David Nathan-Maister, the absinthe connoisseur extraordinaire, also known as Oxygénée and proprietor of the amazing Virtual Absinthe Museum, is offering up a taste of something extraordinarily rare - some pre-ban absinthe. Yes, we're talking about real absinthe dating from the 1880s, freshly decanted from the original bottles. You buy it in small and stunningly expensive amounts- like US$300 for 30ml (or about two small tasting glasses). But even so, these go fast. When we hit the lottery and retire to our French seaside villa, we will stock up on all of his fancy offerings!

If any of you actually do grab one of these, please feel free to post a tasting here on In Absinthia. We will just have to live vicariously at these rates.

Vintage Absinthe For Sale: J.V.& Ca Neufchatel (Doubs) circa 1880

An extraordinarily early Swiss bottle, likely the oldest intact Swiss absinthe to have survived. Found alongside the Edouard Pernod bottle shown above in the same cellar bin. The distiller, J.V.&Ca were based in the canton of Neuchatel (here rendered in the archaic spelling "Neufchatel"), just inside the Swiss border in the area where it is demarcated by the river Doubs.

Vintage Absinthe For Sale: Absinthe Edouard Pernod - Lunel (Herault), circa 1870-1880

This is an exceptional bottle. The branch of Edouard Pernod in Lunel was sold off and changed its name to Gempp Pernod in 1880, so this bottle can be dated with confidence to prior to that date. It's the earliest intact sealed absinthe bottle yet unearthed.