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.

Here we have the sturdy boxes that it arrived in. The smaller box was the glasses while the larger one was the absinthe. All were securely taped together and there were no moving parts or rattling noises emanating from within.

After opening both boxes, you can see the bubblewrapped glasses on the left and the Styrofoam bottle packaging on the right. The smaller box the glasses came in was quite sturdy and the many layers of bubblewrap kept everything cozy.

Here we've pulled the bottles out of the Styrofoam and unwrapped the glasses. The small reservoir at the bottom of the glasses is perfect for 1oz of absinthe. Note the bottles are also wrapped in bubblewrap, further ensuring their safety.

Finally, all is unwrapped and ready to go. From left to right it is the Marteau, Un Emile and the Duplais. Looking on in the background are some of the other bottles we have here, including Kübler and La Ptite. Look for reviews on all three to show up here soon!