Thank you for taking the time to give our infusion a try and share your feedback with us Brian. It was never our intention to try and “convince” anyone that our product is true distilled Absinthe. We approached the Wormwood Society with respect for the community’s knowledge and passion for Absinthe. Our intent was to learn more about the drink and what improvements we can make to our infusion to make the flavor more authentic. It has never been our goal to claim our beverage as true Absinthe nor would we want to perpetuate any myth that someone can make traditional distilled quality Absinthe at home.

We started experimenting with infusions because frankly good Absinthe is hard to find and really expensive. However, we enjoy the flavor and ritual of the drink. We’ve done our best to create a final product that tastes good when prepared to one’s specific palette.

Brian is correct that Wormwood is extremely bitter when left in the infusion too long. That is why we have separated it into its own tea bag so that the end consumer can control how much bitterness they would like then remove it.

Before developing our blend, we did a lot of research including here on the wormwood society and read many reviews of other Absinthe kits that were quick to point out the bitterness of those products. We wanted to do everything in our power to keep our product from also becoming too bitter. Some of the measures we’ve taken include sourcing organic Grand Wormwood that has been harvested with less stem content. We now have a better supplier than we used for Brian’s sample and hope that will improve the results. Unlike some of the other Absinthe infusion kits we do not want the public to think that Wormwood will make you hallucinate and don’t feel there is any good reason to stuff our product with loads Wormwood to increase the thujone content.

We hoped that having Brian try out our product would give us ideas on improvements we can make before sending the final blend out into the world. It sounds as though we have some work to do on the instructions so that others do not experience some of the unpleasant outcomes Brian found during his trial. It also sounds like adding a bit more Anise Seed may help the overall flavor palette.

Our product line will offer a variety of infusions blends including Absinthe. We were actually surprised by the amount of interest in the Absinthe infusion over some of the other blends. It seems as though there are others who would enjoy experimenting with trying to make an Absinthe style drink at home.

Our goal is to make the best possible alternative to distilled Absinthe. It has never been our intention to step on any toes or disrespect the history or good name of Absinthe or the Absinthe community. We believe if there are going to be Absinthe kits on the market (let’s face it people appear to want them) lets at least make it taste good, as close to the real thing as possible and not perpetuate any myths about the effect.

We appreciate the Wormwood Society giving us the opportunity to share our product and gain invaluable feedback on how to improve our product for future consumers. We do hope that others will give our product a try before deciding definitively that it something they do not wish to drink. Each palette is different and we respect that while one person may really enjoy our Absinthe blend others may not. The beauty of infusing is the ability to control the end product and the fun of experimenting with flavors.