Facebook is one of the biggest nations in the world, and ALANDIA has already over 2500 fans of our beloved drink Absinthe at Facebook. We just updated our Facebook Absinthe fanpage with a new profile pic. Let´s see if this raises members of the ALANDIA Absinthe community. Our guess, by mid march we will be already 3000 Absinthe fans at Facebook!

The ALANDIA Team wishes you Happy Holidays!

We want to say thank you for your loyalty and support with this Christmas Coupon. 10 years already have passed since we started our Absinthe business back in 2001. Without the help of you and all Absintheurs around the world we wouldn´t be where we are right now, thank you! We look forward to a friendly and of course trustful relationship in 2012 and all the forthcoming years!

We just returned from our trip to Asia and Australia! What did we do there? We visited Joop and Gaye in Sydney and had a Heure Verte with them in their beautiful Absinthe Salon. It is THE place in Australia, when you want to enjoy an traditional and authentic Absinthe. On their menu are mainly French and Swiss Absinthes, as their credo is to serve only the best of the best. As soon as you step into their Absinthe bar you feel and experience that this is not an exagerated marketing claim, they really want to spread the fascinating World of Absinthe! As you can see on the pictures, the Absinthe bar is very stylish – equipped with French styled Absinthe furniture. You take a seat at bistro tables, which are all set up with an absinthe fountain, absinthe glasses, absinthe spoons and absinthe sugar. Joop and Gaye, the owners of the bar, then hand out the Absinthe menu, while explaing you which Absinthe is best for you and how you have to prepare it the proper way. And be aware, the policy of their Absinthe bar is, that only three absinthes are served per customer. Why? Because we all know how powerful the Green Fairy is and therefore three glasses of Absinthe are enough . This doesn´t mean that the absinthe bar is just there for a short rest. The owners are always open for a little conversation about the Green Fairy! Therefore, when you are in Sydney, visit the Absinthe salon, it is an experience you will not forget, Santé!

Probably the most famous Absinthe company in history was Pernod Fils. The firm was established in 1805 in Pontarlier (France) by Henri-Louis Pernod. In the beginning, there were just two stills in the factory, producing not more than 16 litres of Absinthe per day.  But this should change dramatically….

Henri-Louis´s son Louis bought 36,000 square meters of land on the outskirts of Pontarlier alongside the Doubs river. An Absinthe factory was built with a daily production exceeding already 400 litres. But this was just the beginning of the Pernod success story.  In 1850 the production capacity was already 20,000 litres per day. Absinthe consumption expanded even further when the French Army, which had been fighting in Algeria, returned home: During the war, French soldiers received a daily dose of Absinthe against stomach diseases. As they returned, they brought back their newly acquired taste for Absinthe and the demand for Absinthe sky rocketed. By 1896 the output was already 125,000 litres per day! This success story could only be stopped by Absinthe prohibition in 1914. But Pernod reacted and developed an Absinthe substitute, the drink Pastis. You can say Pastis is basically an Absinthe without wormwood and of course a lower alcohol degree. The ritual, drinking it with water and sugar, is derived from the Absinthe ritual.

Nowadays you can once again find an Absinthe in the Pernod product portfolio. But as Absinthe is a substitute of their main product Pastis, Absinthe is just a tiny little niche product which never got big marketing budgets. In a way you can say this is positive for the market, as it allowed small Absinthe distillers to revive the drink in an authentic way!

(Source: Absinthe Encyclopedia by D. Nathan-Maister)

Since some weeks our new Absinthe Heritage Verte is on the market. The first Absinthe bottles have already arrived in their final destination, your bar. And when we read your Absinthe reviews, we get the impression that you like Absinthe Heritage Verte as much as we do! That´s great and makes us happy, as we have put so much time into developing this very special Absinthe.

