Interest in absinthe has been increasing over the years, but Newsweek has noted that interest in the Green Fairy is growing even more. The variety with wormwood in it is illegal in the U. S., but you can get non-wormwood versions here. My husband and I love absinthe, but we want the real thing. The variety we can get at the local liquor store tastes a little too much like Nyquil with herbs. Absinthe over the centuries has been blamed for madness, hallucinations, and seizures.…
Article comments
76 - DrAbsinthe
"You raise absurd red herrings like anti-Czech racism,"
Actually that was Tomas Hill - a Czech.
"tongue-in-cheek"
No, full of prejudice. I have refused to join your forum because you allow these kind of hurtful posts. It looks like other people feel the same way!
I also witnessed how Kyle Bairnsfather, another Czech absinthe maker, was mauled by your community of thugs a few years back.
There is no room for diasagreement with you or your community - you are right and everyone else with a differing opinion /taste is wrong.
I only pointed out the fact that you were an absinthe dealer to ensure that readers do not think you are a sanctioned authority; you are not.
Anway, Tomas Hill's points are correct, I am glad he has put you in your place.
77 - Christopher Rose
I think I've had enough of this now folks, please take your debate somewhere else.
78 - Tom Hill
Mr. Rose
So now that I am here and have good arguments, you wish to end this debate? Why not let me respond?
Oxygeene, no these are the facts:
1. Hill's is produced by a master distiller who orginally made the traditional Absinthe but found no one in Czech really liked it. He then modified it to suit Czech tastes. People in the UK and CANADA for example have similar tastes as did Hill and that is why Hill's is successfull. Why then did LaFee start making a bohemian absinth when they pride themselves on being traditional French Absinth?
2. I am telling you right now, who cares what the UK rep said a long time ago, we are not trying to be traditional absinth but we are a type of absinth. Our recipe has 19 different herbs in it which are a secret. Where is your proof that the UK rep claimed that anyway?
As for sixela, try drinking your French style straight and tell me what you think. And if you really want some and you say Hill's is taking up shelf space go to a BC or Alberta liquere store and you can order a bottle of Green Tree French Style Absinth made by the Green Tree distillery which the distillery has been around since 1518. Like I said most people don't like the French Style as much.
A big thank-you to Dr. Absinthe!!!!! Finally a person who see's the truth!
Tom Hill
79 - Tom Hill
One more thing. Sixela, you obviously don't drink much Absinthe because anise is what tastes like cough syrup or listerine. Actually anise was used to hide the horrible tastes of herbal medicines which is what Absinthe in Switzerland originally was, a medicine. So if any Absinthe tastes like medicine, a more accurate candidate would be French Style. Just let us be and market your product but don't knock ours in order to try and increase your sales. Do you see any other alcohol producer bad mouthing another on the internet? It just shows you desperation.
Tom Hill
80 - Gertz
Well, it is hard to argue about tastes, but the taste of anise can hardly be compared to, say, listerine. Anise has a sweet taste that most people tend to associate with licorice. It may very well have been used in medicine, for its own sake or to hide less pleasant flavours, but in absinthe - the drink known as absinthe during the 19th century - it is an indispensable part of the flavour profile. This drink is basically an anise based drink, related to ouzo, arak and the likes. There are many variations of these drinks - they can be flavoured with various other herbs as well, the Italian sambuca is sweetened, some ouzos and the Bulgarian mastika has added mastic gum from Chios, and then there is absinthe, with the added slightly bitter notes from wormwood.
Many people don't like anise. In that case, they won't like absinthe - it is as simple as that. If you find that the absinthe you call "french style" tastes "like medicine", you are probably one of them. In that case, you shouldn't worry about absinthe, but go for some other drink that you may like better.
81 - Tom Hill
Mr. Gertz,
If you read the posts above mine you will see that I am only defending our product against accusations that it tastes like cough syrup and listerine. Absinth is not an anise based drink. Absinth is a Artimesia Absinthium (wormwood) based drink along with many other herbs. Anise is an oil added to it. This is fine. I have no problem with people that drink it and like it. You and people like you have to just except the fact that Hill's from Czech have created an Absinth with less anise, not no anise, less anise and people like it. This is a Bohemian style Absinth. Like I said their are many styles of Whiskey or rum that taste completly different. There are spicey rums, sweet rums, cooking rums and on the bottle they all say RUM. We even make an authentic style Absinthe and I would not be even involved in this debate but some people, who by the way sell their own Absinthe keep on bashing our product. Have you seen me bashing any particular Absinthe anywhere on the internet? Like I said, just drink your Absinthe, whichever one you like and don't bash others especially if your a producer or seller of Absinthe because this really does not reflect well on you. Also unlike many overnight Absinthe experts my family have been distilling alcohol, all types, tasting all types for over a century. Bohemian Absinth was created by us for Czechs and we were happily drinking it for years before the world came to us and wanted it also not the other way around.
82 - pantheon
Mr. Hill, Green Tree is a big disappointment in comparison to the quality French brands. It takes more than green food coloring and anise oil to make a convincing French-style absinthe, especially for the $54 CAN for a 500ml bottle in B.C.
83 - Tom Hill
Pantheon, Green Tree is a big disappointment for you. I'm sorry, who are you? Your comment: "It takes more than green food coloring and anise oil to make a convincing French-style absinthe, especially for the $54 CAN for a 500ml bottle in B.C."
