I promise, You Will be populer if you post your pic.

(pointing at smutty laughing)

I tried #25 today. Damn! That’s a nice HG!

I was smoking a shoulder of venison on the grill all after noon, and decided to have a glass while I was tending the smoker.

It has a slight perfume quality to it, with a light sweet taste at 4:1. The anise/fennel were well balanced by other herbs. The louche was a beautiful blue white. Even a small glass (20ml) gave me a really nice buzz.

It was a beautiful cool afternoon with the sun streaming thought he remaining leaves on the trees. There was the usual sound of sirens from the EMS vehicles racing up Swadley road. The few remaining birdw were lightly chirping in the trees.

A plesant Sunday made even nicer by Moonman #25. Thank you.

That's a very interesting point.

I think people would like to have 'brands' to choose from along with the new batches. I believe two unknown HG crafters work this way, as does Felix with his choice of 4 'brands'.

ET and Moonman change up their recipes which is good but when you hit one that people really like, it'd be nice to be able to buy some more.

From da Moon:

Special pre-sale begining on November 16 : The return of the amazing "Larmes de Lune" !

By popular demand, we will make a special limited edition offering of our fantastic and widely acclaimed 70% alc./vol clear absinthe based on the #24 and 25 recipe. A larger quantity of wine spirit will be included in the alcohol base combined with a huge quantity of the finest herbs to provide a smooth, rich, complex and fruity absinthe. It will be called “Larmes de Lune” (Moon tears). 4 small batches will be done in november-december and blended together in a large container for aging until March 2004. It will ship by the end of March 2004, just in time to reach destinations for the beginning of spring. We will accept money for this one from November 16 to December 31. This blanche absinthe will exceptionally be offered only in 40oz (1.14L) clear bottles with a convenient screw cap.. ONLY 25 bottles are offered.

Isn't #24 a favorite?

I stand corrected...

Although he says it's based on two recipes with some changes.

It will be the same recipe but because #24 was made using the tail from another batch (#23, a widely different recipe), because there's been some improvement on the apparatus and because more wine alcohol will be included, he can't say it will be the same.

After repeating the same recipe a few times, it will become consistant, that's why Moonman will do a few batches blended together for this first offering. After that, the tail will be kept for the only purpose of doing this recipe and it will help a lot next time he will have to do more Larmes de Lune. This will become Moonman's first attempt at offering a regular product.

Moonman also plan to do the same thing with a green soon. There's good chances it will be based on the currently on sale #31 if people like the pontarlier serie as much as we do.

"based on two recipes with some changes."

#24 & 25 used the same recipe, except of course that #24 used the tail from #23, a different recipe.

i couldn't tell the difference between #24 and #25

If you leave the Colt 45 Label on the bottle, I think that would throw off the authorities too.

Those are in fact empty bottles of 94% grain spirit, without label of course.

Sounds like Wolfie is a big fan of the #28 already.

That's all good news to me. That will be my first bottle of HG ever (not counting my sample of #26 thatis en route right now [Thanks man!]).

Grrr, anticipation. . .

<------- has NEVER been a patient person.

Well, #28 is not one of the "Pontarlier", it is a "Montpellier".

Anyway it was already excellent right after the coloration without any aging so I guess the answer is yes, I'm already a big fan of it. I only have one bottle of it so I refrain from drinking it and let Moonman age it with the whole batch.

I don't know if it would make a good regular offering tho. The more special spices you use in a recipe, the more likely it can become a love or hate product. The same comment apply for the 26 & 27. We will see, after all this whole risky "absintheauthentique" operation is there for the main purpose of being an R&D lab for the products and also to probe the market.

Sometimes it can be a nice surprise. For exemple, the Larmes de Lune uses many different special and unusual spices and herbs but it was well received wich proves there's only one way to know and it is to try it on a test micro-market.

Boy, I sure don't know what the hell I'm talking about... sorry.

So it sounds like that in order to duplicate the #24, you'd have to make a #23, but was there something else used to make #23? If that was indeed so, then you'd have to make that number and if that number was based...

... then #1!

So do most crafters use the tails from a previous product to 'round out'
the new batch? If this is so, at what point is it used?

Is it distilled with everything else at once or independent...

Try again, Bourgeois_Cat...

