Corsair Red Absinthe

Rating: 14/23 This is a surprisingly low ABV absinthe at only 56% and I still have no idea why. Compared with Oregon Spirit - which is a fairly light straw color, this is pretty orange with a little bit of red in the bottle, much like a whiskey. Once half an ounce is in a Glencairn though, their colors are quite similar. I can still identify this as the darker one, but it's much yellower than I'd expected, more like a Highland scotch than a bourbon. N: Compared with Oregon Spirit, this has a bigger, richer, slightly savory nose and less of the licorice, mineral, and just pure bitter character. This also smells less bitter and it has more of sort of a weirdly rounded floral smell that merges into the savory scent in a way that reminds me of actually being in a garden with a mix of pure flowers, slightly rotting plant matter, and clean dirt. Between the two, I think that the Corsair is more balanced and complex. Mephisto smells much sweeter and more floral, sort of like going from Roku to a full Nolet's in that dimension. I might actually prefer the Mephisto's fun nose, but the Corsair is definitely more refined and balanced. Comparisons aside, I get plenty of licorice (though it isn't overwhelming), a dash of light wood, a nice layer of something refreshing yet not biting (terragon?) and a faint hint of something tart. I wouldn't say it's complex, but I would call it balanced. P: Very numbing with a lot of licorice, but it's a very genuine licorice flavor, bringing out the more savory elements to fill out the palate and prolonging them. There's a faint hint of something light and tart throughout. It's mostly floral, but also fairly mineral. It's also a very numbing palate, but it doesn't really have a clove flavor. A bigger sip reveals a bit of that dirt and vegetation that I detected on the nose. Every time I breathe out, I get a tad of floral note. Possibly the best part here - and what ties it all together is this nice terragon freshness. Quite unique, but also very fitting! Still, the numbing aspect is definitely strong and the whole thing falls flat rather quickly. It's interesting in how restrained it is, but it isn't terribly complex and neither does it achieve any level of impressive balance. Interestingly, the complexity of its palate holds up better than that of Mephisto once the numbness starts kicking in. F: It's still very numbing, with some menthol tingle being particularly present. There's a hint of dry dirt mixed with some bit of that vegetal savoriness. The licorice presence is still there, but it's much reduced, probably mostly hidden behind the numbness. I can still get a faint hint of terragon as well, but though it hasn't been reduced nearly so much as the licorice has, it is much reduced. This is my least favorite part of this drink. So I'm not at all an absinthe fan. I find the profile fairly abrasive and I hate how it numbs my palate. This tastes fine. It isn't really objectionable, but it isn't something I enjoy either. I expect it will sit around in my liquor cabinet, occasionally being used by the milliliter for mixed drinks until I get sick of it. I do actually enjoy the flavor here, but it seems like a couple of sips is all that is possible before my palate is toast, so I just can't imagine pouring it often (unless maybe I'd injured my tongue?). The more I have though, the more the complexity comes out and the more I appreciate it. As a scotch fan, I kind of appreciate that more funky, savory quality here. For those wanting a more clean and pure spirit though, this may be a poor choice. In terms of score, there is some nice refinement here, so I wouldn't go below a 10. Still, a 14 is as high as I can possibly imagine. OK, but now I'm actually going to try the absinthe in some mixed drinks since that is a lot of what absinthe is used for. This strikes me as a very reliable absinthe that adds or maintains complexity or balance. With bourbon, I'd probably take Oregon Spirit (what a reversal!), but the two are evenly matched with Sazerac rye. I thought that as spirits got lighter, this would become more appealing than Oregon Spirit as the Corsair's complexity came out. The subtlety here is a bit too faint when paired with some bolder alcohols, but the richness and balance always come through. The savory, vegetal aspect might be a little bit of a problem in places, but I suspect that it will be hidden in most of the darker mixed drinks and suit ones that focus on gin (or the absinthe itself) well. Yeah, I just foreshadowed that that vegetal flavor is a bit of a problem when mixed with a clean dry gin. Unfortunately, I have yet to fine a situation in which this beats Oregon Spirit in a cocktail. Here's possibly a last gasp for Corsair as a mixer. I've upgraded the gin from Dover Strait (bland and unsippable) to Beefeater (not my favorite, but a solid London Dry). The interesting outcome is that all 3 end up producing exaggerated versions of iconic gins: Ford's (Corsair), Beefeater (Oregon Spirit), and Roku (Mephisto). Actually, it's