Wow. ebay does have interesting things now & then

[WhyteKnight]

For anybody who hasn't noticed it yet and is interested in vintage stuff. I saw this here bottle auction on ebay. Its empty (which may or may not be a shame depending on what was in it) but may be of interest to you collector types. It appears about identical to the Absinthe Lisbonne on alandia's site. Linky: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...6149742424&rd=1

[Ambrosius]

It is pretty and it does say absinthe on it.

My absinthe history may be a little scetchy at best, but 1950s Mexico?...

[WhyteKnight]

It was made in portugal. In Lisboa, I beilieve. At that point in time it may even have been a moderately decent product, considering that people who have tasted vintage spanish absentas that are still made today can attest to the quality being quite a bit better at that time.

[Ambrosius]

Interesting. Could that be simply due to age rather than a decrease in quality though?

[WhyteKnight]

Doubtful. Spirits tend to age very little, particularly when in bottle. They do to some extent, but nowhere near the type of changes you'd see with a bottle of wine. At that time liquor production was probably much more economically accomplished by distillation rather than by something like oil mixing. Plus there were probably a few more people adherent to the idea of a quality product over a cheaply made one. I know Hartsmar has had both a vintage (ca. 1950's I think) and modern tasting of Absenta Montana from spain. He assessed the vintage sample as being much better and if I remember correctly he stated that the vintage Montana was clearly distilled whereas the modern Absenta Montana is an oil mix. You can compare the two reviews on absinthe.se, his site. At some point oil mixing became a popular practice with liquor producers due to its economy, but unfortunately quality takes quite a hit.

Edited January 31, 2005 by WhyteKnight

[AndrewT]

Here's a translation of the back-

 

The only (absinthe) from Portugal to be awarded with gold medals in liquors and syrups in the Industrial Exposition of Porto in 1897 and the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1900

 

Sounds like some good credentials, assuming they're real. If anyone runs across any full bottles, maybe we can egg Ted into reproducing some of it.

[WhyteKnight]

Alandia's is full (I think) but it looks much newer. According to their information it was made up until some time in the 90's. The capsule looks to be very thin and made on the cheap, so I'm guessing its a later period of manufacture and is probably not as good. I sure don't want to cough up the dough to find out if its a dud or not.

 

Edit: On further scrutiny of it though, It looks like it may be waxed over the foil, which seems odd, in addition to the foil going down over the shoulders.

Edited January 31, 2005 by WhyteKnight

[hartsmar]

The one at Alandias site is probably from around 1960 or so, that's my guess. At least it looks that way. The price tag at 2.000 Euros is just plain silly. What's even more silly is the fact that they had a bottle of ca 1950 Tarragona that sold at 3.000 Euros! Fools.

 

 

Edit: WhyteKnight. Yup... I was thinking that very same thing...

Edited January 31, 2005 by hartsmar

[Absomphe]

Doubtful. Spirits tend to age very little, particularly when in bottle. They do to some extent, but nowhere near the type of changes you'd see with a bottle of wine.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Except that even a 1950s vintage absinthe would have experienced some "browning" by now, due to the settling out of chlorophyll, although I'm not sure how much effect that would have on the flavor profile.

[thegreenimp]

Some of the older Spanish Absentas were not too bad, way back when.

I was able to check out some older Deva that has been carefully preserved, and it was far better than the current Deva.

 

It's a shame the Spanish producers went to ultra cheap production methods, just like Legendre did when they ruined Herbsaint, which was a nice distilled product in it's day.

 

Damn accountants.

[Grim]

10 inches in diameter eh... no wonder it took so long to finish.

[Absomphe]

You're pretty obsessed with diameter, and the like, for a straight guy, Grimster.

[Grim]

Are you kidding? I'm crookeder than the Ro Yuru.

 

For those that are lazy like me...

[WhyteKnight]

The one on the right (Alandia's Craptastic) does look ghetto. I think I'd be scared to try that stuff. I'd have to feed some to Hartsmar first.

[AndrewT]

And of course Alandia's doesn't have a sticker on it touting the competitions it's won. I wonder why...

[hartsmar]

Many "vintage" absentas are actually really really good. None of the modern comes even close. Haven't tried vintage Deva, but the Montana is amazing. The modern Montana 68 is a disgrace in comparison to the original.

 

WhyteKnight... If you swing the money for it, I'll be happy to test it. Considering they lowered the price tag from 10.000 to 2.000 in a couple of months, I'm guessing in six months time they should cut another 80% off the price, and THEN it might be worth thinking about buying. Or... Some sucker will actually be buying it at somewhere between 1000-2000 Euros.. Bah!

[WhyteKnight]

I intend to keep on eye on it anyhow. If I did end up finding myself in a capacity to pick it up I'd probably take you up on that so you could make sure its not poisonous

[WhyteKnight]

Speaking of the Montana, Hartsmar, how does Montana 68 compare to Montana 55?

[hartsmar]

I've only had a small glass of the modern Montana 68, and I'd say it's not that much of a difference, other than the alcohol.

I believe there's a slight change in the "recipe", but not very detectable.

 

And most of all, it's lightyears behind the vintage one.

[AndrewT]

Just looked at it again today, and they now have a close up of the seal in which they claim to be the supplier of the president of the republic. I wonder if there're any more promotional blurbs elsewhere on the bottle?

[WhyteKnight]

I wonder if they'd have put anything interesting on the back label.

[Gertz]

Many "vintage" absentas are actually really really good. None of the modern comes even close. Haven't tried vintage Deva, but the Montana is amazing. The modern Montana 68 is a disgrace in comparison to the original.

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I'll second that. The vintage Montana is comparable in quality with Pernod Tarragona.