Spirits · New Orleans, Louisiana

Absinthia

Organic absinthe from a Bay Area maker who has been distilling since 1997.

Founded by: Absinthia Vermut
Based in: New Orleans, Louisiana

Their story

Absinthia Vermut has been making absinthe longer than it has been legal to sell in the US. She first tasted it at a Cacophony Society event in 1996, started making her own the next year, and became a familiar figure in the Bay Area and Burning Man communities.

After the US lifted its absinthe ban in 2007, she founded Absinthia's Bottled Spirits and set out to make a commercial version. She wanted an organic absinthe that felt bright and lively, a contrast to the dark, heavy image the spirit had carried for a century.

Her early commercial batches were distilled with Marian Farms, a biodynamic farm and distillery in Fresno, California.

How it's made

Absinthia uses organic herbs, including wormwood, grown in California and Oregon. The spirit is distilled in copper pot stills in the traditional way, and the Verte gets its green color from steeping more organic herbs in the finished spirit rather than from dyes.