A birthday order of absinthe from Liqueurs de France arrived here at In Absinthia, and what a nice gift it was indeed! Two bottles from the Swiss distiller, Matter-Luginbühl and one from Emile Pernot. From Pernot comes Un Emile 68 La Blanche, as you always need a Swiss blanche in every order - I think it may be a law or something... And from Matter-Luginbühl comes Gwydion's recipe, Absinthe Marteau Verte Classique, a Suisse verte, as well as the award-winning Absinthe Duplais , another verte absinthe.

Included in the order were two molded Pontarlier glass, as our previous absinthe glass went the way of many other breakable items here. We usually shy away from anything but a clear glass, no matter what the cocktail is, but these promised to be pretty as well as functional.

Total cost, including shipping by the legendary "flying monkeys" was about US$245. To cut costs a bit, we went with smaller bottles, although given the hefty shipping charge, it is probably a false economy. After the break is a pictorial essay of the grand box opening, which was about a week after ordering it.