I'm waiting for the #28 as well. It will be my first bottle from the Moon, although I've had a glass each of #19, #23 & #24...

1888, take a look at the references section on the Feeverte site...

In a swiss style absinthe, the tail from the previous batch is always used in the next. It is added prior to the distillation. The tail become part of the ingredient list so to speak and it contains lots of oils (but mostly anethol and heavy compounds that needs more purification).

If you always do the same recipe, the tail eventually become more or less the same everytime. To be able to repeat the exact same recipe, one should keep the tail only for that specific recipe and this is what Moonman is about to do for the Larmes de Lune. He have kept a small part of the tails of many past batches to build a second tail for that purpose. The first batch will be done using this mixed tail from previous batches. After that, the resulting tail will slowly become a "true" Larmes de Lune tail. This is also why Moonman start to offer this Larmes de Lune by doing at least 3 batches blended together to even out the taste, later on this won't be needed but even then, some mesures will be taken to make it as consistant as possible.

On an R&D point of view, this is the point where Moonman start working on consistancy of a product. To be honest, there's still many fine points to figure out...

I wish I had a digi cam to post you a picture of the #29 hyssop Pontarlier... it is GREEN! almost as much as La Fee ...and it is of course all natural. Aging will tone it down a little bit but still...

It is also like drinking perfume...a hell of a nice perfume. Those who like intense drink (as opposed to "finesse") will like it a lot, no doubt about that.

What does it taste like ? ----> Hyssop.

Road-kill?

Some of us Appalachians can make possum taste like filet mignon Cros. It's all in the marinating and picking out the gravel.

Thanks for that bit of info Wolfie...

Same price structure for the Moon Tears?

Still waiting for my Absinthe Authentic half-gallon, Blaine said it tastes great and makes you trip ballz.

1888

Everybody on the Moonman's mailing lists will get the info soon. Some got it today, some will get it tomorrow. We can't discuss details about the sales around here anymore.

Oops... forgot about that one.

Thanks.

He's a big fan of whatever's been Moon cooked.

$$$

Wrong.

Yes I'm Moonman's PR agent but I do prefer some batches to other.

That's mostly irrelevent because many Moonman's supporters prefer batches I like less so when I say that I really like a batch, the bottom line is this is just my opinion.

I never did any claim of objectivity, mostly because I now drink 95% Moonman's absinthes, 4% segarra and 1% other. Out of the 1% "other" most are disappointing and most of the time I refrain from making any comment out of respect for those who make or promote it.

Was that enough of an honest disclaimer Mr meanLiver ?

Interesting, because I now drink 95% Suisse Ninja absinthes, 4% BaMa and 1% other. Out of the 1% "other" most are disappointing and most of the time I refrain from making any comment out of respect for those who make or promote it.

I think that about sums it up.

I drink 99% Felix products 1% other. I have not found an HG I don't like yet. Some, more than others though.

OH SNAP!

To be honest, anyone in their right mind should welcome criticism from DS or Moonman, and I'd be quite happy with them publicly making comments on how to improve the product. Comments such as "this eez sheete" are not very helpful, but comments such as "it tastes like tails or it's empyreumatic or you have weak herbs or too alcoholic" and suggestions on how to fix those problems would probably be helpful. Nobody wants to make mediocre absinthe.

This is true. Being thrashed by Moonman publicly might be embarrassing , but it would be insightful .

Most of those comments were made while under the influence of MANY glasses of good HG. The rest just kept bubbling up as humor.

As for criticism. I really try not to be harsh. Sometimes I may go off on a personal diatribe re: my opinions of the sale of HG, but for the most part I'm trying to be constructive.

I will usuall contact the maker of the item to be "reviewed" and give them my opinion before ever mentioning it in a public place. I'll also usually ask if they want me to post my findings or keep them private.

I tried the #24 and #25, side to side, last night. They are very close, IMO. There does seem to be a slight difference. I believe #25 has more lavender in it, a bit too much for my tastes. This is probably what the mayor was referring to.

although some people feel that HG should not be sold, I, for one, am very grateful to be able to buy it.

the only other way i ever got to taste it was by attending LF03.

i mean, sure, there are some people that are "in the know" and have great contacts, but i am really new to this and don't plan on doing any HGing myself. therefore, i dont have the knowledge or anything else to offer HGers.

this being the case, i don't foresee any HGers lining up to send me their product for free....they have nothing to gain from it.

if you know any that feel like being Santa Claus, PLEASE have them contact me. i would LOVE to try anything.

in the meantime, i truly appreciate those who will sell to a FNG.

i should probably post this over at digit's thread, but i was responding to dinky's post.