As we are aware, that you can´t drink a glass of Absinthe during work we have decided to create an Absinthe Wallpaper for your computer. This way, you always have a bottle of Absinthe Heritage Verte around you You can Download this Absinthe Wallpaper by clicking on the following link (the file is zipped and two pictures in different sizes are in the folder):

Click here to download the Absinthe Wallpaper

The brand new Absinthe from ALANDIA has arrived in our warehouse! It took more than two years to develop this very special Absinthe. We are proud to present you Absinthe Heritage Verte! It is as well our Absinthe of the Month:

Absinthe Heritage Verte is an authentic green Absinthe, with a “vintage” personality: It is composed after a traditional recipe including grande wormwood, fennel, green anise and various other selected herbs. The distillation itself is done by the family distillery Paul Devoille in France, which was founded in 1859. Heritage Verte is extremly intense from its herbal composition: Once the bottle is opened a beautiful perfume of wormwood fills the room. In the glass, Heritage Verte is of a deep, well-infused amber green color. Adding ice-cold water produces an intensely thick, yet reflective louche that completely captures the undiluted color of clouds. Its tasting notes reflect wormwood, anise, and fennel, with a relaxing yet bittersweet headiness.

We recommend serving Absinthe Heritage according to the Classic French Absinthe Ritual: Fill your Absinthe glass with one part Absinthe, place an Absinthe spoon with two sugar cubes on top and pour three parts cold water over the sugar into the glass.

We are totally enthusiastic about Absinthe Heritage Verte, that´s why we add to the first 50 bottles one free ALANDIA T-Shirt!

It took a long time, but now they are here: The one and only replica Absinthe fountains! You can choose from the Lady Absinthe fountain and the Antique Absinthe fountain with two or four spigots. Absinthe fountains drive the Absinthe ritual to perfection. You fill the glass bowl with ice cubes and water and then let the water drip through the spigots into your Absinthe glass. It creates the best louche ever! And these Absinthe fountains are also nice to look at, even when they are not in use…

Check out the Antique Absinthe fountain and watch a video of the Absinthe fountain ritual!

We also received new stock of Absinthe Brouilleurs. These little absinthe accessories are placed over your Absinthe glass and are also used to blend the Absinthe with water. Check out our product video by clicking the following link: How to use an Absinthe Brouilleur.

And the handmade version of the famous Absinthe Glass Reservoir Pontarlier has arrived. These glasses are the  most authentic Absinthe glasses. They have a reservoir in the stem to measure the correct serving size of Absinthe. Check them out here: Absinthe Glass Reservoir Pontarlier.

In France it is now legal to print “Absinthe” on the label of the Absinthe bottle. In the last years it was only allowed to label Absinthe as “Spiritueux aux plantes d´Absinthe”: A spirit made with the herb absinthe, as the spirit “Absinthe” itself was still prohibited in France. This new law, in fact the last step of legalizing Absinthe in France, has created some action in France. The newest addition is the Absintherie Bourbonnaise, located in the town Vichy. We found a pic of their Absinthe online. We will let you know, when we have sampled it. It claims to be authentic, the bottle looks nice, but how about the content..? The kid seems to be quite curios.

I’ve been collecting antique absinthe memorabilia for a while now and have some glasses, spoons and other stuff, but have never seen one of these before. It’s an antique lighter that has an engraved advertisement for Premier Fils absinthe on one side. When I got it, it needed a thorough cleaning and was missing a few items. It lacked a flint, flint spring and wick. I canabalized and old Zippo lighter for the spring, which had to be cut down in size, and good friend Jeannie Van Buren was kind enough to supply a new Zippo wick and flint. In the second picture you can see that it is now in functional condition. If anyone out there has another absinthe  advertising please let me know.

When you look for a description of Burlesque at Wikipedia it reads: “Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.” Sounds like a lot of fun and indeed it is. In our homebase Cologne, some girls grouped up and started a Burlesque team, they are called Pepperellas and perform throughout Germany. Lately Pink Champagne, one of the artists, made her own party and asked us to support the event with some Absinthe and accessories. Of course we were there and lend them one of our party approved Absinthe Lady fountains. Here are two pics of the Lady Absinthe fountain in action. Absinthe was served in shots, everything else would have been to work intensive at the event, but at least the Absinthe was served by a Green Fairy! In may they have a new event, we will be there!