Green Velvet Original 1898 is the verte expression, the green absinthe, bottled at 53% volume from the original family recipe that gave the brand its identity. The colour is fully natural, drawn from a secondary herbal infusion after distillation rather than from added colourings. BOTANICALS: grande wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), green anise, fennel, lemon balm and a selection of proprietary Jura botanicals, all macerated in alcohol, then primary-distilled. The natural colour comes from a second short maceration of green herbs after distillation, performed at night to preserve the chlorophyll. The 53% volume sits in the middle of the verte tradition: high enough for proper louche, low enough to read clearly. SERVING: the louche ritual, sugar cube on a slotted spoon, iced water dripping slowly into the glass until the milky opalescence builds. Serve in a Pontarlier-style absinthe glass with a slow water-to-spirit ratio. Pairs at the table with a strong cheese (Gruyère AOP, Tête de Moine) and walnut bread, dark chocolate, or as a digestif after a Jura meal of Comté and Morteau sausage.
Tasting notes
Soft green, natural, drawn at night from fresh-herb maceration.
Aromatic, old-fashioned liquorice sweets, anise, fennel seed, hint of lemon balm.
Refreshing, lightly astringent, liquorice gives way to anise, fennel, herbal wormwood. Supple, balanced, no crushing bitterness.
Sustained herbal, fennel and lemon balm carrying a noble, controlled bitterness.
The Val-de-Travers absinthe distilled by Gaudentia Persoz, one of Switzerland's first female distillers, working in Couvet in the heart of the valley that invented the spirit.The story begins with the discovery of an old alembic and an 1898-dated family recipe in the house she inherited; she rebuilt the still, sourced the herbs locally, and started production from a recipe that predates the prohibition era, the same wormwood, anise, fennel and lemon balm sequence that defined the original Val-de-Travers verte.
