears for a few minutes as water is added.
COLOR AFTER WATER 8/10
Rich, creamy, and amazingly green. Light brings out warm undertones.
AROMA 25/30
A sweet, well-balanced and room-filling herbal concoction with anise slightly to the front.
MOUTH-FEEL 7/10
Thick and intricate - charming different taste-buds in different ways. The effect on the tongue isn??t so much numbing as relaxing. My one complaint is that the mouth-feel is harsh compared with the aroma.
TASTE 16/20
Rich and dark, balancing sweetness, earthiness and crisp astringency. There??s a halo of herbs I can??t identify ?? nor do I necessarily care to. The weakest aspect is the dry, slightly bitter finish, which peters out and never matches the flavor??s charm or complexity.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 8/10
Excellent yet somewhat lacking in character: Though the Duplais verte has few flaws, there??s also nothing particularly memorable or immediately compelling about its flavor. The flip-side is that, unlike quirkier absinthes such as Eichelberger verte or Montmartre, there??s probably nothing about it that will bug you as you become more familiar with it. It??s a lovely drink with which to celebrate the setting sun.
PERSONAL NOTE: When we first opened the Duplais, even though the bottle was 15 months old, both the mouth-feel and the taste were quite harsh ?? two or three points below the above scores. Given just 10 days to breath, the transformation was almost miraculous. And as for the Duplais secondaries ?? especially olifactory ones involving yet another cat-box ?? I won??t even mention them for fear of banishment.
Absinthesizer scores Duplais Verte 81 out of 100
NOTE: The above reviews are written for the first batch of Duplais. Following reviews are for later batches, as indicated.
Reviewed by Bruno Rygseck 2/5/2006
COLOR BEFORE WATER 8/10
Natural medium-to-dark green, clear.
LOUCHE ACTION 9/10
Louches beautifully when cold water is allowed to drip slowly. Fully louched at around 1:2 dilution. I was impatient with my first glass and let it drip much too fast but on the second try the louche was much better and the third glass was a real success.
COLOR AFTER WATER 8/10
Natural, translucent green; no great effects but no faults either. Certainly better than any artificially colored one I have tried. Looking against light, the patiently dripped 1:2 drink in a clear glass had nuances of yellowish green to dark green. No oil-drops but some narrow oil traces on the surface.
AROMA 18/30
Before water, refreshingly herbal. I am a beginner and cannot yet distinguish the various herbs but anise and fennel were foremost, I think. After water there was an aroma that reminded me of some oddly familiar culinary herb. It was slightly disturbing in the beginning but after some tasting I hardly noticed it anymore. The aroma left in the empty glass was a little woody but nice anyway.
MOUTH-FEEL 8/10
The opposite to creamy/anise-sweet (??short? or ??dry?) but still pleasant, little biting.
TASTE 15/20
Herbal, anise and fennel are well recognizable??again, as a beginner I cannot yet tell which aroma or taste comes from which herb. It tastes good, I could say exciting.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 8/10
I like it and recommend it. It is certainly more complex than F.Guy which is the other verte I have tried so far.
Bruno Rygseck scores Absinthe Duplais (second batch) 74 out of 100
Reviewed by Donnie Darko 5/9/2006
COLOUR BEFORE WATER 9/10
Green with amber tinges. More olive green than bright green. Clarity is fine.
LOUCHE ACTION 9/10
Louches slowly and uniformly with lovely swirling clouds. I’ve seen thicker louches but this is thick enough to convince one that it is high quality.
COLOUR AFTER WATER 8/10
Greenish white with amber tinges, mostly opaque. Not as pretty or luminous as Jade, but it looks decent.
AROMA 27/30
Neat, it smells delicious and floral, with a warm peppery punch that might be Coriander. Louched, the aroma is pretty potent, with lots of complex herbal notes coming out that are fused into a fruity smelling whole. It leaves some aroma in the glass after emptied. Not nearly as much alcohol heat as you’d expect for 72%.
MOUTH FEEL 8/10
Nice and velvety. Very smooth on the tongue. Much less alcohol bite than you’d expect from something 72%. I wish it were thicker, but it does have some cream to it.
TASTE 17/20
This is a delicious absinthe, and in terms of wormwood profile, outstanding. The high quality wormwood sits in there perfectly and is counterbalanced nicely with other smooth herbal nuances. The alcohol base is clean and unobtrusive. The anise and fennel are pretty good, though not as rich and potent as found in Jade Edouard. There is also a subtle tinge of grassiness, likely imparted from the colouring step, but that’s only a very minor flaw. There seems to be an interesting Coriander taste in there too, though I think that could benefit from more aging.
OVERALL IMPRESSION 9/10
I like this absinthe. It has a distinctly clean taste throughout that is often only found in higher quality HGs, and the wormwood in particular is unsurpassed in any other commercial offering. I do feel the colouring could be improved a little. It’s not that perfect bright green you see in Edouard, and I think that subtle grassy hint could be done away with. I also think it could benefit from stronger anise and fennel cultivars, as that would probably thicken it up sufficiently and make the flavours pop a little more, but what’s in there is certainly drinkable and quite pleasant. Overall, it’s a top shelf distilled absinthe that is reasonably priced.
I tried a prior version of the Duplais and didn’t like it and noticed the dishwater quality Arty mentioned, but this one is a marked improvement. I look forward to trying future revisions and will probably finish this bottle quickly.
Donnie Darko scores Absinthe Duplais (second batch) 87 out of 100
