DISCLAIMER: If you are a serious absinthe aficionado, please defer to Mr. Cascode, who seems to have a lot of knowledge and expertise about absinthe. This was my first time trying absinthe (having previously only tried Pernod). This spirit has an herbal aroma strong enough to smell across a table. It smells damp and herbal and tastes similarly: woody, vegetal, and subtly sweet. I tried it neat, first, and then diluted it as is proper. It tastes strongly of citrusy coriander and fennel, with a candied sweetness. For this non-expert, it tastes a lot like swallowing a teaspoon of coriander seed with a chaser of sweetener. The high abv is surprisingly well-masked by these herbal overtones, presenting itself only as a mouth-warming sensation. I wanted to try absinthe, and from what I've read, I think this is a good representation of it at its best.