Welcome to The Absinthe Buyer's Guide! The Guide has undergone some pretty spectacular changes recently: we’ve fully implemented the groundbreaking Fee Verte Absinthe Evaluation System™ and standardized and updated all the reviews. New reviews are now added on a weekly basis, so it’s bang up to date. For more product news, notes and comments please also visit the Buyer's Guide section of the Absinthe Forum!

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When the La Fée Verte website was started sometime in mid 1997, there were only three things most interested parties knew about absinthe. That it tasted strongly of anise, that it was incredibly bitter, and that it was illegal. A decade later, with the modern absinthe revival in full swing, the picture has become gloriously more complicated. We now know that a) absinthe should have a complex herbal and floral character, not an overpoweringly anise flavor, that b) despite popular modern mythology (and I stress "modern") absinthe is not actually very bitter – the best absinthes have no more than a mild underlying bitterness, and c) thanks to legalization in the European Union, Switzerland and France, absinthe is now made again in its ancestral homeland, and is now perfectly legal in most countries. While it still cannot be legally sold in the U.S. , it’s not illegal to possess or to drink, and it’s relatively simple to have it delivered to your doorstep in under two weeks from dozens of online vendors.

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When the first bottles of Montana started sneaking over the borders from Spain , we thought they were manna from heaven. My own first bottle however was Hill's sent from the Czech Republic by an expat living there. One sniff and a finger dip was enough for me and there it sits on my shelf still.

Tales of new brands began flooding in from Spain and the Czech Republic . Lasala & Sebor followed, and before we knew it there was a veritable plethora of products tumbling out of various European countries which had never banned the liquor. In 1998 the Absinthe Buyer's Guide was started, complete with Forum member's reviews, to keep track of all these brands, and most importantly, to offer guidance to new buyers about which were drinkable, and which were, as they say, sinkable. With re-legalization in France and Switzerland came the arrival for the first time of high quality absinthe made according to historical principles, and today the keen absintheur is spoiled for choice, with absinthes of the highest quality now available from many different distillers. As of 2006 there are almost 200 brands listed in the Guide and it keeps growing.

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Since its inception in 1998 the Fée Verte Absinthe Buyer's Guide has proved to be one of the most visited and appreciated parts of this site. It’s proved so popular that it has attracted imitators – fortunately usually short lived. One site in particular ripped off both our name and some of our graphics ideas - it survives still, but only as a husk of its former self, sustained only by advertising. We at Fée Verte do not accept advertising or paid product placements. We do not solicit free samples from manufacturers. The reviews you read here in the Absinthe Buyer's Guide have all been submitted by members of our forum, and reflect their honest and informed opinions, untainted by commercial considerations. Our unique scoring system allows you to easily see which absinthes are top-rated, and our regular updates mean the latest products are always included.

The Guide itself is relatively simple, just choose from the list of countries or styles and you will be treated to a complete (more or less) list of the brands produced in that country. And you, dear reader and Fairy Acolyte, will be very pleased to know that most brands are available for shipment to most countries.

Required Further Reading:

• The La Fee Verte Absinthe FAQ: Will answer all those nagging questions on legality, taste, serving instructions etc etc.
• What is Absinthe?: A simple but informative document explaining our definition of Absinthe.
• The Fee Verte Absinthe Evaluation System : Explains the new Rating System used for the Absinthe Guide, a must read!