Absinthe Brevans A. Crowley
For my first review I’ve chosen one of my all-time favorites: absinthe Brevans A. Crowley! All the absinthes in the Brevans-series are dedicated to a famous occult artist and this honors Aleister Crowley, the wickedest man in the world and the antichrist himself! Except for painting and drinking absinthe, Aleister Crowley wrote a lot, his most famous work (at least to the absinthe world) being ”Absinthe - The Green Goddess”. Aleister thought very highly of himself as a poet, comparing himself to Shakespeare. The picture on the label is painted by the Beast himself and portrays a woman by the name Gertrud Howe, a woman he had a relationship with.
This absinthe is sadly (and wonderfully) enough a limited edition from 2011, and they are made by probably my favorite distillery: Matter-Luginbühl. Only 418 bottles was sold and let me tell you, they are NOT easy to come by anymore! It is truly an absinthe for the gourmet, it rested in oak-barrels for 3,5 years and since Aleister Crowley liked his absinthe with cognac a good portion of aged cognac was added to the product before aging. I think it is the cognac that gives it the little extra OMPF! that I really enjoy with this absinthe. ALANDIA recommends drinking this like one would drink a cognac or a whisky, in a balloon glass and without water. Unfortunately 68% is a little too strong for me so I will cut it with 5 parts ice-cold water. I tried it neat once but it just got really hot in my mouth and I couldn’t feel much as far as taste was concerned. I´ll keep to the water, thank you. The recipe is from the very famous book ”La Fabrication des Liqueurs” from 1897, written by Jacques de Brevans (hence the name).
During 2017 I had the privilege to buy no less than two bottles from Hermann Plöckl, owner of Absinthe Depot Berlin. He had bought the last bottles of this absinthe, probably recognizing how good it was, and he sold me 2 bottles from his private collection! If you’re reading this Hermann, a massive thank you to you! Later, during 2018, I found 12 more bottles at a company in Australia that sells wine (maybe that’s why nobody had thought of looking for absinthe on their site). I had just gotten a quite sizable tax refund so I got them too (this review was originally published in March 2017 but I added this latest information later on).
Aged: 3,5 år
Distillery: Matter-Luginbühl
ABV: 68%
Category: Verte
Real/Fake: Real
Origin: Switzerland
Color and Louche: I’m a bit surprised to see the still intense green color, I would have thought that it should have more of an amber color after all this time in the barrel. It only has the smallest tint of yellow. The louche is very strong and it doesn’t take more than 2 parts water before it is at its fullest.
Aroma: AH MAH GAAAAAWD! This smell is truly amazing! From the bottle I can smell fudge, brown sugar and a piece from from the Aladdin chocolate-box, rum raisin I think. The smell is very sweet, we probably have the cognac to thank for that. The smell has changed much since I opened the bottle, and only for the better! I pour some into my glass and now I can really feel the alcohol stinging my nose. There are some herbs too but they are kept in the background by the alcohol. I add some water and then the herbs take their rightful place at the front! There is anise, absolutely, but with a little more water comes the wormwood and takes center stage. The notes from the cognac starts to fade into the background and now it smells more like a regular absinthe. The aroma is not as strong as before the water though.
Taste: The cognac is strong with this one, but the usual suspects are there too. Anise, wormwood and fennel in a good blend. I’ve added quite a lot of water, but the taste is still very apparent, still I think that this should be even better with just 4 parts water. With 5 parts water, what I have in my glass is only about 11% abv, but it still stings a little on the sides of my tongue which sugest that the drink is stronger than it actually is.
Final thoughts: To smell this emerald beauty before the water is added is truly a delight and almost its best attribute! It puts my brain in a bubbling bath of oxytocin and endorphin and I could smell this all night! If I’m being honest there are days when I just pick up the bottle and smell it, it’s fucking fantastic! It’s the only absinthe I’ve sniffed for about 40 minutes before I even added water to it, a pitty it flattens out with water. The combination of absinthe and a tad of cognac really worked for me, and I appreciate that it is made in honur of a controversial artist and that one of his paintings is used for the label. At first I gave it a rating of just 4,5, but this is a degree of enjoyment of about 40 000 when I drink it. Furthermore, I’ve paid almost $200 per bottle (times 12) and would probably do it again, so I think that merits a 5,0. Bravo!
