The press seem to be making a big thing of latter-day rock ‘n roll star Marilyn Manson’s supposed crazy ‘absinthe-shot fuelled’ night out in Las Vegas.

Complete with singing Justin Timberlake songs karaoke style, the renowned musician is rumoured to have been seen jumping in the driver’s seat to allegedly commandeer an unattended limo, and pulling what appeared to be a knife!

But I disagree – was it even Marilyn Manson at all out on the tiles in Vegas? The Marilyn Manson knows better than to drink his absinthe as shots! He even has his own absinthe, Mansinthe by Marilyn Manson, traditionally distilled, 66.6% alcohol and unlike the musician’s alleged antics, very respectable indeed!

Mansinthe by Marilyn Manson

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 Cocktail

The perfect drink for Halloween, like many cocktails, it includes a dash of absinthe. When it comes to enriching the flavour of a drink,  absinthe does it like no other alcohol! A dash of absinthe gives all kinds of nuances impossible with any other spirit.

Corpse Reviver Absinthe Cocktail

• 1 measure of gin
• 1 measure of Cointreau
• 1 measure of Lillet Blanc
• 1 measure of fresh lemon juice
• a dash of absinthe (I’d recommend the Absinthe Roquette 1797 for its wonderful herbal profile)

Shake well with ice and strain into a classic cocktail glass. Decorate with a maraschino cherry.

The competition

Scroll down for the complete scores and rankings

Somehow this elixir, or just humble green drink, beguiles and inspires, and every year in October hundreds of absintheurs, fans and distillers make their way to Pontarlier, France to talk, drink absinthe and just the trip itself is almost like an absinthe pilgramage.  Also making it to Pontarlier are the absinthe sellers, those who get their creations into the hands of absinthe drinkers all over the world.

An integral part of the Absinthiades is the concours, or competition, where the absinthe makers each enter their beloved alcohol to be judged alongside the other brands of the year.

This year Antoine and I had the honour of being invited to take part in the judging. As you would expect, all the absinthes are tasting blind to try and ensure fairness.

Each competition has three judging panels:

1. The professional jury, composed of absinthe industry figures. Antoine and I were in this group.
2. The VIP jury, with important figures from the region and special guests.
3. The public jury, representing the  absinthe drinkers at home. Some of them will know their Jade Absinthes from their Absinthe DuVallon,  some of them may have been briefly touched by the green fairy, and others never tasted a drop of absinthe before in their lives.

This year, 13 absinthes were tasted, with the blanche (white) and the verte (green) absinthes mixed up and presented in a random order. At each table, four judges sat, with a fountain in the centre, constantly replenished with chilled water, and at hand were water glasses and bread to cleanse the palate between absinthes.

To sugar or not to sugar: this was left up to the individual judges, and a good thing too – everyone has a different taste. Ideally the absinthes would be tasted both sugared and unsugared, sugar can have the effect of blending the flavours and making a smoother drink. But with thirteen absinthes to try, having them all both ways would be impossible in one evening!

The score sheet divided the marks into three categories:

1. Visuel – what is the colour like, and how is the louche? (Marks out of 4)
2. Olfactif – what does the absinthe smell like? The aromas, the perfume. (Marks out of 6)
3. Gustatif – most importantly what the absinthe taste like? The palate, subtle hints or strong attacks. (Marks out of 10)
4. Notes - no points to be given here, but any remarks on the absinthe, or maybe notes to help you remember which one was which. Potentially useful as the evening moves on…

The scores!

So to the results! I’ve put together a few charts to make comparing the scores from each jury much easier, the length of the bar in each colour represents the average score from that judging panel. As you can see, all the scores are within quite a small range, which shows how far absinthe has come in recent times! I wonder if 60 points could ever be achieved?

The results of the Absinthiades Competition 2011, the blanche (white) absinthe category.

There is not really much debate about these results. The Maison Fontaine, Sevil by DuVallon and La Ptite are very well respected, and favourites of ours.

Results for the coloured absinthe category (this year all green).

Every year the verte scores always have the potential to cause a bit of a stir in the absinthe world! This year all the absinthes are genuine absinthes, which would have been recognised as such 100 years ago, this narrows the playing field somewhat. Our personal favourites from the verte category were the Absinthe Authentique, Absinthe Le Vélo was good indeed (and plenty of people obviously thought so), Butterfly Absinthe, La Pontissalienne… ok, well, it’s too hard to choose!

If you want to try the three top medal winners, we have all three vertes together here: Le Vélo, La Pontissalienne, and Grande Absente.

And the full results…

The complete figures from the professional, public and VIP juries.

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We have the results of the Absinthiades competition and we were thrilled to see that in the blanche category, Maison Fontaine came out on top with a Grand Or prize, and Sevil got a Gold medal, and La P’tite a Silver. Finishing off the winners in the blanche category was La Clandestine.

In the verte category, a new absinthe called Vélo won the top prize, followed by La Pontissalienne by Francois Guy, and Grande Absente with Silver.

If you couldn’t make it to this year’s Absinthiades, or even if you did, you can recreate the atmosphere without having to try out all the absinthes first: you can get the top three blanche medal-winners together and the top three vertes together from us at Absinthes.com

We had a sublime time at the Absinthiades, more on that later. For now, you can see our photos here:

Friday night at the Absinthiades photos

Absinthiades Competition 2011

Our old friend Philippe Fumoux has done something unimaginable even just a few years ago: started a completely new distillery, or rather, ‘absintherie,’ from scratch. Philippe’s passion for the green fairy is such that he is launching his new distillery – The Absintherie Bourbonnaise – with not one but five new absinthes!

