For the sake of argument, let's say a guy has been doing extensive research, digging online, making phone calls, and so forth. As a result he's come across an absinthe for sale in the US in limited quantities, in a very limited number of locations. And he believes very few if any of the absinthe cognoscenti here are aware it's actually available for purchase within the confines of the lower 48.

It's an absinthe that is 100% legally imported. Not boxes sneaking by customs, or even bottles being brought into one state and stealthily shipped over state lines because nobody has noticed. It is 100% on the up-and-up,; it's just so low profile that ... if you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't.

Let's assume nobody here has noticed it in their shopping -- online or in stores. For sure not even anyone's best bottle shop has been able to pull in a special order. To make it slightly more interesting for people like me, who try to not have their stuff taken away, it's over 70% ABV. So you have no opportunity to bring a bottle like this home from Europe unless you're willing to risk involuntarily trading your absinthe for a letter in your bag telling you what you did wrong.

(*For those who are not used to flying around with overproof rum or the highest ABV absinthes: it's just the rule. 70% ABV max. Every country is supposed to follow it. Whether you can get a 71% bottle past the guys x-raying checked baggage without having your suitcase opened and inspected and a bottle confiscated is a roll of the dice. Also depends whether Nicolas or Pierre are overloaded that day and your bottles look line wine bottles and you might slip by, or whether they have time to dig deep into everything and even one bottle is going to get a look, let alone the 7 or 10 you're bringing.)

Anyway, as a reddit noob who only recently joined the absinthe group, I'm wondering what the cultural expectation is here. Have such "treasure finds" been posted in the past so that other cognoscenti would have a chance to nab a bottle before it was lost to a casual consumer -- who might be just as happy with any other absinthe (or even crapsinthe) they could find on the shelf at a liquor store?

I don't know how group membership numbers compare to the stateside supply of the absinthe in question. If one post here wipes out the country's stockpile, I may actually shoot myself in the foot by not having bought up a giant stash before posting about it. I especially hate the idea that some lunatic with a lot of cash could leap on the find and buy it all up to flip for a profit. Unlikely but possible. On the other hand, if "Tip on where to find an extremely rare bottle now being sold in the US" is par for the course, I would obviously chip in my knowledge to a community where I might be repaid by picking up a similar tip in the future. Have similar finds been posted in the past?

Is this the kind of question that can only be answered by calling the place where I found it and asking how much is left in the United States and what their plans are when it sells out? If supplies in the limited locations in the US are expected not to be replenished, would another valid option be to just share the tip with a couple recognized experts here and let them make the decision over whether to share it widely? I feel like I'm holding a hot potato. I don't want to ruin it by holding onto it until my hands burn. On the other hand if I throw it at too big of a group, there might not be enough potatoes to feed everyone. So I'm stuck and I need a word of advice. If this has even come up before, I'd appreciate a little shared historical perspective. If you MADE a Unicorn find and chose NOT to share with the group, feel free to message me privately so you can tell me about what happened and your decisionmaking without outing yourself as a secret-keeper, if that's considered a bad thing.

Since I've sort of outed myself as someone with a find pending announcement, I will commit now to telling at least two well-known people here directly. That way if it's decided not to post the information here on reddit and make it start popping up on google searches ... I won't be the absinthe master owning the decision. If that's the way it goes, it can be a call made by "the elders". That's good for me, if it needs to go that way. People with the decades of experience have more moral authority to make these decisions than I do. "I'm labor, not management." "Information goes up, decisions come down."

Anyway, appreciate any suggestions, public or private, with an opinion or especially with relevant history to share. Stories like "XYZ happened once..." or "I remember seeing a post when ABC was first found at such-and-such..." or even a private message like "I found LMNOP and amazingly there were only 3 bottles left in the US and no plans to bring more, so I bought one and shared the info with two others directly so they could grab what was left if they wanted, or else pass their tip along to someone else" --or anything like that, would be greatly appreciated. And if a thousand people think I'm just overthinking it and I should post the info and let the market do what it do,.... and maybe a product that moves quickly will be an economic incentive for them to put more or different expressions on the shelves..... I'm just as open to that feedback also.