unfair to call the Corasir combo an exaggeration in this case. It has stronger licorice flavor, a more assertive personality, and it more numbing. It isn't as rich, but neither are many other gins. For those who are not happy with Ford's sweet and savory qualities, a dash of Corsair Red could be the answer. Then again, maybe a dash of another absinthe could be as well. So Corsair is still a reasonable choice, but I'd really focus on it for drinking straight because it underperforms for mixing. This finally delivers as a mixer when combined with bland gin (Dover Strait) and boring dry vermouth (Noily Pratt). It has a really nice balance with complexity still showing. The savoriness enhances the underlying formula, but the remaining flavor is careful to balance the sweet while showing off the herbal notes and balancing out the vermouth. For the first time, Corsair Red, beats the others in a cocktail. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to get the win for this. In fact, I am probably going to give it the bottom rating. I can give spirits credit for being generalists, but this kind of lands in this nasty valley where it's middling neat and middling mixed, but it doesn't rise to the level where I'd want to actually use it for anything. Sipping this, I realize that I'd rather not. Mixing it, I similarly realize that in most cases the outcome is slightly below brea-even. It's really too bad because I had a lot of hope here and if you'd told me that I were going to have to pick one of the 3 absinthes that I just tried side-by-side and use it for either a cocktail or a straight pour by the flip of a coin, this would have been my choice. The problem is, that isn't how the world works: I can have two absinthes if I need to. My best description of this is that it tries to be quirky and accidentally falls into the generalist category as a result. It masters nothing and ends up being underwhelming all around. A disappointment. I think that the highest level it reaches is roughly a 13. That's a tie between mixed and neat usages. OK, I've come back to it side-by-side with Mephisto and Oregon spirit for one final showdown before making anything here final. Surprisingly, Corsair holds its own this time! It's great at adding just a bit of complexity where it's needed and a drink only needs like 1 to 2 ml of any of these absinthes, so the price difference is negligible. If you're looking to save money with a cheap spirit in a cocktail, this could be a way to do that. Then again, maybe all you need is Angostura. As a total side note, from all of my rampant micro-cocktail tasting for this and a few other tastings (no, seriously, I'm measuring ingredients out to less than 1/10 of a milliliter sometimes here), I did discover that a variation on a margarita that uses rye and absinthe instead of tequila and orange liqueur is actually pretty good! Gotta be sure to get the level of sweetness right though: lime juice with rye and absinthe on its own is a hard no. OK, but back to the rating here. The richness and balanced punch this has in cocktails has grown on me. I still don't think that it can beat a 13 sipped neat, in substantial part because it's a palate wrecker. Still, it's performs much closer to Oregon Spirit then Mephisto in cocktails, though its profile is different. I think that the clean punch of Oregon Spirit is still better though and it might be substantially better. For mixing I'll bump this up to a 14. It could be a 15, but I'm leaning toward a 14 now. I wouldn't buy another bottle of this unless it were far cheaper. Still, this bottle will probably last me 10 years, so I probably won't be buying another full bottle of absinthe any time soon. Or even a sample because, honestly, tasting absinthe is a bit of an ordeal.

It's hard to tell if this is good or not. I smell a lot of anise and terragon with a hint of mint. The palate is similar immediately with a big bitterness and harshness mixed with anise and terragon hitting immediately and bringing a big numbing spice element in. The balance is fairly good, but the bitterness and numbingness are too strong. The numbness and bitterness stay long long into the finish, during which time some peppermint comes in. It definitely is an acquired taste. It's hard to find anything this herbal anywhere really. Fortunately, it has a nice big sweet floral presence, but that does fade much faster than the numbingness and bitterness (though not fast by normal liquor standards). I don't know about this one. It isn't really an easy sipper, so I won't be giving it a 15, but it certainly isn't bad, so it isn't below a 10. This will need some more consideration. Even for a cask strength (though 56% isn't all that strong actually), this is pretty harsh. I like how the palate changes over time an do really enjoy that burst of sweet floral syrupy richness at the beginning - though I can see how some might find it unfavorably reminiscent of Jagermeister. There's even a little bit of terragon lingering on the finish, which is pretty nice.