Review: Nouvelle Orleans Absinthe
The folks that make the widely available Lucid are expanding their line of absinthes with two new bottlings. At the top of the line is Nouvelle Orleans,a 136-proof traditional absinthe with a yellow-green color straight from the bottle.
Fragrant but not overpowering, uncut Nouvelle Orleans offers light, sweetish notes but is far too blazingly alcoholic for actual consumption without being cut.
With sugar and water you get a nice, milky-white louche, flavored strongly with licorice — more like the candy than
the raw anise and fennel herb flavors you get with many absinthes. It’s very drinkable but quite sweet: Traditionalists may wish to use less sugar in the blend than the usual full cube. If that’s too difficult, just try using more absinthe and more water. Share with a friend.
This absinthe contains no artificial colors and is made with whole herbs instead of extracts or oils. While it lacks much in the way of complexity — and carries a stratospheric price tag that makes it the most expensive commonly available absinthe on the market — it’s definitely one of the tops in the current field.
A- / $110 / viridianspirits.com
November 29th, 2008 at 3:21 am
“I find the Nouvelle Orleans news particularly interesting, especially since its thujone content tested at well over 20ppm some time ago” FeeVerte.Net
So is it the same Nouvelle Orleans that is made in Europe? no, it can’t be with those thujone levels. It has had the thujone removed. Also, from what you say “It’s very drinkable but quite sweet” it sounds like it has been “sugared up” for the US mass market.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Kingsley: Nouvelle Orleans manufacturer Jade offers this official response:
—
The Jade absinthes that are and will become available within the U.S. are the exact same Jade absinthes that are highly regarded everywhere else on the planet. We do not and will not produce more than one version of any given product we make. In other words, the product found within the U.S. is identical to that found in Europe aside from differences in the required labeling. All Jade absinthes are crafted using historically accurate amounts of Artemisia absinthium and other traditional herbs. We have never and will never deviate from this important attribute.
We have not and will never sweeten our absinthes. No vintage absinthe contained sugar, and contrary to several modern products, absinthe never was a ‘liqueur’. Accordingly, the Jade absinthes are crafted directly from spirits and herbs, and it is the complex balance of herbs alone that produces notes of sweetness, not sugar.
Finally, our absinthes are colored naturally from herbs. We would never consider artificially coloring our absinthes any more than a vintner of white wine would consider add red coloring in an attempt to create a red wine. The coloring herbs are there for many reasons – reasons only understood by those relatively few producers with expertise and passion for true absinthe.