2005-11-09
great absinthe buying advice
In response to a question about the best place to order absinthe online, Al-X writes . . .
Check this site as an alternative [for ordering Bitterspirituose ( greater than 10 mg Thujone) absinthe].
That link goes right to the "Strong" category which is 35 mg of Thujone and above. The Absinthes here are a bit more expensive but are the real deal. The Czech absinthes are generally considered to be garbage. They come from no tradition but got started up from a combination of recent demand and the Czech Republic's lack of regulation. On the site above you'll find the gold medal winner, FrancoSuisse, from this year's Absinthiades in France. The only "Absinthe Festival" around.
Categories: psychedelic, absinthe
La Bleu Clandestine from Switzerland http://tinyurl.com/d4vpx is also supposed to be excellent. Supposedly the distiller was a bootlegger for
quite some time but was the first awarded the rights to legally distill absinthe (in March of this year) by the Swiss government. Swiss absinthes are considered some of the best as Switzerland is the birthplace of the green fairy.
Also, I'd recommend Versinthe Blanche which is French. You can find it for cheaper than some of the Swiss absinthes and I found it to be extremely delicious. I believe B. can attest to that as well. It is clear with a pearly white louche:
http://tinyurl.com/c7doh
If the active effects of absinthe are due to the balancing of the various herbs shouldn't you get a fine absinthe with high Thujone content rather than a crappy one with a high Thujone content? If you're really chasing the wormwood wombat then you can always buy a bottle of thujone extract and add it to Pernod.
I've heard that some of the best absinthes can be drank neat (no water or sugar) but frankly I think that the ritual is half the fun. Also not all the Czech absinthes are garbage and the lighting of the sugar on fire is supposedly the "Czech Ritual" so they can't be all bad. But I figure the best thing to do is to get as close as possible to the experience that was had during the daily "Heure Vert" (or green hour) by Toulouse Lautrec and co.
As an aside - It's amazing how much easier it is to order Absinthe now compared to even three years ago. To order some Versinthe back then I had recal some high school French to sufficiently figure out the company website and place an order. Now there are great sites like http://www.alandia.de/absinth/index.php/language/en where you can get almost anything. Thank the gods for deregulation.
Keep in mind that shipping is extremely expensive from Europe.
The site I recommended uses a courier to insure prompt delivery but it cost 60 euro.
-al - X
Check this site as an alternative [for ordering Bitterspirituose ( greater than 10 mg Thujone) absinthe].
That link goes right to the "Strong" category which is 35 mg of Thujone and above. The Absinthes here are a bit more expensive but are the real deal. The Czech absinthes are generally considered to be garbage. They come from no tradition but got started up from a combination of recent demand and the Czech Republic's lack of regulation. On the site above you'll find the gold medal winner, FrancoSuisse, from this year's Absinthiades in France. The only "Absinthe Festival" around.
Categories: psychedelic, absinthe
La Bleu Clandestine from Switzerland http://tinyurl.com/d4vpx is also supposed to be excellent. Supposedly the distiller was a bootlegger for
quite some time but was the first awarded the rights to legally distill absinthe (in March of this year) by the Swiss government. Swiss absinthes are considered some of the best as Switzerland is the birthplace of the green fairy.
Also, I'd recommend Versinthe Blanche which is French. You can find it for cheaper than some of the Swiss absinthes and I found it to be extremely delicious. I believe B. can attest to that as well. It is clear with a pearly white louche:
http://tinyurl.com/c7doh
If the active effects of absinthe are due to the balancing of the various herbs shouldn't you get a fine absinthe with high Thujone content rather than a crappy one with a high Thujone content? If you're really chasing the wormwood wombat then you can always buy a bottle of thujone extract and add it to Pernod.
I've heard that some of the best absinthes can be drank neat (no water or sugar) but frankly I think that the ritual is half the fun. Also not all the Czech absinthes are garbage and the lighting of the sugar on fire is supposedly the "Czech Ritual" so they can't be all bad. But I figure the best thing to do is to get as close as possible to the experience that was had during the daily "Heure Vert" (or green hour) by Toulouse Lautrec and co.
As an aside - It's amazing how much easier it is to order Absinthe now compared to even three years ago. To order some Versinthe back then I had recal some high school French to sufficiently figure out the company website and place an order. Now there are great sites like http://www.alandia.de/absinth/index.php/language/en where you can get almost anything. Thank the gods for deregulation.
Keep in mind that shipping is extremely expensive from Europe.
The site I recommended uses a courier to insure prompt delivery but it cost 60 euro.
-al - X
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