The top HG's surpassed pre ban awhile ago, that stuff was commercial absinthe.

I've had a few HGs that were every bit as good as pre-ban. A Texas Nimes comes to mind as well as a blanche I was enjoying last night.

De Nimes is grate style, indeed. Interesting is the fact it is very often cooked by HG, whereas CO stay away from the style, so probablement NONE of the CO absinthes is de Nimes.

No Besançon either.

I've had several mind blowing HG's, but I couldn't actually say they were better than the pre-ban I've tasted.

Nor are they remotely comparable to esteemed Besançon!

I'm w/Kirkenstein,
I've had better
hogsmack than the
prebans I've been
lucky enough to
quaff.

I consider the very best HGs, of which there are few, to now be of higher quality then the best prebans I've tasted. Give the best non-COs a few years of aging and I think that will become even more apparent. While I love hundred year old absinthe, I suspect it may have passed it's prime some decades ago.

Give lousy HG a few years of aging and you'll have moonjuice.

Ha!

I wish I'd saved my
run. I bet it'd be like
tap water by now.

Mix in sum Jade sea monkeys and you gots ATown tap water...

Exactly, and Ned was tryin' to prove to me none of these styles existed in the heyday. Claimed chemists are not capable of inventin' time travel, but who knows?

Quote by 'Oxygenee' date='Oct 30 2007, 05:18 PM'

The attraction of the high-end absinthe business - like the wine business, or the restaurant business, is the thought of earning an income from doing something you love, not the pursuit of profit for its own sake.

You said it. That's exactly why someone I know started his on distillery, he's not getting rich but he loves what he's doing. As a matter of fact I'd like to follow his lead in a few years.

I pronasblemet know ho tyuau re talking about, but if he is that person he is one of my best firnds, so no wonder.

Try typing w/
both eyes.

ya mispelled four eyses

"Ned lies. Ned lies. Ned lies."

Butt with courtesy, of coz. If some nsenior forumites know fuck mouch more aboyut how it mighta be in the heydeya. Wormsowodod heads avantagrde!!!!

Of course those styles existed. Doesn't mean that you'll find bottles of them. Probably "house" brands.

They didn't publish a book for distillers just for the fun of it.

Very little is done
for the fuckin' fun
of it.

No xit...these old publishing companies decided to print these expensive books for the fun of it -- most of the recipes were just made up for the fun of it...and then a bunch of "hobbyists" bought them just for the fun of it...

Um, yeah, right.

And I'm here every
day because I'm
not pathetic.

...just for the fun of it...

Just for the fun of it I agree, those styles existed and for 95% were known if might represent only samll p[art of the comsumers. And, every distilling book etc depicts what has been done, otehrswise we would have another cristian andersenm tellin the tale of the legendary de Nimes.

"I've never claimed, or thought, that there were "a couple of dozen" "truly good absinthes".

I didn't say you did. I was responding to a thread, not to you.

"Research and development IS of course proceeding in the commercial sector."

And elsewhere.

"I've said certain methodologies, certain ways of doing things, which may be possible or desirable in making HG, are either inappropriate, undesirable, or effectively impossible in true commercial production, for various reasons - some regulatory, some legal, some practical."

No doubt, but it seems people were asking why really good absinthe cannot be made on a commercial scale, not why what some HGer does cannot be done on a commercial scale.

"They simply mean that the techniques and methods appropriate for making 5 litres of absinthe, are not all the same as those appropriate for making 5000 litres of absinthe. I don't find this suprising at all, and I'm amazed that anyone does."

It doesn't surprise me. I'm not sure I understand why nobody can explain these mysterious differences on line though. It is my personal opinion that none of the commercial producers, and I mean NONE of them understand it well enough to explain it. At least some of the HG producers are wildy successful AT THEIR SCALE. One (now) CO producer was as good or better as the HGers on a small scale. In my opinion, NOBODY is good at it on a large scale and I don't think they know why they're not good at it. Can't explain what they don't know.

To put it differently, they're just feeling their way along. But they're selling the results while they wait to get good (or not), and that pisses some people off. It doesn't piss me off, but it doesn't cloud my vision either.

You need to get out more.

PM me if someone still has some, we can swap boozes.

You may be right. I am outta the loop these days.

Fartormiss pretty much hit it once again. Either the rest of the The Absinthe Syndicate™ have thick, fat heads; are pretending to be the experts they are not or are complete scumbags. You can decide which.

As in every aspect of life, there are those and those among them.

Coming from you, I think you want us to vote for "all three". Which doesn't go well with the "either", usually reserved for exclusive "or".

Sloppy!

Meant to say "either" with a "neither"...

Rocko and Dubs are available now.

