By Stone Martindale Sep 14, 2007, 2:46 GMT
The Raw Story reports that the Swiss village of Kallnach and controversial American rocker Marilyn Manson have struck a business relationship; the local speciality of Absinthe has joined the two forces.
US musician Marilyn Manson during the opening of an exhibition of his paintings in a galery in Cologne, Germany, 27 June 2007. EPA/JOERG CARSTENSEN
The singer's infatuation with the beloved Green Fairy of artists and writers since the days of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Arthur Rimbaud is well-known.
The family-run distillery Matter-Luginbuehl is now collaborating with Manson to produce thousands of bottles of "Mansinthe" - the name of Marilyn's brand.
"Production started in the beginning of August and we have made 6,000 bottles in one month," distillery head Oliver Matter told the Raw Story at AFP.
Manson, an artist, has created the label adorning it with Gothic script, according to AFP, "featuring a green-hued cadaverous-looking man poised to sip from his goblet."
Matter said the end result is a "classic absinthe with a fresh taste," made with various herbs and the distinctive ingredient, wormwood.
According to AFP, the "collaboration first arose when Lion asked Manson if he would design a label for one of his absinthe bottles, following a concert by the star in the Swiss city of Basel some two years ago."
Mansinthe is not available in the United States because absinthe is still officially prohibited there.
According to AFP, "Absinthe has only been legally produced in Switzerland since 2004, following a ban imposed in 1908 after fears that drinking too much could send you mad or blind."
Manson told Rolling Stone magazine that during a party with Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in the south of France on Millennium Eve, he enjoyed the drink.
"We were ready for the apocalypse, and when it didn't come, we were disappointed, so we drank more absinthe and set off fireworks."
"Since then, I don't drink booze, I drink absinthe," he said.
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