Buying Absinthe online.

[Ben Affleck]

Has anyone ever bought Absinthe online from Europe? It's not illegal so I am not a Narc The Czechs seem to have the strongest brand with a trujone (the active ingredent) level of 100 mgs. The French company claims the Czech brands with high trujone levels are bad products. I am looking for as much trujone as legally possibly, but also don't want to be ripped off (my last pictures have not exactly been hits). Could someone point me in the direction of a good site. This is very off topic, but I am looking for an unbiased answer.
Your West Coast Representive,
Ben Affleck

 

[HonestAbe]

Hope this helps.

I saw a site a while back for a Bar in Montreal where Absinthe is sold called Billy Kun(?).They list the brand they sell and have a link to the companys site, I want to say it was called "Hills." There is some good info on the history of the drink, the ingredients in it, and legalities involving the sale of it in different countries. From what I recall the kind sold nowadays has very strict limits on the amount of Trujone which can be in it. If you want to "Ride the Dragon" you might just have to go to the Czech Republic and find someone who makes it in their home.

What, did you just watch that movie about the Jack the Ripper that starred Johnny Depp? He is addicted to it in the film(it kills him at the end). I think it involved Laudanum(?) as well as absinthe. Laudanum is Poison, right? Not good for your health. If you want to trip a bit why not try mushrooms?

 

[WRman]

The Green Fairy

Watch out for the Hills. A friend recently picked up a bottle of that at the airport over there as a present. When we tasted it, it had no wormwood. (If you are used to the real thing, it's EASY to tell.) The Hills bottle said "Absinth" not "Absinthe." Often dropping the "e" is their way of telling you it's not the real thing. We left the bottle in the room.

The EU has a Thujone limit of 20 or 30, so you would have to buy the 100+ stuff in the country where it is made. The stuff Wilde, Hemingway and VanGogh drank was 200-300, hence the need to sweeten it to cover the bitterness, and burn it to remove some of the alcohol. These days the burning sugar is more for effect. They say that with today's weak absinthes, you would die from alcohol poisoning before you got off on the wormwood. (Anyone got a match?)

Now there may be a loophole in the EU regs for Absinthe sold as a "bitter." I'll let you know.

You can find EU sources that ship to the US on the internet. The Canadians seem to have a REAL issue with importing it, since some European sellers will ship to the US but not Canada. (BTW, it's illegal to import to either country.) That being said, what's wrong with buying it over there, as your property, and them just shipping it to you...

You can also find it for sale on eBay, but you are supposedly buying the bottle for novelty value, and not the contents - because that would be illegal. (Kinda like buying Cuban cigars for the cigar band, get it?) The eBay sellers make a big point about how the bottle has it's original seal, and the contents are "intact and original."

Here is a good general info link: http://www.absinthebuyersguide.com/index.html

 

[WRman]

Can somebody explain what this Absinthe is???

SA

http://www.absinthebuyersguide.com/icbd_article.html

 

[AutumnHaze]

Has anyone ever bought Absinthe online from Europe? It's not illegal so I am not a Narc The Czechs seem to have the strongest brand with a trujone (the active ingredent) level of 100 mgs. The French company claims the Czech brands with high trujone levels are bad products. I am looking for as much trujone as legally possibly, but also don't want to be ripped off (my last pictures have not exactly been hits). Could someone point me in the direction of a good site. This is very off topic, but I am looking for an unbiased answer.
Your West Coast Representive,
Ben Affleck

I have and I can tell you, I loved it !

 

[bond_james_bond]

My friend, while on vacation in France, purchased alcohol containing absinthe.

When he returned to Maryland, he was asked by U.S. Customs if he had any alcohol. He said yes, and was asked about what kinds of alcohol he was returning to the U.S. with. When he admitted to the alcohol containing absinthe, the bottle was seized by U.S. Customs.

It is illegal to bring absinthe products into the U.S.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/prohibited_restricted.xml

 

[WRman]

Just did a taste test between Pernod (the real thing) and Rodnik's Cannabis. Rodnik's Cannabis tasted very poor, inferior to every commercial absinthe I have tasted. I had hoped that it would taste like regular absinthe but with an added flavor, but this was not the case. (Still, the lady and I had a good time together. She said she got really drunk, but neither of us had a hangover.)

After several taste tests, I can recommend Pernod, Serpis, Un Emile, Versinthe, and Deva. Mata Hari is OK, but without the anise, it seemed to taste too much like mouthwash.

 

[AutumnHaze]

If anyone needs some taste testers for theirs , let me know as my last bottle is almost empty

 

[WRman]

If anyone needs some taste testers for theirs , let me know as my last bottle is almost empty

If you are serious, send me a PM. I'll be up there next week and might have a wee bit 'o the green fairy for comparisons. What brand do you have now, and what's your favorite?