Celti-
This plight, is the only reason I tolerate such sales here. I'm a bit disappointed by WTMMB pricing, but if people feel they are getting a good value, who am I to to dole out the slap down.

Just for the sake of history: 5 years ago the Princess of Paranoia was lauded as the savior. I mean, for a paltry $200 you could get a bottle of "CLANDESTINE HIGH THUJONE!!!-this stuff has nothing to do w/the buzz from absinthe, NOTHING! AUTHENTIC SUISSE LA BLEUE" shipped right to your door.... and now... we realize the truth.

WTMMB = What The Market May Bear?

I appreciate it as well. HG is a wonderful thing.

HG good.

What's a May bear?
Do they kill people?
Is there one in my yard?

" This plight, is the only reason I tolerate such sales here."

There's a fallacy in your reasoning.

First there's no sale going on here. People are just talking about the absinthes they drink, be it bootleg or commercial. The sales are dealed via email or via web sites that are not related to this forum. Here, people are just talking about it. Sometimes the makers or promoters are also there as members to discuss about it. As long as everybody know those members are promotors, I think this is fair.

What you "tolerate" is the freedom of speach of the forum's members. If you would like me not to talk and answer questions about a given product of your choice, you better come up with damn strong arguments...

Plus , I may be wrong but you seem to differentiate HG and LaBleu but this is the same thing : bootleg products. I would even go as far as saying that all commercial or bootleg products produced outside of the US are concidered the same from the US government point of view : those are alcohol on wich they can't get their share of the tax money and those are absinthes, an illegal beverage in the US.

Now let's not forget that a post on the internet can easily sound harsher than a discussion between two people drinking and talking in person. For that reason I should specify that I'm just calmly explaining my point of view so there's no need to use the lazer guns & hammers icons.

This would be more appropriate :

If there was a May bear in your yard, I'm sure would take care of it... But if it's a May beer, you can take care of that !

Just for the sake of argument, I don't ever recall a time when the Princess of Paranoia was lauded as a "savior." Even when I first started hanging my hat at the venerable Sepulchritude forum back in '99, she was looked down upon more than most. I shelled out money for a bottle of #2, but then at one time I also shelled out money for Staroplezencky as well. Do I regret it now? Well, yes, but my palate has become much more refined in that time period. Did I regret it then? Nope.

Personally, until I have the means to squeeze fairies from my homegrown herbs my own self (hopefully by the end of November / early December), I have no problem paying for a high quality HG. Even after the fairy press is up and running, I'll still feel good about purchasing absinthe from the Moon, or from any other hogsmacker who sells his product to help finance his venture.

Sure, it'd be great if HG were traded about freely, but such is not always the case.

#32 was announced as the same recipe as #31.

Does this #31 was that good that another batch of the same was made? Are #31 and #32 exactly the same, or is #32 tweaked somehow?

Nobody tasted the #31 yet because it will have to age for 3 months before shipping.

Maybe you should ask the question directly to Moonman via email.

> I would even go as far as saying that all commercial or bootleg products produced outside of the US are concidered the same from the US government point of view : those are alcohol on wich they can't get their share of the tax money and those are absinthes, an illegal beverage in the US.

nice try

The real difference I see between the Princess of Paranoia and all of the HG that has been offerred for sale so far is that 1) the Princess of Paranoia was clearly after profit, while I feel our dedicated HGers are merely recouping the cost of materials and labor; 2) the Princess of Paranoia thrived on the ignorance of the customer base, while the HGers that post here have been instrumental in educating the absinthe drinking public; and 3) the Princess of Paranoia refers to absinthe as an 'HE LICKS HER,' talks about the 'Green Fairy' as if he was in charge of her accounting department, thinks she's a witch, and tries to write like Anne Rice. It's as much attitude as anything else.

Well put.
Oh, and there's also that whole HONESTY thing, which the Empress seems to have forgotten about.