Here I have a Spanish absenta from WWII era - the bottle was in very good condition when I aquired it, still with about half of the original wax seal left and the cork nicely intact. The color - a nice feuille morte and the level of the absinthe in the bottle very good. All in all it was in very very good condition. Everything still is, only now the absinthe is extracted and put in little 25 and 50ml bottles...
Pouring this aged brown drink in a glass lets a quite nice herbal complexity out and along with the quite classical vintage-woody smell comes hints of Coriander, Anise and some Melissa.
With a very slow drip of ice cold water it presents oily swirls slowly moving in the liquid, like things happen in slow-motion in the glass. Then after a while at about a one to one ratio of water/absinthe it starts to louche. Slowly. If water is added too fast it is ruined. The louche ends up quite nice even if it's a bit thin, considering the lower amounts anise and fennel I can detect, it's quite reasonable.
That's what makes this a rather interesting drink actually, in the way that it differentiates itself from most of the other Spanish absentas I've had from around the same years. It's less anise-laden but still very "Spanish" in its Melissa flavor.
The mouth-feel it presents is quite round and rich with a slightly dry finish. Not a bitter dry in any way, just slightly dry - plain and simple. The aroma profile is carried onto the taste in that it mainly presents the same three characteristic herbs, Coriander, Anise and Melissa. The Coriander is in no way dominant but lingers there just to hint that it's present.
On the whole, this is actually not a bad drink and in a way a really interesting step away from the more "ordinary" Spanish style. What makes it even more interesting is to see the way the brand developed during the years, given that I have a bottle of 1970 Argenti as well. Though, it is not the best vintage absinthe I've had, I'm glad to have it and glad to have tried it.