Absinthe L'Ancienne Private Reserve
L'Ancienne Private Reserve is a special edition of Stefano Rossoni’s world renowned L'Ancienne and the first modern absinthe to be distilled with a pre-phylloxera wine base.
Stefano discontinued commercial production in 2014 but has continued to work tirelessly over the years to improve every aspect of his most prestigious absinthe. Ten years later, L'Ancienne returns as a Private Reserve edition: the base is a distillate of Prié Blanc, an heirloom grape variety grown exclusively in the cities of Morgex and La Salle in Valle D'Aosta. Thanks to the altitude and isolation of these areas, the vines were never affected by phylloxera and were never hybridized with American grapes. Prié Blanc is also related to other ancient grape varieties from the Alpine region, so it's the best fit for something inspired by 1800s absinthes.
The green anise is a very rare variety (less than 50kg are produced per year) that comes from the town of Castignano in central Italy, where it has been grown for centuries from heirloom seeds. This anise is sweeter, more complex, and fruitier compared to modern anise varieties.
Instead of common fennel, this Private Reserve L'Ancienne uses Florence fennel, the most prized variety since the1800s for its sweetness and creaminess, which was custom grown for Stefano and hand selected to ensure the highest quality. The wormwood is of the "Pontarlier" variety, also custom grown and hand selected.
L’Ancienne Private Reserve was distilled in a very limited batch of only 72 bottles. The first 36 bottles hand signed by Stefano can be pre-ordered here:
https://www.assenzioriginale.it/en/shop/absinthe-lancienne-private-reserve/
Absinthe La Brune
There are a few barrel aged absinthes on the market. Some are blanche absinthes with a strong barrel aging that are meant to be consumed pure. Others are regular verte absinthes just with a background of barrel notes. I wanted to make something different. I drew my inspiration from Bourbon where instead of already used barrels, the distillate is aged in new, charred American oak barrels. Additionally, I wanted to make something that on one hand had the American oak barrel notes being the main star of the show, but at the same time was very versatile and worked well both diluted with ice cold water (which is my preference and I like it in particular at 1:1.5) and sipped pure on the rocks or used in a cocktail.
The result is La Brune: a verte absinthe aged in new American oak barrels and bottled at 55% to ensure that it could be as versatile as possible. I developed it to feature the oak barrel notes upfront, with a solid background of anise, wormwood and fennel, and more delicate herbaceous notes from the coloration to complement the oak but not overpower it.
La Brune is available from Assenzioriginale:
Absinthe La Montagneuse
After having drawn the inspiration for L'Italienne and La Grenouille from Italian landscapes (flower-blanketed rolling hills and Mediterranean islands), I decided that I would create a trilogy of absinthes, all very different but all following the same philosophy and that the third would be inspired by the Alpine forests in Northern Italy.
I started working on La Montagneuse shortly after finishing La Grenouille in 2008. I envisioned a recipe that would offer different layers of balsamic notes, a background of secondary notes including some earthy tones, lower fennel content compared to L'Italienne and La Grenouille, and a robust coloration to complete the profile with some herbaceous notes. Unfortunately, some of the wild harvested Alpine ingredients I wanted to use were extremely hard to find and as all of you know, I refuse to produce an absinthe under my name if I cannot ensure that I have at my disposal the best quality ingredients. So, after a few early prototypes that project was put on ice... until 2022!
Last year I finally found a source for those rare and expensive Alpine ingredients so I immediately restarted the project, excited that after more than 10 years I could finally complete my absinthe trilogy. In September 2022 I resumed the absinthe distillation, running prototypes, testing all the new ingredients, adjusting the recipe, etc. I also gave the prototypes enough months of aging to ensure that the absinthe would age well and achieve the balance I wanted.
Finally, in June 2023 I settled on the final version of the recipe and started the absinthe production for the commercial release. La Montagneuse provides something new and different compared to the previous two absinthes while still fitting perfectly within the philosophy underlining the trilogy. Due to the scarcity of the wild harvested ingredients, the production of La Montagneuse is limited and will only be distilled if all the correct ingredients are available.
La Montagneuse is available from Assenzioriginale:
https://www.assenzioriginale.it/en/shop/absinthe-la-montagneuse-limited/
