Week 15: St. George [52 Whispers From The Muse]
St. George
Overall Rating: 3.9
Style: Verte
Country: USA
Appearance: A crystal clear dead leaf yellow on the verge of brown. If the color had a hint of green I would have rated it higher.
Louche: Active and dynamic with a slow, cold drip. Rolling clouds that end in an opaque tan. It may be a bit too thick for some but I do like it.
Aroma: Strong on the nose with a very forward Anise and spice. After louche it tones down a bit with an odd hint of honey sweetness behind Anise and Fennel. The Wormwood is there somewhere behind the spiciness.
Flavor/Mouthfeel: Powerful flavor with that significant spiciness most forward. Anise and Fennel are next along with that honey flavor but somehow without the sweetness. I wish I was better at breaking down the spices as it seems cinnamon like but I know that there is no cinnamon in it. The thickness of the louche reflects in the thick texture of St. George. I like it, though any thicker and it might be too much.
Finish: The powerful flavor drops off quickly with a significant tongue numbing. The spice pops across the tongue as the tastes fade to a warm bitterness.
Overall: St. George is far from a traditional Absinthe and people’s love or hate of it reflects that. It’s bold and spicy in a way that no other Absinthe is and that separates it from all other brands while still maintaining its standing as a true Absinthe.
St. George Absinthe is one of my top 10 favorites even though it’s 3.9 rating here probably won’t put this in the top 10 best based on numbers alone once all of these reviews are done. I’ll admit that scoring the “Overall” category at 4.5 was definitely padding to raise the Total Overall Rating score to express my experiences and joy of drinking it since the scoring is for judging against traditional expectations. I often recommend it since it’s good, available, and meets a nice price point but always with the understanding that it is unique and not indicative of its more classical family members. I love its place as a unique, modern Absinthe. This is probably my fourth or fifth bottle.
I decided to review St. George despite recently receiving a ton of new bottles I haven’t even tried yet and having already done a couple of American Absinthes very recently (Vieux Carré and Leopold Bros). I wanted to do some reviews of brands I’m very familiar with while catching up since I’ve had no internet at home and have been writing the finished write ups from tasting notes in a coffee shop with free wi-fi. Also, it was exactly 3 years ago that I took this pic of St. George in L’viv, Ukraine.
