The Distilleries

The following distilleries have been selected by Liqueurs de France to create absinthes to our own specifications or in acknowledgment of the superior quality of their products and a potential for excellence. Liqueurs de France is responsible for the discovery of the Combier Distillery and fully organized its collaboration with T. A. Breaux to create the Jade absinthe line.

Les Fils d'Emile Pernot Distillery

Les fils d'Emile Pernot distillery was founded in 1890 and is located in Pontarlier, France, the birthplace of French absinthe. It has been family run from father to son continuously up to 2005. In addition to our recently developed absinthes and their premium pastis, the classic Vieux Pontarlier distilled anise, the distillery produces a large range of local liqueurs and eaux de vie, including wild strawberry liqueur; Pontiane, a gentiane-root aperitif similar but superior to Suze and Un Sapin a forest-scented pine-bud liqueur. The Un Emile 68 line of absinthes were originally commissioned and developed in conjunction with Liqueurs de France and were the amoungst the first modern authentic, commercial absinthes in the world. The distillery has recently changed hands and the new owners have decided to expand their range and styles.
Along with creating the first red French absinthe, the seasonal and unique La Mâitresse Rouge, they have hosted the development of Roquette 1797, the first absinthe created by two historians following one of the oldest known hand-documented absinthe recipes; Doubs-Mystique the popular South African absinthe now completely distilled and made in Pontarlier; and Belle Amie, a custom-made 1908 recipe for the Parisian absinthe-specialist shop, Vert d'Absinthe.

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An historic Egrot brand alambic catalog image...

An historic Egrot brand alambic catalog page illustrating a system specifically designed for absinthe distilling...
...the same alambic configuration found and used today at the Pernot distillery as seen above.

The Combier Distillery, Home of Jade Liqueurs' Absinthes

The Combier Distillery, located in the centre of the beautiful Loire Valley is where the super-premium Jade Liqueurs absinthes are made. The distillery still uses two original, circa 1870 alambics (shown in photo) that were purchased from the famous Pernod fils distillery after the French absinthe ban and are now employed to create the extraordinary Jade vintage absinthe reproductions. The historic distilling room, with its iron gallery designed by Gustav Eiffel, also contains the same Egrot alembic stills which were installed in 1899 at the height of the distillery's own production of fine absinthe under the name 'Blanchette,' re-launched in early 2006 with the help of T. A. Breaux. The room remains virtually unchanged to this day and is a designated museum in France. World-renowned 'Triple Sec' orange liqueur was invented by Combier in 1834 and their original, distilled, and often imitated recipe continues to be made exactly as it was over one hundred and fifty years ago.

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The Matter-Luginbühl Distillery

The founder of the Matter-Luginbühl distillery, Ernst Luginbühl-Bögli originally raised cows in Kallnach, a small German-speaking Swiss town, located between Neuchatel and Bern. Because of his location, he had many commercial contacts in the Val-de-Travers, only 50 kilometers away. This region was not only known for watches and absinthe, but famous for cattle - the town of Boveresse was even named in their honor. The family story says that at the end of the 1920's, when searching for ideas for products, Ernst traded a prime Simmental cow for an old local absinthe recipe. It was said to have turned up recently in a search of old business papers, in the midst of the recent Swiss absinthe legalization publicity. The distillery also offer to distil local farmer's excess fruits into low-yield eau-de-vies, complete with custom bottling and personal labels. The familiar taste of the Kallnacher Absinthe makes us wonder if they had put their old recipe into use earlier than they claim and might have been responsible some of the 'clandestine, farmer-made' la Bleues that have surfaced over the past years. They are now responsible for distilling our limited run Blanche Traditionelle "Brut d'alambic" still-proof series; the 2006 International Wine and Spirit Competition gold medal winner Absinthe Duplais; Absinthe Brevans, with its fantastic Giger-art label; Mansinthe, created for the rocker-absintheur, Marilyn Manson, and the newly released Absinthe Marteau Verte Classique, a cocktail-inspired absinthe based on a recipe created by the host of the US-based absinthe site, The Wormwood Society.

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Gaudentia Persoz

In April 2006, Liqueurs de France had the chance to meet the first Swiss 'lady-distiller' to add a once clandestine absinthe to the commercial world.
We were charmed by 'distillatrice' Gaudentia Persoz and her husband Jean-Michel, while under the rustic spell of the famous Swiss fondue chalet 'Le Soliat', found at the dramatic edge of the Creux-du-Van cliffs in the mountains behind Couvet. Not your garden variety '80-year-old Swiss farmer' so often eluded to as the only 'real' type clandestine absinthe distiller, Gaudentia is young, blond and passionate about absinthe. She distils with a vintage 1898, 12-plant recipe that was found, along with a small alambic, when she and her husband purchased their house in Couvet.
Gaudentia now uses the 50-liter alambic seen in this photo, which was hand-made for her by her husband and the old recipe has been updated and modified to please more modern tastes. Her alambic is heated by direct flame, as opposed to bain-marie, which contributes to its 'clandestine la Bleue' style.
Named La Ptite Absinthe du Val-du-Travers (the 'e' has been left out of the spelling of 'Petite') - it was once one of the 'code-names' that Swiss locals used to be served an illegal absinthe in a bar without attracting un-due attention from the authorities. We tasted her absinthe with a very discerning crowd of absintheurs from the USA, England, France and Switzerland and as we watched the positive reactions to its quality and taste, LDF quickly decided to place an order to share this recent discovery with our loyal customers and to support the development of a rising star in the absinthe world.