Three of the absinthes take us back to some of the moments between the storming of the Bastille and the present day.

Absinthe Verte Napoléon III is absolutely unique, and unlike any other absinthe available today, perhaps due to the inclusion of some unusual herbs more commonly used back in 1857, when the recipe is from, than today. This absinthe is named in the honour of Napoléon III, who put Vichy, then a small spa town, on the map, transforming it into a place of impressive luxury attracting visitors from the world over. A train station, acres of landscaped gardens, opulant houses, and a stylish casino followed. Coming back to 2011, this is an absinthe that demands to be tried, simply because it’s so different!

Based on an even earlier handwritten recipe from the Swiss Jura mountains, Blanche Louis XVIII Absinthe is a floral, feminine absinthe, with wonderfully rich anise, notes of citrus and a subtle element of mint in the finish. The recipe includes some interesting additions not found in other absinthes today, including small quantities of sanicle, tansy, and varieties of plant from the wormwood family, artemisia, found growing in the alps.

The Verte IIIe République Absinthe is named after the period from which the recipe came. A replica of Absinthe Abel Bresson, a Belle Époque brand. The process and ingredients follow notes handwritten by the master distiller 100 years ago. It isn’t possible to know precisely how the original absinthe tasted back then, nobody alive today has tasted vintage Absinthe Abel Bresson, but the Verte IIIe République is certainly a success with grand wormwood, fennel and anise in perfect balance, with a bouquet suggesting fresh herbs and lemon balm while remaining pleasantly delicate, and achieving a beautifully perfect louche.

Boggy Absinthe was the result of a curious collaboration. While Monsieur Fumoux was setting up his new distillery, he was in regular contact with absintheur and amateur distiller Bogumil Rychlak, in Poland. The aim of the effort was to turn one of Bogumil’s small-batch absinthes inspired by a historical absinthe into a larger scale production, making it available for everyone to enjoy. The Boggy Absinthe (Boggy being an affectionate way of saying Bogumil) has a beautiful ‘feuille morte’ (dead-leaf) colour, as if it has already been aging for a century. The label, painted by Bogumil himself, depicts an a wise man out gathering wild wormwood from the mountains. The style is a tribute to the hand-painted labels found on Polish spirit bottles from the 1820s to the 1930s.

And finally, we have something unique. Unique not only because it has some very exotic botanicals, but because the recipe came from 1930s French Algeria, after the ban on absinthe! Absinthe de Vichy stays true to the precise original manuscript. Of course, the classic wormwood, anise and fennel are there, as they should be. What makes the Absinthe de Vichy interesting is the subtle quantities of other plants, including sassafras, lemon and cinnamon.

Philippe Fumoux says that this is a light and refreshing absinthe, “perfect for a spa town like Vichy”, where this absinthe is distilled, and its namesake! Due to its lighter than usual anise, the Absinthe de Vichy is an ideal introduction to the world of absinthe, while remaining authentic and respectable. The interesting botanicals will appeal to those more experienced with absinthe. Absinthes.com is the only major absinthe supplier with Absinthe de Vichy. Uniquely refreshing!

Try four of these absinthes today with our Absintherie Bourbonnaise set (and save yourself a rather decent 10% at the same time):

The annual absinthe event, in Pontarlier, the absinthe capital of the world and the former number one centre for absinthe production. We’ll be there, hoping to catch up with some old friends and see some new faces!

Leave a comment if you’ll be there!

Way back in 2006, we started Rue Verte to bring you the finest selection of absinthes from all over Europe.

We’re pleased to say things are going very well, all thanks to you, and we’re making our products available to absinthe-drinkers in more and more countries. So to make sure it stays clear to people everywhere what it is that we do, we have a new name: Absinthes.com

At the same time – this may seem hard to believe possible – we´re increasing our range of absinthes even further. Over the coming weeks we’re also bringing some other improvements to our site: background information about the distilleries our absinthes come from and the other delicious things they make, lots of fascinating bits on the history of absinthe, and some fabulous ideas for cocktails using all our favourite ingredients.

To follow our progress, and for exclusive discounts and offers, sign up here for our newsletter, or become a fan on facebook.

…and if you have any ideas about anything we do, drop us a line here, on facebook or our contact page. Suggestions are always welcome.

We’re looking forward to serving you under our new name, Absinthes.com

It’s always sad to say goodbye, but fans of the Rue Verte name needn’t fear. The name that served us well for so many years will live on, you’ll have to wait and see where it turns up next! Rue Verte will return…

Like every year, we had the immense pleasure of being part of the Pontarlier Absinthiades, an essential meeting for absinthe lovers and collectors. But the year 2010 was a little bit more significant than the previous ones because the Absinthiades were celebrating their 10^th anniversary.

Here is a little summary of our journey in the lovely Doubs region:

A thin figure and a surprisingly unique packaging added to the innumerable savours of absinthe make this concept a novelty full of originality !

RueVerte elaborated a new way for amateurs to savour or share hand-picked absinthes.

Here is a presentation of this little « revolution » in the world of absinthe :