Absinthe Distilleries
Liqueurs Combier
Combier is the oldest working distillery in the Loire Valley created in 1834 by Jean Baptiste Combier. before distilling absinthe, Jean Baptiste was a confectioner and chocolate maker and would distill liqueurs to fill the inside of his sweets. He found his liqueurs were so appreciated by customers that he decided to stop making candy and and focus on producing liqueurs.
The Combier Distillery remains on the original land purchased to build his factory and all production still takes place there.
Over the years, Jean Baptiste Combier developed products with his son James Combier the first mayor elected in the town of Saumur in the 1870’s. James was a great traveler and he brought many new discoveries from his trips around the world, such as rare spices, to make new liquors. They produce their absinthe in their antique distillation room created, in part, by Gustave Eiffel at the beginning of the 20th century.
All the original copper alembics are still functioning producing about 400,000 bottles per year with 80% of their sales exported to USA, Germany, England & Japan. The distillery no longer belongs to the Combier family. It was purchased by Group Bollinger in the 1970’s, and in 2000 was bought by Mr Choisne, the new president.
Distillery Lemercier
Before producing absinthe, the Lemercier family ran a farm and distilled Kirsch and Plum Brandy mostly for their own use but their products were also appreciated by many people from around Fougerolles as well.
After noticing the rising demand for their spirits, the family decided to found their own distillery in 1811. Nicolas Lemercier started distilling absinthe around the same time and was forced to stop in 1915 due to the worldwide ban of absinthe. In 1991, after finishing his business studies, Alain Aureggio, Desle’s grand-grandson, decided to take up the family business and distillery.
Distillerie Artemisia – Bugnon
Claude-Alain Bugnon was the first clandestine distiller granted legal status to distill absinthe by the Swiss government in the spring of 2005. For years he had been responsible for a certain quantity of bootlegged absinthe that brought so much attention and status to this small region Couvet. His La Clandestine has been and is still considered by many to be the best Swiss La Bleue available today.
Claude Alain’s custom designed distilling apparatus is located at his premises in Couvet, a former butcher shop. The alambics each have a capacity of 145 litres, and produce 95 litres of finished absinthe. They are single-walled, rather than duplicating the bain-marie system more commonly used in France. Claude-Alain feels that the fiercer heat gives better extraction of the herbs.
Svensk Absint Distillery
The Svensk Absint Distillery is a small distillery in Rebrom, Sweden founded by Mikael Norell and Tomas Runnquist in 2009.
After several years of hard work and many distillation tests, the two friends put their first two absinthes on the market: Vit Opal and Grön Opal. The Vit Opal (White Opal) is the first Blanche absinthe ever produced in Sweden.
Every step in the production is done by hand from growing and harvesting of the finest botanicals to the bottling and labelling. Focusing on small batches made with high quality selected ingredients coming from the distillery’s herb garden. Roman wormwood (Artemisia pontica), melissa, hyssop are carefully picked by hand allowing better control of the final products quality.
Gaudentia Persoz – La Ptite Distillery d Absinthe
Gaudentia, one of the first female distillers, is young, and passionate about absinthe. She distills with a historic recipe from 1898 that she found, along with a small alambic, when she and her husband purchased their house in Couvet, Switzerland.
The distillery is a member of the “Les Artisans de l’Absinthe” association – it’s most popular absinthe: La P’tite. Gaudentia’s husband Jean-Michel is responsible for Marketing and Sales of their products.
Zufanek Distillery
Zufanek distillery was founded by Marcela and Josef Žufánek and their sons Martin, Josef and Jan in 2000. It’s based in the village of Boršice u Blatnice near Uherské Hradiště, Southern Moravia, Czech republic.
Their orchards, surrounding the production site, are located in one of the best locations for fruit cultivation in Moravia. The fruit is used to produce delicious and fine brandy with distinctive aromas and flavors influenced by the local microclimate and soil of the nature conservation area of the White Carpathians. For the production, we use modern distillation equipment.
All products are 100% natural, made according to original proven recipes without any artificial colors, flavorings or aromas. We distill, macerate and create distillates we like – final products we can be really proud of it. That’s why all the spirits and liqueurs bear our names.