"And thank you for your support."

Not the best video. Same absinthe two glasses, water added from similar carafes yet one is a different shade / colour. Why ?

The festival officially opens on the Friday evening, with an opening ceremony and a few speeches.
The festival hall opens to the public on the Saturday morning. Just five euros to enter, a free glass and a voucher for a free absinthe, though in reality it’s free refills.
In the hall there is a number of small displays including one with all of the different absinthes that have been submitted for the competition. The competition is basically divided in to three, best Blanche, best Verte and best absinthe overall. The absinthes are judged by three juries over the course of weekend. Professional, Popular and VIP. I was asked to take part in the VIP judging panel on the Sunday morning. The term “VIP” is not as we would understand it, the jury is made up of people from the local community and people like myself visiting the festival from outside the area. Its is still quite an honour to be asked.
Six tables of four people, three tables taste half of the absinthes the other three tables the remaining. Each absinthe is judged on the following categories. Colour - Blanche after water added, Verte before and after water added. 0-4 points Aroma 0-6 points and then Taste 0-10 points. A total out of 20 points.
The results are released on Sunday afternoon.
The majority of the hall is taken up with sellers of absinthe antiques and other period bistro items. Pieces can be had from a few euros right up to many thousands!
I came back with two pieces to add to my collection. The French Bulldog is a classic design of absinthe pitchet’s of that time, so much so that Absinthe Delizy branded this type of pitchet.
The other is a classic Swiss pitchet that were produced at around the time of the Swiss ban on absinthe. They come in a variety of styles, some with and some without the “Messieurs C’est l’heure” and the clock set at 10 minutes to 12. This represents the time just before the Swiss ban came into force at midnight on 7th October 1912.
These glazed clay pitchers are very fragile and almost everyone of them in collections has some nick or chip.

Hello guys! Recently I've been trying to buy the 4 Habsburg absinthe x.c. flavours to have in my collection. I'm yet to find any vendor online or offline that delivers or sells the product in Spain. Any idea where can I search? Most vendors from UK don't deliver to Spain or EU anymore

Before heading back into France there was just time to stop at Distillerie Bovet. The distillery is now being run by the great Willy Bovet’s daughter and she is doing great job of carrying on his outstanding tradition of absinthe making.
After that over boarder into France and we have to stop into see our friends Francois and Myra at La Semilla Aymonier. On arrival we found other friends there from all over the world including Japan, Czech Republic and Scandinavia. A great couple of hours spent talking absinthe with fellow enthusiasts whilst sampling Francois great absinthe.
I also got try a glass of absinthe from Japan, very strong on wormwood and possibly lemon balm as there was a very strong citrus note that lingered at then. For me it was an acquired taste.

New book launch by Patrick Roussel and his son Quentin at Maison Absinthe in Môtiers.
This was followed by a small get together of people within the absinthe community and some distillers for a quiet meal and a few drinks. This wonderful bar is actually in a very large shed at the bottom of Diane Tripet’s garden.
One of the distillers bought along some samples of two of his new absinthes. The red one is based around Port, the black one is flavoured with Chrysanthemums and coloured using charcoal.

I was part of the OG Web 1.0 forum nearly 30 years ago now, looking for old peeps. Life happened and I drifted away from the online absinthe community, and I imagine some of you were still on here.

I read last night that Marc Campbell had passed away in the last couple years, and I wanted to raise a glass to him and all the OGs.

If you ever got a brown paper package of “anise spice oil” from the Fine Spirits Corner, or went through hurdles to get Segarra through La Bodega de Alicante, or had to learn new vocabulary from a run in with Don, or exchanged mask-off messages with Head Prosthesis, then here’s to you.

I had some early 2000s emails and package exchanges with people, but all of that got lost more than a decade ago when I changed email providers.

I wish everybody well. Lots of lore from those days. Happy to talk here or dm me if you want to reconnect.

