This extra superieure Swiss absinthe is a clear ' La Bleue' with a smooth texture & delicate anise & herb flavour that lingers elegantly on the palate. It is best enjoyed by slowly adding three to four parts iced water creating a swirl of opalescent colour finishing with a beautiful milky white texture & releasing an array of intense aromas. Its perfect balance means that, as is Swiss tradition, sugar is not needed. La Fee XS Suisse is produced in the small town of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers region of Switzerland & it is here absinthe production began in 1792. Time was spent creating a recipe to reflect those finest top quality absinthes of the nineteenth century & the whole distillation process is carried out by hand & monitored closely to ensure consistency throughout. The finest aromatic plants, including locally grown wormwood (Artemesia absinthium), along with a grape alcohol base are carefully distilled in small quantities creating an absinthe that is highly elegant & perfectly balanced. Each distillation takes place in small copper stills that have the capacity to produce just over 100 bottles. The wine alcohol, herbs & plants, including the wormwood are soaked in the stills overnight resulting in a beautifully scented mixture. Just before the distillation process begins, natural spring water straight from the Swiss mountains of the Val-de-Travers region is added to reduce the alcohol levels. For many hours the stills gently extract the distillate, too fast or slow would alter the flavour dramatically. The distilled XS is now at 76% abv & is left to mature, after which purified natural spring water is added to reduce its alcohol level to 53%. Originally finest top quality absinthe was made using a wine alcohol base, after years of research La Fee teamed up with two of the most highly regarded distillers in France & Switzerland to produce two new & exciting absinthes; La Fee Extra Superieure. This X.S collection consists of two premier wine based absinthes that are hand crafted using original recipes & methods.