For years, we’ve been sharing stories from our trips to the Swiss Absinthe Festival in the Val-de-Travers, or the Absinthiades in Pontarlier, France with you. Being a part of this great absinthe community, it’s very important for us to get together at least once or twice a year to exchange news about absinthe, or just to catch up. The chance to talk to people who are just as passionate about absinthe is worth every journey, plus keeping in touch with absinthe distributors and distillers on a personal level is very important to us.

So we get together, we share some food, drink, and chat all night. Until after a day or two, we go back home to Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, the Czech Republic or wherever else we’re from.

But why only Switzerland or France? We thought it’s time to host the first Absinthe Festival in Germany and bring distillers from all over the world together!

Our small absinthe world, gathered in Freiburg

We had the idea to finally host an absinthe event in Germany after opening of our local absinthe store in Freiburg in late 2016. All of a sudden, we had a much closer connection to absinthe enthusiasts and got in touch with people who either didn’t know much about absinthe or seemed to believe the wrong things. We realized that there is a much bigger lack of absinthe awareness in Germany than there is in France or Switzerland. And because our beautiful city is so conveniently located nearby both the borders of Switzerland and France, we believed to have just the perfect location to bring distillers from everywhere together. So we went ahead, invited the makers, the shop owners, the online shop owners, the distributors and most importantly – the fans and our friends of the absinthe community.

So on April 28th, we had put together an absinthe fair with 14 exhibitors showcasing their absinthes and their distilleries.

Every exhibitor had their own stall that that they decorated the way that would most represent their distillery. Visitors were able to taste absinthe samples, buy absinthes and accessories, and get to know the people behind our favourite spirit! The distillers were happy to answer every question one had on how to make absinthe, the history of absinthe and their individual absinthe distillery.

Absinthe tasters, antiques, seminars and more

What we thought this German event needed was as much information on absinthe for newcomers. As we said before, we felt there to be a large gap of knowledge on absinthe in Germany – so why not use the opportunity of having all the major experts around, and ask them to do a talk or a seminar on an absinthe related topic of their choice?
Luckily, the idea was welcomed by many exhibitors and we were able to schedule a full day’s worth of seminars visitors could join for free. There were presentations on the history of absinthe, absinthe and thujone, distillery profiles, stories on clandestine distilling, and even an English seminar by Jessica Graves of Violet Crown Spirits in Texas, USA.

We even managed to finish the first Absinthe ever made in Freiburg in collaboration with winemaker Andreas Dilger in time for the festival!

The lectures started with Hermann Plöckl, founder and owner of the first German Absinthe Shop “Absinth Depot” in Berlin, who gave insights into the history of absinthe in Germany.

2nd Freiburg Absinthe Festival 2019 – SAVE THE DATE

Because we had so much fun and because the guests seemed to have loved it, we’re already planning the second German Absinthe Festival for April 27th, 2019 – mark this date on your calendar!

Exhibitors at the 1st Freiburg Absinthe Festival

We would like to use the opportunity to once again express our sincerest gratitude to all exhibitors making this first German absinthe fair happen, for being part of an experiment that could have easily failed but was a success instead, for your effort in sharing your knowledge during lectures with the visitors, and for making this yet another unforgettable weekend for our absinthe community! We look forward to having you again next year!

In alphabetical order

A

Absinth Depot Berlin & Absinthe Berlinoise (Germany)

Aixsinthe & Absinthe Vivide (Germany)

Aymonier & La Semilla Absinthe (France)

B

Bovet (Switzerland)

Bourgeois (France)

C

Combier (France)

Corvus (Germany)

D

Devoille, Paul (France)

Dilger, Andreas (Germany)

P

Lemercier/Peureux (France)

Persoz, Gaudentia (Switzerland)

R

Roussel, Patrick Absinthe Antiques (France)

V

Vert Destillerie (Germany)

Violet Crown Spirits (USA)

You make your own absinthe, you’re a distributor or are involved in the absinthe business? We’d love to have you! Register as an exhibitor for the German Absinthe Festival 2019 by emailing us to [email protected]! We’ll be planning more seminars in lectures in different languages next year, too, so do let us know if you would like to be a speaker. We look forward to hearing from you!

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