Oregon Spirit, Absinthe Original

A complex herbal liqueur from Oregon opening with botanicals, herbs & spice notes; a rich & medium body adding notes of wormwood, fennel, anise & clove, that leads to a long & slightly bitter finish with notes of licorice & a hint of earthiness. August 2018

First ever experience with absinthe purchased for the sake of making a Sazerac. Before we go there, however, let’s see what this is all about. Straw yellow in color with powerful star anise (black licorice), powdered sugar, lime, wildflowers and spearmint on the nose without water. It clouds nicely with water and maintains its sweet black licorice aroma with a slight earthy/herbal tea note. Without added sugar (but 3:1 with water) the taste is... anise, rubbing alcohol, powdered sugar and a thick, oily finish with black licorice, lime zest, and bitter herbal tea. With added sugar the anise lessens but is still the most prominent flavor - the tea note becomes a bit stronger and less bitter making this much more pleasant. There is still a thorough coating of the mouth with a slight numbing effect and long, long finish. I don’t know that I ever plan to drink this on its own again but the added sugar certainly balances it out. Now if only that damn monkey in the corner will stop staring at me...

Rating: 16/23 This is pretty clear, but lightly straw-colored. Oregon Spirit usually produces fairly neutral, but clean spirits, so I expect something similar from this. N: Indeed, the nose is very clean. Aside from licorice (well, more like anise), it has a little bit of mineral and some floral and light citrus and mint notes. It reminds me of a fresh beach breeze (without the salt and brine), or perhaps fresh laundry. I could try to analyze the different layers of flowers or something, but suffice it to say that it's clean, elegant, and simple. P: A very fresh springwater flavor hits immediately, followed by light licorice (well, probably anise), then citrus (light lemon), and a big, long, bitter herbal layer that just stays there. The whole thing has a light layer of mint over it. I really enjoyed the first three phases, but the final, bitter one is just so strong and pervasive (and it brings a fair amount of spicy - but not harsh - burn with it). It really leaves nowhere to escape and lasts for an absurdly long time. I would really like that to be toned down and mixed in more with the others. Up until that part, it actually reminded me a lot of the light elegance of Roku gin. This is sort of like taking a sip of Roku and a third of the way through the palate having someone jam a fistful of ground juniper in your mouth. I do like some of that flavor, but this is excessive. For another comparison, it's like one of those IPAs that thinks having as much hop flavor as possible is all that matters. F: It's just bitterness with some mint for ages. It's a bitterness like juniper and hops with just the most bitter part of licorice. And it's super strong. It's really not enjoyable. I liked the nose and the first part of the palate a lot. Once the bitter bomb hit though, this lost me. I like a fair amount of bitterness, but this is just so excessive and one-note that I can't get past it. If you're making a cocktail and really just want to make it more bitter without adding much additional character, maybe give this a chance. Otherwise, there are better options out there, I'm sure. The two additional things that I will say for this though are that it has a clean flavor throughout (no weird notes anywhere) and it isn't harsh, despite its high proof. In terms of rating, I want to give this something fairly positive for its clean flavor, but it's really a palate obliterator with not much complexity, so I'm afraid I can't be too kind to it. Which is tragic, because I taste so much potential in how it reminds me of Roku's flavor profile. I definitely prefer Corsair Red. I just can't see going higher than a 10 here, but a 7 also seems a bit too low. I'm not going to end this tasting there though! Unlike just about everything else, I have plenty in my sample to try a few cocktails with since this is so strong. I'd say that this outcome is shocking, but it's honestly what I was afraid of. In a cocktail, all of the complexity that I spent so much investigating disappears and the bitter flavor comes out with just a faint bit of 'whatever else this absinthe has'. For bourbon though, this works really well. Better than Corsair and Mephisto. For Sazerac Rye, this matches Corsair, with its reduced richness but increased variety of flavor balancing out. Mephisto still trails. I'm supremely annoyed that when it comes to mixing, all (well most) of the delicacy of these absinthes vanishes. For bourbon and many ryes, a big bitter bite is a nice addition to a cocktail, so this is an improvement. I do need to consider that in the final rating here, so I'll be increasing it quite substantially. I thought that the bitterness and lack of complexity would be bad when mixed with gin, but it actually works fairly well in clean, dry gins. As a well absinthe, this seems like a great choice. With Beefeater instead of Dolin Straight, this is still a good choice, but it is no longer the clear winner. The interesting outcome is that all 3 end up producing exaggerated versions of iconic gins: Ford's (Corsair), Beefeater (Oregon Spirit), and Roku (Mephisto). That doesn't make this worse though. In fact, it cements its position as a great well absinthe. One final comparison: gin plus vermouth. I'm using cheap gin (Dover Strait) with petty cheap (but still solid enough) vermouth (Noily Pratt Dry). In a shocking twist, this is in third place! The floral and fruit notes of Mephisto really bring rout it out and make a cocktail that would be worth ordering. This just adds unnecessary bitterness, throwing off the balance. Corsair Red also balances better than this does with an increased savoriness that matches the profile of the underlying liquors in a way that broadens and enriches the result. In this case (the fifth of five, to be completely honest and fair), Oregon Spirit finally drops out of first place as a mixer. It isn't bad though This is a confusing surprise, but it doesn't deviate substantially from the premise the Oregon Spirit is a highly effective mixer, despite being fairly (to put it generously) unpalatable on its own. Talk about a total reversal though. This was really uninspiring neat. It was probably in the ballpark of 9 to 12, but I didn't bother to actually figure out a final neat rating because as a mixer, this is way better! As a mixer, this generally improves what it is put in, rocketing it up to an easy 15. I could go up to a 17, but I think 16 is about right. If I were picking an absinthe to stock my bar with, this would be my choice with little doubt. It doesn't have much going on, but just a tiny drop of it adds a great amount of character to a drink. It doesn't add a bunch of complexity, but it adds a new dimension that would not otherwise be present and almost always improves the outcome.

Bought a 50 mL bottle to try. Very spice and alcohol forward. Smacks you in the lips and tongue. Taste of cloves lingers for a while. Made an OK Sazerac, too, but not worth the price point for me.

I love absinthe, but not this one. Tried straight and with water. Floral herbal nose. Anise, mint, dry herbal, then explodes with ethanol and a very very bitter herbal (wormwood?) finish that isnt pleasant. Dry and astringent, leaves mouth tingling and alkaline--bleh! Not sweet. Not so much green in color as light khaki green. Perhaps this would mix well (in small doses) in a classic cocktail, but it didnt improve much in a classic Green Fairy with ice water. For the premium price, you can find a lot better absinthes.