Have you read any of my posts? What do you know about making Absinth, or any distilled drink for that matter? We know, but I can't obviously write it on the internet. Old Absinthe brands used coloring in their recipes. Although it wasn't just harmless food coloring, it was toxic copper oxide in some brands. The reason was for changing the natural brown murky color of Absinthe to something more pleasing to the eye. Our French style Absinth, is the real deal my friend. Your tastes are your own but remember that tastes change, especially depending on the food you eat. Trying to say that you do not like the taste of Czech Ansinth because it is also not high in quality is wrong, read our historical family facts on our website. Learn who you are writing back to critize. Your next comment might be "Hill's doesn't taste anything like traditional Absinth." We are not trying to taste like traditonal style Absinth and when we do it's authentic. Just like another French made brand has copied our Bohemian Style we have a French Style. Thank-you.
84 - pantheon
Well Mr. Hill, I am just an informed consumer who stumbled upon this blog, nothing more, nothing less. As far as claims of being the 'real deal' and family traditions and all that, yes, the same things are said in the television advertisements for American beers.
Since you mentioned it Mr. Hill, which French company is it that advertises a 'Bohemian absinth'?
85 - Tom Hill
Yeah but we're not in a television add and we don't advertise on TV at all. Look, I don't even know what you tasted really and how you drank it....... La Fee.
...............END OF BLOG.............
86 - pantheon
My point Mr. Hill is that consumers alone will determine what constitutes -quality-, and the more educated they become, the more astute their judgment.
La Fee is marketed by a Mr. Rowland of a UK company, and a little research reveals that he used to be one of your customers.
Good luck Mr. Hill.
87 - DrAbsinthe
Pantheon, You haven't a clue what you are talking about. Tom Hill was probably making ref. to La Fee Bohemian
The same company still sell Hill's.
I suggest that you now respect the blog owners wishes. Feel free to drink what you like, Pantheon.
88 - Tom Hill
Thank-you. That's true consumers do constitute what is quality. Isn't that everyone of us? Don't we all consume? There are alot of people that like to believe they know something and they don't really. People eductaing themselves would maybe read the rest of my posts and Dr. Absinthe's posts. Then if you like take a trip to the Green Tree Distillery or try Hill's Liquere in Brusperk. With a little reasearch you will find some amazing distilling skills and knoweledge. When something like this is done, you will most likely constitute that whatever drinks they are making, they're high quality. That's quality, taste is a different aspect of it all. You can have high quality but bad taste. Then remember that taste is a matter of where you live and in turn what your diet is. If you want to be so traditional, Absinthe was normally quite high in alcohol, min 68% alc/vol. Some Absinthe makers reduce the % alc/vol. This might taste much better to some people. Anyways your first comment about "quality French brands" is funny. Don't you know that they actually came up with fake Absinthe. That they were actually given time by the government to make an Absinthe tasting drink without wormwood before they banned it on March 16th 1915. Do some research and you will know the brands i'm talking about.
Cheers
89 - Christopher Rose
Tom, please insert http:// at the beginning of your website address in the appropriate little box, otherwise your link doesn't work. Thanks.
90 - Tom Hill
Hi Mr. Rose,
Thanks for the info and thanks for letting some more posts go. Hopefully we can drop this now.
Tom Hill
91 - Drunken Master
What everyone could possibly agree upon might be this: anyone interested in the charms of la fee verte should drink often from the spectrum of her delights. Discover for yourself where the truth hides. Read Baudelaire, Rimbaud, alchemical texts, revolutionary histories; a deliciously louche life awaits.
92 - alejandro
Hello,
Just drank some absinthe made in Czech Republic, it also stated made in EU. It was yellowish in color and had a sort of big grasshopper inside..It burned and couple hours later my faces starts itching. When i come back home i notice that all my face is swollen and red as a shrimp, rashes all over...!!! what should i doo..face still burns.
93 - B
Hey Tom, good to see you resurface.
You're making a lot of the same arguments in this blog as you did in our personal email exchanges.
In those, we stopped debating because you couldn't bring forth any of the proof you purported to have with you. We left the conversation in good faith, agreeing to postpone any further debate until you had obtained all of said proof.
I've personally tried to contact you several times since then, but haven't heard back from you.
Have you, in fact, obtained any of that evidence? I haven't seen anything new so far.
94 - Ordinaire Guy
Another couple of coordinated goofy attempts to stir things up on Blog Critics?
B, can you tell the difference between the names "alejandro" and Tom? It seems not.
I advise "Alejandro" to photograph his alleged allergic reaction and also to get a doctors opinion. He should then contact the manufacturer with this solid evidence. If he is just writing defamatory statements - he might expect to recieve a legal response.
That is my advice.
95 - B
Um, this is the first time I've come across these entries. I didn't realize until after I posted that all of them (except Alejandro) were months old.
Coordinated? I think not. What conection do you think Al and I have? For what it's worth, I think Alejandro is full of it.
If I'd have taken the time to look at the dates of the posts, I would have realized this discussion was over and wouldn't have posted anything.
96 - Jerry Eberts
I love all the fighting going on about Czech brands and who invented absinthe, etc., etc.
It all comes down to personal taste, really, so there is little need for the arguing, but it's quite entertaining.
I have a bottle of Green Tree absinth, my first foray into the realm of the Green Fairy, and I'm having a couple of friends over tonight for a tasting. If it is terrible, then I shall find a bottle of French or Swiss absinthe.
But I won't hate the Czechs for making and selling their product. Lots of people must like it or it wouldn't be made.
Cheers!