Giacomo Bernard & Figli – Barathier Elixir D’Herbe NV

So we have a quite deep golden colour here, turning into amber, showing some age. High viscosity here. Very intense nose, quite particular here. Certainly a herb infused spirit or liquor. I pick up some of those anise seed, liquorice flavours, then a lot of bitter herbs, so quite fermented like. Even more of an emphasis on the bitter herbs, some honey and dried fruit. Tasting it, it is definitely a liquor, because we have a definite a liquor. We have a very high sweetness here, but I think it is well rounded off. The finish is not really about sweetness at all. You have that quite anxious and viscous texture at first, but the finish is more about the bitter herbs, the liquorice and the anise seed. Very long finish and a certain maturity. I suppose we can talk about complexity, even if we rarely talk about this type of product in that kind of sense as we do about wine. But I find it quite interesting with the sweetness and quite nice digestive effect.

Tasted by the Best Sommelier of the World, Andreas Larsson.