La Fée Parisienne Absinthe, 1 x 70cl

Product Information

La Fée Parisienne was the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l’Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

Sweet and aromatic, to balance the bitter, herbal character of the wormwood: It stimulates the senses as well appetite. Some say that the Sazerac is the first cocktail; it’s certainly the first New Orleans cocktail; acknowledged by many as the home of the cocktail. Within six months we had signed up three good breweries, producing such beers as Lobkowicz, Rebel and our first spirit, the Czech national liqueur, (Becherovka, now, coincidentally, owned by Pernod Ricard. When my first fourteen-wheel truckload of duty-paid beer arrived in 1996, it was immediately apparent that the winding lanes of our traditional English village were not the ideal location for heavy goods vehicles, not to mention their non English speaking Czech drivers.Bottling to this day is maintained in Paris for our core folio (La Fée Absinthe Parisienne, Bohemian and NV Absinthe Verte) with our La Fée X.

The French position is difficult to defend whilst the Absinthe Ban of 1915 still stands; restricting any future defence if the Swiss try to harmonise the IPG across Europe. It was widely propagated that absinthe’s principal ingredient, wormwood, had hallucinogenic properties, which made you do irrational, impulsive things. George Rowley and La Fée are responsible for bringing traditional absinthe back to France back in the year 2000 with the help of Marie-Claude Delahaye, founder of the Absinthe Museum.Although I had been working and playing in Prague since 1993, I had not come across any noticeable presence of absinth while I was there. Absinthe is made from wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), a wild plant that’s active ingredient, thujone, was thought to induce a trip…but as it turns out, it doesn’t. Based upon an authentic 19 th century recipe, La Fee Parisienne is the first absinthe from the La Fee range to be distilled in France since the 1915 ban, with prominent Absinthe expert and historian, Marie-Claude Delahaye, founder and creator of the French Absinthe Museum.

The intention, satisfyingly simple, was to allow me to continue to enjoy living in Prague, home of our first office, under the management of Radomir Horacek, whilst letting me come home to England; my intended market. The best known are Marie-Claude Delahaye’s Absinthe History of the Green Fairy, Barnaby Conrad (1988) Absinthe History in a Bottle, and One of my favourites, Absinthe The Cocaine of the Nineteenth Century a small blue hardback by Doris Lanier, a title which, though perhaps unnecessarily emotive, does reflect the drink’s physical, social and cultural impact prior the Great War (World War One). As such, he spent a year during lockdown thinking it through – and found his answer in the pharmaceutical industry.At the same time the imagination of consumers fired, as they experienced absinthe for the first time. A flavourless maceration of other plants is introduced to the blend to give the drink its trademark hue. La Fée Parisienne is coloured naturally, by maceration of herbs in spirit, and can be drunk in the traditional manner of adding 4–6 parts iced water, to one part absinthe, poured over a sugar cube. Known for producing fine fruit liqueurs, the company continue to work primarily with fruit and herb based spirits and liqueurs.

Christian Camax: Master Distiller of Pastis, based in the periphery of Paris, whose distillery had historic links with Absinthe production. This is a more herbal style of absinthe, with less anise used in preparation, and as a result you will not see the 'louche' effect when water is added. Parisienne is distilled at the traditional 68% abv following an authentic 19th century recipe and louches perfectly when water is added.

La Fee Parisienne is an absinthe packed with the flavours of traditional Grand Wormwood, Green Anise, Star Anise, Hyssop and Fennel, giving a fresh herbal aroma. This was after America adopted the rules on Thujone (which we used for Europe in 1998) via the codex committee on food additives in December 2006: Crucially, Zero Thujone was re-classified as 10ppm or less in a Spirit they did not adopt the 35 ppm allowed for Amers in the EU, opening up the USA to the spirit.