Friday 16 February 2007

The Absinthe Media

With absinthe sales still banned in the USA, and with most “respectable” drinks magazines not covering the sector, the internet has been a key area for absinthe lovers to get information and to communicate with each other. I have mentioned some of the forums and groups previously.

Of course, the existence of internet forums is no big thing: there are some big plumbing forums apparently.

An interesting development within absinthe, however, is the ownership of some of the forums by some of those who sell absinthe. I don’t say that this is a good or a bad thing: just that this is unusual. Maybe it is a sign of things to come elsewhere: maybe Scotch companies will run Scotch whisky forums, maybe Coca-Cola will run a cola forum one day.

I should admit my interest here: I run a MySpace Absinthe group, I have this blog, and I am involved with selling and promoting La Clandestine.

Here’s a run-down of some of the absinthe companies and the media that they are involved in.

1. Absinthe Classics/Absinthe Spoon: also owns Fee Verte, has a blog.
2. Absinthe24: apparently also “owns” Absinthe Minded MySpace group.
3. Absinthe-Suisse: I help out there and run RealAbsinthe MySpace group & this blog.
4. Absinthe Distribution: also has several blogs.
5. Absinthe Helfrich: also owns Groene Fee, the Dutch forum.

This list is not guaranteed to be comprehensive: maybe there are others. If you spot them, please let me know.

As far as I know, the other big absinthe forums and groups are not owned by people with a commercial interest in absinthe.

Good? Bad? Or maybe it is irrelevant. The general concensus based on feedback from a MySpace group seems to be that is not an issue. As long as the owners continue to be transparent and fair, and as long as there is not too much blatant advertising (especially on forums and groups), then it seems that those forum and group users are generally relaxed about the issue.

Meaning, I assume, that I can carry on here!

3 comments:

Roy Riachi said...

check out www.sixdegreesbev.com I think it's relevant for the 21st century absinthe

Alan said...

royriachi ... with respect .. "Rubbish." This brand has nothing to do with absinthe and is just trying to deceive people who don't know any better.

This is only made worse by the spamming tactics that you seem to be part of. There were efforts to get the brand mentioned on the main Wikipedia absinthe page too, and no doubt on many other sites.

If you intend to astroturf, maybe you should read about another "absinthe" that tried that:

http://ajiggerofblog.com/2009/02/12/the-great-astroturf-pushback-of-aught-nine/

pcruise said...

Hello,

I am writing to ask your opinion regarding a wine/liquor cellar that was recently inherited by a friend of my family. This cellar was built in the late 1800's and contains full bottles from 1800-1925. I have been an avid wine collector for 20 years and the people who inherited this cellar don't drink and do not know the value of these rare items. Because of my knowledge, they have asked me to inventory and sell the contents of the cellar.

While I was conducting an inventory I saw bottles of pre-ban absinthe, 1885 Oxygenee, 1895 H. Bazinet, 1847 Old Antiqua rum, 1900 Bacadi Rum, 1875-1885 Sir John Powers, Irish Whiskey, 1860 Club House whiskey, 1895 John Dewar Perth, scotch, 1881 haut-brion, etc. The list is extensive and the bottles are hand blown or hand blown in a mold. The John Powers bottles are in madeira style bottles and are unbelievable.

I wanted to know if you or your associates might be interested in some of these items. I believe many of the bottles in this cellar are one of a kinds. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at pcruise2000@gmail.com Thank you.