With all the various absinthes that are available now, and with all the different types of absinthes it is quite hard to figure out which one is actually good, and which is not. As time goes by, quality in new products increase all the time and what was considered to be the very best only 6-12 months ago, might not be at the very top today. It would be close to impossible for me to keep up with this progress by re-writing all reviews and sampling all brands again. Not only would it turn me into a true alcoholic, but it would completely ruin my palate - considering the terrible taste many present. With this in mind, I decided to set up a new section on the site, this one. A quick and easy to use reference, which simply rates the reviewed absinthes from 0 to 5 star rating. The reference is divided into two sections, one for distilled absinthes and one for so called oil or essence mixes. The oil/essence mix section also includes the worst of faux absinthes, the soaked herbs (macerated) ones. Every entry in the reference guide is linked to its corresponding review in the review sections. This Quick Reference will be continuously updated and will therefore be a more accurate day-to-day guide on what's hot and what's not. The reviews will of course give a much more detailed view on tastes, herbal notes and over all appearance of each brand. A comparison between distilled absinthes and mixed absinthes is rather hard to do, since the taste of mixed absinthe very well could be better than the taste of a badly distilled absinthe. As a rule of thumb, I'd say that a five (5) star rating on a mixed absinthe would be about equal in taste as a 2.5-3 star rating on the distilled absinthes. Give or take a bit. A mixed absinthe can never reach up to the standards of a distilled absinthe for the single reason that it's not distilled, hence it's not a true absinthe. Now, please go on to the references. Distilled | Oil/essence mixes | Vintage absinthes