The Absinthiades take place every year in Pontarlier, France. It is an Absinthe fair where the best French Absinthes are awarded. We made a road trip to the Absinthiades in 2004. Read the report about our road trip, enjoy!
Absinthiades Absinthe Fair
We write the year 2004…. This year we were invited to the Absinthe Fair “Absinthiades” which takes place every year in the home of Absinthe, Pontarlier. Home of the fromer vintage Pernod Fils Absinthe distillery. On this event the best French Absinthes are awarded. A Jury of 24 Absintheurs make a blind degustation of different Absinthes. This year, it was differentiated between Macerated and Distilled Absinthes. Glass by glass the different Absinthes are served and are evaluated by their color, smell and bouquet. Every table is equipped with an Absinthe Fountain, Absinthe Glasses, Absinthe Spoons, water and baguette for the neutralization. Next to the table every Absintheur has its own bucket to spit out the Absinthe after degustation. 16 Absinthes are served, so you can imagine how important the bucket is for a smooth passing of the event… Afterward the points are added together and the winner is awarded with the Golden, Silver and Bronze Absinthe Spoon. Besides the Degustation antiques dealers present their absinthiana collections and you can make some reasonable smart buys of Absinthe antiques…
Absinthiades, yes, but Oktoberfest first!
Well, the Absinthiades was our main event, but as we headed from our home base Cologne to the South, we had to stop by at the Oktoberfest in Munich! It was the last weekend of the “Wiesn”, the nickname for the world’s largest folk fest. As the Golden Elixier, called Bier / Beer, is part of Germanys culture, we couldn’t let this event pass by without taking some Maß, the German serving size of Beer (1 liter), served in big glass mugs. Therefore, our Road Trip to the Absinthiases got expanded to 4 days. And it was worth it, check out our little photo story, Prost!
Road Trip to the Absinthiades
Fahrvergnügen, that was the motto for the first day! From Cologne to Munich we had to drive 4 hours to reach our first destination, the Oktoberfest, home of Brezel, Beer and Bavarian Blasmusik! As the tents are already packed at 12.00 o’clock we directly headed to the “Schützenzelt” our home base for the next 12 hours. The Oktoberfest closes at 11.00pm, therefore you have to arrive early when you want to have a table and set a standard in beer drinking. 6 Maß are average, more is advanced and more than that can be considered as an experiment… Our aim for the day was to meet some Bavarian Fairies, fly the flag of Cologne in a 100 Bavarian surrounding (you can imagine that this is a big task..) and of course drink some beer. Here is what we reached so far…
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Final destination: The Absinthiades in Pontarlier
After a day of relaxing and seeing the beautiful city of Munich we started our journey to our final destination, the Absinthiades 2004. Some glasses of Absinthe were waiting for our degustation, therefore we speeded through Austria, Switzerland and after 7 hours of driving and a couple of coffees later we arrived in Pontarlier! The fair was already going on in the theater, and for 11.00 am the degustation was scheduled. A nice breakfast – 16 Absinthes were on the menu. And after 2 hours of hard work the winners were announced:
Macerated Absinthe: 1st Montania des Alpes, 2nd Versinthe, 3rd L’Amesinthe
Distilled Absinthe: 1st Francois Guy, 2nd Versinthe La Blanche, 3rd Libertine 55
Here are some photos of our experiences. We hope that you get an impression of the unique Absinthe Fair Absinthiades. Road Trip completed…
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