 

[varia]

An article on Wired might be of interest for some of you.

The Mystery of the Green Menace

It's about a young american scientist who had a great interest in Absynthe, who studied the composition of vintage bottles and how he discovered that the old "recipes" were partially lost. He now produce Absythe in Europe following what he thinks are the real "recipes" (adjusted with todays laws...) That's what I remeber anyway, but it's a great article on the subject.

Varia

 

[spiky]

In Montreal ???

Is this stuff available in MTL ??

Spiky

 

[WRman]

Is this stuff available in MTL ??

Spiky

It's like Cuban cigars in the US. Not illegal to have, just illegal to import and sell in Canada and the US.

Sure, you can see a bottle of Pernod in a bar, but it's made without the wormwood, and thus no thujone.

Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, is a perennial plant with bitter tasting and deeply incised leaves. It is wormwood which gives the spirit its green colour and bitter taste but it is also the ingredient that has caused concern. The reason is that one of the compounds extracted from the herb is a mono-terpene called thujone, which is toxic.

 

[WRman]

Any lovely ladies interested in sharing some of the green fairy next week? (Jun 28-Jul 3) (PMs work.)

 

[WRman]

Pernod, by Ricard, is made of Anis, not wormwood.

Not when it's made in France. Log into the web site as being from France, and you will see there is Pernod, and Pernod Absinthe (Pernod aux extraits de plantes d'absinthe). Sure it has anise, but to be real absinthe, it has to have the wormwood for the thujone.

Pernod has put almost two hundred years of know-how into the launch of Pernod aux extraits de plantes d’absinthe, reviving and updating a recipe that brought fame to the Pernod name at the beginning of the 19th century.

Like the original, Pernod aux extraits de plantes d’absinthe is 68% alcohol by volume and contains no sugar, but its thuyone content now meets the current legal limit in the EU of 10mg/l. Pernod aux extraits de plantes d’absinthe can be served in the traditional way, with a sugar lump and a perforated spoon, or with 5 to 7 parts cold water and no sugar.
Modern distillation processes allow the molecular composition of absinthe-based products to be strictly controlled.

http://www.pernod.fr/uk/index_animerIE1024.htm

The "real" stuff says "Absinthe" in large white letters in a blue shield on the label just under "Pernod."

 

[chef]

Attraction ?

What is the reason for the attraction to absinthe? The taste, the legend, the danger, or the hype?

 

[StripperLover]

Hills Absinth can now be purchased through SAQ

 

[WRman]

Hills Absinth can now be purchased through SAQ

That would be the one without the wormwood, so it's not absinthe (absinthe comes from the latin name for wormwood, Artemisia absinthium). Calling something "absinthe" without absinthium is just not right, but what they do when the real thing cannot be sold. As I noted above, the missing "e" is a clue, and it's not even close to the real thing.

What is the reason for the attraction to absinthe? The taste, the legend, the danger, or the hype?

Read the links, including the one just above from Pernod.

From 1830 on, artists took to this elixir in the cafés of Paris. "Green fairy" to artists and poets seeking new pleasures, absinthe became one of the strongest symbols of its era with its enigmatic color and the ritual surrounding it. It is sublimated in the works of Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and later Picasso.

http://www.pernod.net/indexNet.html

 

[StripperLover]

WRman,

I'm not saying that Hills is the real thing or not but seemingly according to my connection from within the SAQ, Hills is the brand name that many people have been searching for & my contact says that it's mainly because of the 70% proof alcohol content whereas the Pernod that I saw on their shelves was 30% content.

I don't know if this makes a difference either which way.

 

[spin]

WRman,

I'm not saying that Hills is the real thing or not but seemingly according to my connection from within the SAQ, Hills is the brand name that many people have been searching for & my contact says that it's mainly because of the 70% proof alcohol content whereas the Pernod that I saw on their shelves was 30% content.

I don't know if this makes a difference either which way.

Hills (a czech product) is one of the most popular brands out there, they probably started the "absinth rennaissance" I guess, this may explain why a lot of people ask for this particular brand.

As others have mentioned Hills, or any other brand of "Absinth" available in Canada is not the real thing - period. It has about as much in common with true Absinthe as Tennessee Whiskey has with Scotch.

A good rule of thumb to use when buying/looking for Absynthe is if the brand you are looking at promotes/directs or in any way encourages you to burn it It's not the real thing.

Real Absynthe should NEVER be burnt.

Spin

 

[toutnu]

they have good absinth...try it www.piergabriel.ca