Absinthe

[Woody182]

Can anyone who has knowledge of the subject give me information/opinions on absinthe?
Thanks in advance,
Bill

[cliche]

Tastes nice; but the stuff that we got hold of (legal in UK) didn't have any of the major psycho-type effects people attribute to it.

[Plan9Senior]

Most of the rumors about absinthe are totally overexaggerated. You can buy the green stuff online if you want to try it. Don't expect to halucinate though, you just get drunk like any other alcohol.

The only reason that it appeals to people is because it is banned in some places, and I believe that it is banned only because the liquor uses wormwood...and wormwood oil is poisonous/lethal in its pure form.

[burntmonkey]

First time I heard about it was on Moulin Rouge.

[31Friction]

I think it tastes like crap personally. and its not realy supposed to make you "trip". More euphoric than anything. you can buy the wormwood and all that online. it your interested in making some I can point you to where to get the ingredients as well as instructions of the process.

I do like the stuff but it is definately not for everyone.
heres 2 methods of making it...

#1

30.0 g wormwood
8.5 g hyssop
1.8 g calamis
6.0 g melissa
30.0 g anise seed
25.0 g fennel seed
10.0 g star anise
3.2 g coriander seed

Put the dry herbs in a large jar. Dampen slightly. Add 800 ml of 85-95 percent alchohol. Wine spirits make a better product than pure grain alcohol. Let it steep for several days - a week is better - shaking occasionally. Then add 600 ml of water and let the whole macerate for another day. Decant off the liquid squeezing as much from the mass of herb as possible. Wet the herbs with some vodka and squeeze again. Recipe should give a little over a liter and a half of green liquor. It must then be distilled. Inferior recipes skip this step, but what they produce is not worthy to be called absinthe.

In the distillation, change the receiver when the distillate turns yellow: those ar the faints. You can save the faints and add them to future distillations, but they will taint the flavor if added directly to the product. Just use the good stuff. The next step is to color and finish the liqueur by another round of maceration.

Color the distillate by again adding:

4.2 g mint
1.1 g melissa
3.0 g wormwood
1.0 g citron peel
4.2 g liquorice root

Let the herbs macerate for another three or four days. Decant, filter, bottle. You will probably want to carefully add some concentrated sugar syrup to the blend. The result will be a Swiss style absinthe of about 135 proof.Recipe makes one liter of absinthe.






#2
IN a large cask:

1 1/2 lbs large absinthe (A. absinthium)
2 lbs small absinthe
2 1/2 lbs long fennel
2 1/2 lbs star anise
2 1/2 lbs green anise
6 oz coriander
1 lb hyssop

moisten with a little water, allow to swell.
add 12 gals. 95% alcohol, steep 3 days.
add 10 gals. water, steep another day.
Distill. Will produce 15 gals absinthe at 65-70%.
Change the receiver when the distillate turns reddish color.
That part has off flavors..

Color distilled product by steeping 10 or 15 days in

1/2 lb mint
1/4 lb melissa
1/2 lb small absinthe (A. pontica)
2 oz citron peel
1/2 lb bruised liquorice root.
Strain and filter.



theres alot more ways to do it as well. heres a link to alot more info as well as where I got those 2 recipes...

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe.shtml

[Gun]

I read about it in Maxim magazine a few months ago. My friend ordered a few bottles online to try, and our experiences were quite pleasurable. The initial effects are the most interesting and fun. It's just a general sense of distorted existence and reality, some light hallucinations but nothing breathtaking. I felt as if the universe was made of cotton and everyone was filled with air. After we had some more, we were just basically drunk. But that was fun too.

I suggest you give it a try, it's pretty fun stuff.

[meff]

IIRC, the wormwood makes you have effects like this, after drinking alot of it (like, for months) ...

Alot of sellable absinthe doesn't have the wormwood.

[emphant]

Gun, would you happen to have the links that the Maxim article gave?

[lordjeebus]

Originally posted by emphant
Gun, would you happen to have the links that the Maxim article gave?

I don't have the links, but check out

Fine Spirits Corner for the not-so-expensive yet pretty good Spanish absinthes.

eAbsinthe for La Fee, considered to have strong secondary effects.

Liqueurs de France for Emile Pernot 68, favorite of modern-day absinthe snobs, as well as a few others.

All three deliver to the US, but it will cost you.

[emphant]

Thank you very much, Lordjeebus. Too bad this stuff costs so much.

[doctorphibes]

Last NYE some friends came over and brought some absinthe they got off the internet for a "toast" at midnight.

The next day we woke up all hungover (of course), and while cleaning up the kitchen I remarked that we should try the absinthe soon, since we didn't get a chance the night before.

They just blinked at me.

I had managed to down 3/4 of the bottle, not only in straight form (well, diluted with water), but also in making myself Sazeracs all night long (absinthe and whisky). I have utterly no recollection of this, but there were plenty of pictures taken. For weeks afterward I would find my stuff in totally odd places; apparently I would start raving about an album or book someone HAD TO BORROW RIGHT NOW, and then go grab it, but then immediately drop it and start talking about something else.

Wheeee. I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon.

[rockzilla]

My friend brought a couple of bottles back with him after a trip to Ibiza.
We got legendarily drunk the night of his return, switching between the classic absinthe, sugar & water and overproof rum & cokes from a friend of mine who won a trip to the Domincan Republic on a radio station. Good times were had, but I don't remember hallucinating.

Come to think of it, I don't really remember much from that night.