The reasons why certain techniques like the Tex-rec method are not viable on large scale are straightforward, simple, clear cut, and could be explained in a few sentences. The fact that I choose not to, in an online environment where words like "complete scumbag" are cheerfully thrown about, doesn't mean I can't. It means I won't.

The contempt for commercial producers here is so pervasive, that it's simply not a congenial environment to discuss these matters. As I've said before though, I'd happily discuss these issues face to face.

In the meantime the HGers here can happily continue to slather each other with thick, glistening, buttery compliments, an orgy of mutual adoration...."You're so wonderful.....No, you're so wonderful....We're so privileged to have an artist like you in our midst....Teach me, o philosopher king....We bathe in the light of Your Radiance...the eau-de-cologne coming out of your dick has an intoxicating perfume..." etc.

Point proven.

Same words might apply to CO's, the mutual adoration is easily found in both cults, I would not limit it only to HG. Butt, knowin' this, consensus won't be achieved. And it is sad.

1. All modern interpretations of any handwritten 18th century recipe are going to be subject to matters of opinion and debate. The Roquette is what it says: a serious attempt to make a modern absinthe, in reasonably commercial quantities, based on one of these early recipes. The key phrases are serious attempt, and based on. We don't claim infalibility or exactitude. And we quite deliberately don't use phrases like "exact replica" or similar, because even the theoretical possibility of such precision is a chimera.

2. As I've said ad nauseum here and elsewhere, the original 1797 was simply a distilling experiment, not an early version of this new product. So I wonder how you'd have any idea what it tastes like, considering the first bottles were only despatched by our couriers about 25 minutes ago.

3. The coloration is achieved with two herbs, not three. This is a typo on the website.

I've never come across it either online or in the real world between CO producers. It's an exclusively HG phenomenon.

Well written and very informative post Grim, but I don't see the point of jumping on another co product like this one.

Specially when you see the original recipe:
For 18 pots of eau-de vie (approximately 34 litres),
a large bucket of grand wormwood,
some mint,
two handfuls of lemon balm
two of green anise
same amount of fennel
some calamus.

Colour:
a handful of petite wormwood
same amount of hyssop.

To be honest, I personally don't really care if the 1797 recipe has been followed accurately or not as long as the final result tastes damn good.

The final ingredient, a handful of cash.

I am far more interested in trying the new Doubs but I do like the bottle and label on the 1797.

As for the slathering praise among HGers, I think it has more to do with respect for craft than hero worship. There is also a willingness to share knowledge which among the CO crowd suddenly become "proprietary." I have respect for those who jump through the endless array of hoops to produce absinthe commercially and some of the products produced are pretty good. I expect a few to get better over time. Most will settle for over-hyped mediocrity.

I get your point David, but on the other hand, I see it is only CO's that compete fiercely with one another, whereas HGers co-operate.

Also, I am sure I have heard someone claiming his absinthes are exact replicas, when we all know vintage stays vintage and has never been successfully reproduced so far, if it is still possible.

It does not seem to me that grim is trying to knock this product. I think that he is trying to get us all closer to the truth. He already stated that he expects it to be better than 90% of whats out there.

IMHO the 1797 and the new Doubs are easily the most promising new products to come out since the Jades. I am really hoping for both to be successful.

I do not see anything wrong w/ pointing out the fact that just because it says 1797 on the label does not necessarily mean that the contents will be the same thing that was made back then.

Just go over to the WS and read the gushing praise that is piled on even the most poorly made and mediocre CO offerings.

HA!

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Don't assume there is just one recipe dating from 1797, and don't assume they're all in the public domain. Marc's translation is of one particular manuscript illustrated in MCD's book. It doesn't represent the recipe used for the Roquette 1797.

More generally: the aim of the Roquette brand is to focus on recipes (usually unpublished and in manuscript) that are NOT in the public domain.

I didn't know for the Roquette 1797.
But that's the recipe used for the first 1797.

So Coors doesn't have any nice words for Miller? I wonder why that could be???

I've never heard any praise from Anheuser-Busch for even a champion home brewer, either. Probably because they don't give a shit about him as a peer, as a craftsman, as a human being, as anything other than a source of revenue.

I know why Texas Rectification might intimidate anyone from using it on a large scale (I'm not conceding it wouldn't work, but it might not be practical), but that's not the point. I stand by the assertion that CO producers, possibly without a single exception, can't explain what they're doing because they don't know what they're doing. This is not in and of itself reprehensible or anything like it - Rome was not built in a day. But some people get pissed off when they get sold construction debris with words appropriate to the colisseum. That's my feeling from reading these forums. Personally, I don't much care.

Exactly:

Meanwhile in other news, based on his intensive research with the scale model below, Artemis has some expert advice for Lewis Hamilton.