Absinthe Review: Lucid
Published by on June 13th, 2009 10 Comments »
A casual review from the tasting event at Montgomery Place last month.
This post looks at Lucid, imported by Viridian Spirits LLC, Manhasset NY.
Lucid is one of the new breed absinthes being imported into the United States and is a beet root neutral spirit distilled with herbs. It is 62% Alcohol/Vol (puts it at 124 Proof) and is a natural verte style absinthe “crafted in the historic Combier distillery, founded in 1834 and designed by Gustave Eiffel in the fabled Loire Valley of France.”*
My first impression was of the bottle itself– the ‘party beverage’ look of it. This is not a bottle I would serve to guests around for a quiet glass of absinthe. The bottle screams to be consumed on American college campuses or in noisy meat-market bars. It is fair to say that the branding itself left a bad taste in my mouth. In their defense, here is what Viridian has to say about the branding, “Viridian Spirits worked with a top French designer who was familiar with absinthe’s past, but understood our desire to give the bottle a modern twist. The idea of using the cat’s eyes came from a famous cabaret called “Le Chat Noir,” which first opened in Montmartre, Paris in 1881. Several poets, including Verlaine and Rimbaud, used to spend their nights at Le Chat Noir drinking absinthe.”
Hmm. OK. I still don’t like it, but I doubt they care what I think about it anyway. 
Moving along to the notes I scribbled as I sampled what the bottle contained…
These are word-for-word from my notebook:
“Smells very alcohol after sitting in the glass for an hour** — bottle-fresh, much milder. 1st out in US. Ted Breaux. Without sugar — very thin – watery with an alcohol wrap — spicy aftertaste – peppery. With sugar still unpleasant and thin tasting.”
I seem to remember it louched well enough, though there were more impressive ones at the event. My preparation was approximately 3:1 (water to absinthe) ratio for all I tasted. Given the opportunity, I would try Lucid with other water amounts, but it certainly didn’t leave me with a good enough impression to obtain a bottle with which to do so. Lucid was the second absinthe to be sampled at the event, the first being La Clandestine Charlotte. I already love La Clandestine, and though very different absinthes, the difference in quality and taste honestly didn’t give Lucid much of a chance.
What I came away with from that sampling is that Ted Breaux/Viridian are certainly not aiming Lucid at the same absinthe drinkers that will have his Nouvelle-Orléans. Even the product sheets given at the event are aimed at very different audiences. The Lucid sheet speaks of legend and preparation, while also promoting fountains, glasses, and spoons. The Nouvelle-Orléans focusses on the artisan absinthe itself. Saying that, they will have a winner with Lucid for a large percentage of new imbibers in the US. I would reckon that the target demographic is 21 year olds to maybe around 26 or so. University and college kids, basically. Unfortunately, it looks and tastes that way.
Next review: Delaware Phoenix – Meadow of Love.
*Source: drinklucid.com
**Samples were put into the glasses before the event. I would’ve preferred them to be bottle-fresh, but I understand why they did it the way they did.
10 Responses to “Absinthe Review: Lucid”
To be fair, we should keep in mind that this is intended to be distributed on a much larger scale than the Jades, so practically speaking, to maintain constant stock and a lower price point, they really can’t be hand selecting only the very finest to produce Lucid. Let’s just be thankful that the first in the US was a genuine product!:)
Cheers! Enjoyed the review, Jen!
Ben
Many thanks Ben! Glad you enjoyed it.
As far as price, I didn’t pay for the bottle (samples provided with cover charge to the event) so that didn’t factor into my considerations. It certainly tasted cheap to me, but even as I write this I have no idea what a bottle of Lucid is going for in the US. I agree it’s good to get the genuine article into America, but I’d love to see a better tasting, reasonably priced, product to keep people imbibing.
Lucid uses beet and not grape of course. Cheryl’s Meadow of Love is highly praised by Uncle Bogumil and I think it is perhaps the star of US absinthes. I have a sample enroute and I am really looking forward to it….a quiet moment in the garden at sunset and we will see
Not to spoil my upcoming review, but you will not be disappointed with the Meadow of Love…
I decided to get my hands on it beacuse of Boggy’s praise and also because of the some rather shabby behaviour towards her on feeverte.net. I shall play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxlaYQpEXF8
4 u Peter.
You did spoil it.:)
HF, you will love MoL, it is exceptional. It is already more discussed than Marteau or Jade NO these days from what I’ve seen. Gaining momentum that quickly really is remarkable, but then that’s good karma for releasing a quality absinthe product.
Cheryl is truly a one-woman army.
You saw the anger, Ben? What was that about in your opinion? I suspected that it was a case of “distilling is mans work” I know that one new distiller wears a medallion
There is no hype about MOL (oh no!! I am picking up your habits 
…it has the quiet confidence of a genius in a room full of noise.
[...] I wasn’t particularly favourable in my Lucid review, I thought I’d be a good sport and post a recipe from their promotional booklet. You could, [...]
[...] heard me gush about Meadow of Love and not-so-gush about Lucid. Well, the United States is in for another Absinthe Superieure on the shelves and I’m [...]
[...] I found an older video featuring Ted Breaux on CBS Sunday Morning. I always approach the play button with hesitation regarding anything having to do with absinthe for fear of hearing total misinformation, but this was pretty well thought out. I think they just tip-toed the line of sensational at times, holding back where they could have gone bonkers with hype and legend. (The longer I live in the UK, the more critically I look at American news coverage. ) My only criticism is that it seemed like a four minute ad for Lucid. [...]