Who TF “was” I? Bob Chong, baby!

Late morning and afternoon was spent with the legend that is Patrick Grand at his unique distillery located on an old chapel in Fleurier.
Patrick runs distilling classes and very kindly allowed me to produce my own unique absinthe. He has produced a recipe sheet with the core herbs used to produce absinthe. Following on he has a list of 15 - 20 other herbs which you can choose from to create your own unique flavour profile.
Over and above the core ingredients I just added another for. The result a Blanche at around 63% with a good louche and more by luck than judgement a nice (for me) herbal profile.
A wonderful experience made all the better by Patrick guidance.
I also got to try several new absinthes including his latest, Absinthe Family which is launching on Saturday.

Early start today one of two secret fountains we visited this morning. This fountain just outside of Fleurier already had a bottle of absinthe 55 in place, however neither of us had tried Guillotine for quite a while that we decided to crack open a small bottle we had got at Absintherie Guilloud on route. Santé

So much to choose from!

Please message me if you're going over this year. I can't make it and I have a couple of questions for anyone who is planning on making the trip....TY!

official program

Spotted in Michaels Arts and Craft Store.

I tried absinthe in 1996 and started making it a few months later. TBH, it was crapsinthe back then, but I was obsessed.

I’d studied art history, and that was the rabbit hole through which I learned about it. It took me much longer to go back to the paintings and ask why absinthe kept showing up in them.

Degas’s Dans un Café or later, L’Absinthe is the one I keep returning to. Even the changed title is a whole story. People often talk about the drink first, but I can’t stop looking at the woman and the empty space around her.

She was Ellen Andrée, an actress who posed for Degas. People took the painting so literally that it hurt her reputation, and Degas had to explain publicly that she wasn’t an alcoholic.

I wonder how much of the judgment was about absinthe, and how much was about seeing a woman with a drink in a café.

Was there a painting, book, or film that got you interested in absinthe?

While Virginia has no private liquor stores, it’s not as bad as it sounds and the ABC is currently running a sale on Virginia spirits. As someone who played absinthe roulette with shipments from LdF and Absinthes.de about 25 years ago, I am still thrilled to be able to walk into an ABC store and get this, don’t let the sale price fool you, it’s very good.

Yes! It’s true! So those of you wanting to purchase the Jades but Hood River Distillers doesn’t ship to your state, you have another option now!

There are lots of other wonderful brands available, from France, Italy, Switzerland, etc, including the new Aetheria absinthes, one of which I just reviewed!

Hello!

I have been interested in absinthe for a long time, and I recently wanted to buy a bottle.

But I have checked the main webstores recommended, such as ALANDIA, Lion Spirits, Assenzio, none of them ship here at all.

I am quite stuck, I originally wanted to buy Jade 1901 but seeing how limited my options are I've lost hope.

Are there any websites (specifically within the EU) which sell proper absinthe and can ship it to Romania? Or Jade 1901 for that matter?

I'd prefer it if I could find a store that stocks the 200 cl bottles, since I can barely afford a full size one.

Through the generosity of Italian absinthe producer Pierluigi Coppola and a stroke of luck, I was able to get my paws on Aetheria Absinthe blanche and verte. In this review, I focus on the verte of his absinthe brand launch. 💚

I’d like to introduce my best friend to the world of Absinthe (well, real Absinthe not the crappy stuff you get here in the US at the liquor store lol).

Any suggestions on what I should get? I’ll be doing a drip I think for her.

Hello! I'm trying absinthe for the first time soon, and I was hoping for a bit of advice. How does one "make" absinthe without the slotted spoon one often sees habitual drinkers using? Are there any common household utensils that could substitute? Or is there another method for dissolving the sugar and diluting the spirit?

Thanks in advance!

Hey guys, i have never tried absinthe before and im drinking ocassionally most of the time with friends so i like to try new things and wanted to ask for a recommendation. Im in Berlin, Germany if that also helps. Thanks in advance!