Check out these glasses in our Absinthe shop. Below you see one glass filled with Absinthe Hamlet Hardcore Red plus ice cold water. We call this drink the Shot of Death!

ALANDIA is on Facebook. Over 6000 Absintheurs share their Absinthe experiences and devotion to the Green Fairy at the ALANDIA Facebook site. Recently we updated our profile to the new Facebook Timeline design. Besides new Absinthe graphics we also added the ALANDIA founding story to our Facebook profile. ALANDIA was founded in 2001, more than 10 years ago. So we thought it would be just the right time to let you know how it all began. Here is the ALANDIA founding story….

Once upon a time…

In this style lots of stories begin and actually it is the same with the ALANDIA story. We don´t want to give any morals how to be a good kid, we just want to tell you how it all started. How we began to dance with the Green Fairy…

In the year 2000 my best pale and I were planning our summer vacations. In Germany we have no beaches, or at least the water isn´t that warm, so we decided to head to Spain. Our aim was the beautiful island Mallorca in the Mediteranean sea. It is famous for their wild night life and considered as THE holiday island of the Germans. One month later we sat in the plane, shorts packed and ready for some adventures…

After some nice days on the island we decided to rent a car and cruise over the island. Mallorca has a lot to offer. The capital Palma de Mallorca has a very nice cathedral “Sa Seu”, which once made Frederic Chopin say, that is the most beautiful he had ever seen. On our cruise over the island we also passed a bar which had an advertisement on the outside, Absenta 1000 Pesetas. Absenta, Absinthe, I thought loudly. That´s the drink of the 19th century. Typical associations of van Gogh came into my mind. I already had read some articles in the German press, as Absinthe was just legalized in Germany, so I said to my pale, lets stop and get a bottle! After a nice chat with the liquor store owner, we were the proud owner of our first bottle of Absinthe! We wanted to open the bottle right away but decided to wait for the night to come, to experience the Green Fairy the right way. We served our first Absinthe with water and sugar. The experience was intense, although the Absinthe retrospectively wasn´t the best. But that didn´t matter, we just tried the Green Fairy, that was all that counted. For the rest of our vacations, the Green Fairy was our close friend. And yes, on our flight home our bags were packed with some bottles of the Green Fairy…

In Germany we realized that already some Absinthe brands were available through the Internet. On ebay some pioneers sold some crappy Absinthe (Pere Kermann) and in my local C&C store they had Tabu Absinthe on the shelves. I have to admit at the beginning you drank everything, the hype of the new drink was just that strong. One of the next Absinthes which were available was Mata Hari, and as I was always interested in making use of the world wide web I decided to start an Absinthe site dedicated to our beloved drink. After some days of creative Absinthe sipping a name was found: ALANDIA. Seven letters like the word Absinthe (well almost ) and easy to remember due to the fact of the aliteration. Also the word “LAND” was in the name, which fitted to our brand Mantra “World of Absinthe”. A very easy shop was uploaded and we started to offer Absinthe to share the experience of the Green Fairy. We now write the year 2001…

As me and my friend still had our studies to finish, everything was at the beginning fun, combined with the possibility to get our beloved Green Fairy by our own. The “warehouse” and “logistic center” was the cellar of our shared student apartment and the rooms were filled with Absinthe bottles and accessories. I even had my own bar in my sleeping room, everything was dedicated to the Green Fairy. We started to organize Absinthe parties, and convinced our friends to fall in love with our new passion.

That was the start of ALANDIA, we write the year 2001, the rest is history…

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!

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)

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

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!

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.