What are some good brands of absinthe?!
What are some good brands of absinthe?
I hear that the quality of European absinthe varies wildly. I would like to order a good brand. Which would you suggest?
Additional Details2 months ago
that's great guys. I knew all that. What I need is an answer to my question. Thanks.
Answers:
2 months ago
that's great guys. I knew all that. What I need is an answer to my question. Thanks.
"Clandestine" by Artemisia-Bugnon is a good starter. So is the Duplais line, and the Fougerolles pair.
Many reviews here,
Source(s):
?http://www.wormwoodsociety.org/reviews.h...
?http://www.feeverte.net/guide/
The only ones u can legally bring into the US are all crap. Go over there and smuggle it back in mouthwash bottles.
In the 1990s an importer, BBH Spirits, realised that there was no UK law prohibiting the sale of absinthe (as it was never banned there) other than the standard regulations governing alcoholic beverages. Hill's Liquere, a Czech Republic distillery founded in 1920, began manufacturing Hill's Absinth, a Bohemian-style absinth, which sparked a modern resurgence in absinthe's popularity.
It had also never been banned in Spain or Portugal, where it continues to be made. Likewise, the former Spanish and Portuguese New World colonies, especially Mexico, allow the sale of absinthe and it has retained popularity through the years.
France never repealed its 1915 law, but in 1988 a law was passed to clarify that only beverages that do not comply with European Union regulations with respect to thujone content, or beverages that call themselves 'absinthe' explicitly, fall under that law. This has resulted in the re-emergence of French absinthes, now labelled spiritueux à base de plantes d'absinthe ('wormwood-based spirits'). Interestingly, as the 1915 law regulates only the sale of absinthe in France but not its production, many manufacturers also produce variants destined for export which are plainly labelled 'absinthe'. La Fée Absinthe, released in 2000, was the first brand of absinthe distilled and bottled in France since the 1915 ban, initially mainly for export from France, but now one of over twenty French 'spiritueux ... d'absinthe' available in Paris and other French cities.
Absinthe has never been totally illegal to import or manufacture in Australia. Importation requires a permit under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulation 1956 due to a restriction on importing any product containing "oil of wormwood".
In 2000 there was an amendment by Foods Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) as part of a new consolidation of the Food Code across Australia and New Zealand to make all wormwood species prohibited herbs for food purposes under Food Standard 1.4.4. Prohibited and Restricted Plants and Fungi but this was inconsistent with permissions in other parts of the pre-existing Food Code. The proposed amendment was withdrawn in 2002 during the transition phase between the two Codes, thereby continuing to allow absinthe manufacture and importation through the existing permit based system. These events were erroneously reported by the media as Australia having reclassified it from a prohibited product to a restricted product.
In the Netherlands, this law was successfully challenged by the Amsterdam wine seller Menno Boorsma in July 2004, making absinthe legal once again. Belgium, as part of an effort to simplify its laws, removed its absinthe law on the first of January 2005, citing (as did the Dutch judge) European food regulations as sufficient to render the law unnecessary (and indeed, in conflict with the spirit of the Single European Market).
In Switzerland, the constitutional ban on absinthe was repealed in 2000 during a general overhaul of the national constitution, but the prohibition was written into ordinary law instead. Later that law was also repealed, so from March 1, 2005, absinthe is again legal in its country of origin, after nearly a century of prohibition. Absinthe is now not only sold in Switzerland, but is once again distilled in its Val-de-Travers birthplace, with Kübler and La Clandestine Absinthe among the first new brands to emerge, albeit with an underground heritage.
It is once again legal to produce and sell absinthe in practically every country where alcohol is legal, the major exception being the United States. It is not, however, illegal to possess or consume absinthe in the United States. Despite the ban, it is obtainable in a small number of establishments around the United States, though typically locating those establishments is achieved via word of mouth.
In some countries like Norway, while absinthe itself is legal, the sale of alcohol stronger than 60 percent by volume (and hence many commercial brands of absinthe) is forbidden.