Mansinthe Absinthe (700ml)

Marilyn Manson has never hidden the fact that he loves to drink absinthe. With an absinthe-fuelled night alongside Johnny Depp on the eve of the year 2000, and his favourite tipple La Fée Absinthe being served at his wedding it was only a matter of time before this controversial man of rock headed his own brand.

The rustic Swiss village of Kallnach is not the sort of place you would automatically associate with controversial American rocker Marilyn Manson -- but its local speciality has sparked an unlikely collaboration. The singer's interest has been piqued by one of the village's best known products, the fabled and highly potent liquor absinthe, which has been beloved of artists and writers since the days of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Arthur Rimbaud. The family-run distillery Matter-Luginbuehl is now collaborating with Manson to produce thousands of bottles of his own brand of absinthe - 'Mansinthe' - and is finding a worldwide audience. 'Production started in the beginning of August and we have made 6,000 bottles in one month,' distillery head Oliver Matter stated*. It is distilled from fine herbs, naturally coloured and not pre-sugared. It should delight even the fastidious absintheur and Marilyn Manson fan.

Manson himself certainly loves it, and has created the artwork for the label - adorned with Gothic script and featuring a green-hued cadaverous-looking man poised to sip from his goblet. 'This is kind of William S. Burroughs-inspired' says Manson, 'but it's kind of how I see myself when I'm old, if I get there.'

* Notes partly sourced from 'Absinthe friends: Marilyn Manson teams up with Swiss distillers'. AFP. Published: Thursday September 13, 2007