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Artemisia Distillery - Claude-Alain Bugnon

Claude-Alain Bugnon was the first clandestine distiller granted legal status by the Swiss government in the spring of 2005. For years he had been responsible for a certain quantity of bootlegged absinthe that brought so much attention and status to this small region. His Clandestine has been and is still considered by many to be the best Swiss La Bleue available today.

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The Paul Devoille Distillery

The Distillerie Paul Devoille is located in Fougerolles, Haut Saone in North East France, close to the Alsace region. It was founded in 1859 by Xavier Devoille, the father of Paul, and is considered one of the top 10 distilleries in France for fruit eau-de-vie. It was purchased in 1985 by René de Miscault and is now run by his son, Hugues. Fougerolles is the French capital of cherry eau-de-vie, know as 'kirsch,' however, distilleries like Devoille produced absinthe in great quantities from the end of the 19th century up to 1915, mostly in bulk following specific recipes for regional absinthes. The demand for absinthe was so great at the time that more famous distilleries could not keep up with production, and absinthe was 'imported' from Fougerolles to other French cities (including Pontarlier) to be bottled and labeled with local names. The directors of Liqueurs de France visited the distillery in June of 2003 when we were informed that Hugues had planted a field of grande absinthe. After viewing the facilities and sampling his other eau-de-vies, we asked him if he might make up something to our specific demands. Our absinthe had to be distilled and contain: grande and petite absinthe, a grape-origin base alcohol, be naturally green from the addition of traditional plants in the coloring step, have no added sugar, and be 72° in order to best hold the color and present the aromas to the fullest.

Verte de Fougerolles became an instant success and was soon followed by Blanche de Fougerolles, the first absinthe made directly following a known historic and openly published recipe found in 19th century French distiller's manuals. It has gone on to rival and best many of the well-known clandestine 'la Bleues' from neighboring Switzerland.

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The Kübler Distillery - Blackmint

The Kübler Distillery, founded in 1863 by the great grandfather of Yves Kübler, became one of the most famous Swiss absinthe distilleries in the Val-de-Travers. Yves took up the trail of the Green Fairy once more in 1990 when he acquired an old vineyard house, installed an imposing copper retort still and established the Distillerie Blackmint. Using an old family recipe, Kübler first distilled a pastis-like aniseed aperitif - "La Rincette" (made without the then illegal ingredient, wormwood) and went to work in secret on a genuine absinthe. On 10 October 2001, exactly 91 years and three days after the start of the Swiss prohibition, his first objective was reached: Yves Kübler distilled and sold his first 500 litres of "Extrait d'Absinthe Kübler". This product, made legal by the gradual loosening of certain regulations on absinthe ingredients, was greeted with cheers by many and outrage by some, but finally the pressure on the government was too much. In March of 2005, all federal Swiss absinthe laws were repealed, giving Yves the right to make and sell the local product his great grandfather had helped make famous. Véritable Fée Verte Absinthe Kübler was reborn! Kübler uses only hand-harvested wormwood from local fields.

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Eichelberger Distillery

The Eichelberger (in English - Acorn Mountain) Distillery is located in southeast Germany in the picturesque and forested Bavarian region called Oberpfälzer Seenland, in the town of Taxöldern. The distillery is a family run, hobbyist enterprise owned by Dr. Lili and Rudi Wild. This tiny, yet modern distillery is capable of distilling only 30 liters at a time, but always with utmost care and attention to quality. The Wilds are passionate advocates of fine liqueurs and eau-de-vie, and were enthusiastic when approached with the idea of making a 'specialist's' absinthe under their distillery's name, which has now become the first modern, true distilled German absinthe.

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Fischer Distillery

Founded in Vienna, Austria in 1875 by Friedrich Fischer and family run for 5 generations.
The distillery still uses alambics that were installed in 1914.
Though no concrete evidence exists that absinthe was produced in this distillery, it is believed that absinthe was indeed made in Austria, and that it was never banned 1923 at the same time as Germany, as once thought. This distillery produces a range of fine eaux-de-vies (schnapps), along with being responsible for the first completely distilled and naturally colored absinthe, ever made in Austria, Absinthe Montmartre.

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Habitation Saint-Etienne - Simon Distillery

The historic Habitation Saint-Etienne was purchased by the Hayot family, who were already owners of the Simon Distillery (one of the last eight distilleries still functioning in Martinique), in 1994. Their dream was to restore this 19th distillery and sugar cane plantation back to its former glory. The specialized 'creole-style' copper stills found there were moved to the Simon Distillery and restored after years of neglect and damage from hurricanes. The Habitation Saint-Etienne now serves for blending and aging fine 'agricole rhums,' perserving the style that gave Saint-Etienne its century-long reputation. It now produces 10% of the entire local market for white rhum and 15% for 'old' rhum. Their rhum blanc 'Cuvée de l'an 2000' was the first white rhum ever in the world to be proposed as a 'vintage' rhum. Their 'vieux' rhums continue to win medals and are among the best of their type. Liqueurs de France is proud to become their new UK distributor and offer a sample of their exceptional products to our customers who have come to appreciate our commitment to only the finest.

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