frith said:

yeah it is. its nice to have around and honestly, in the most shallow and superficial way, the bottles are usually very pretty. they look really nice on my bar. hehe

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I have one in my bar, hiding among all the tequila 

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i hear this is some good stuff??

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NOOOOOOO!!!!


THAT IS THE BIGGEST POOP THERE IS!!  For the love of God do not buy that shite! It is the most expensive of them all, and you might as well be drinking dishwashing detergent. Its not even a real Absinthe. Please NO!!

Drinking "king of spirits" is to drinking Absinthe is like
Drinking Listerine mouthwash is to drinking 15yo single malt whiskey.
I kid you not! its not even an absinthe and it tastes like having your cat vomit in your mouth - after having paid top dollar.




What you need good Sir is a repost of my "Absinthe Buyers & Drinkers Guide" thread:






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Video on how to drink Absinthe (auto download)


The market is saturated with all sorts of crap at sometimes outrageous prices. It is important to realize that a lot of "Absinthes" you can buy quite often have nothing to do with real Absinthe. Here's advice on which kinds to buy, at what price, and how to prepare it. The preparation is detailed in the attached video.

OK, here goes.

Absinthe can be bought in bottles of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 and 1 liter.

For liters, you can expect to pay $50-$150. Since a serving of absinthe before dilution measures 20-30ml, this boils down to $1-$5 per glass.
Here are brands that come highly recommended:

DUPLAIS (Balance, Verte, Blanche)
FRANCOIS GUY
HELFRICH (Verte, La Blanche)
JADE (Edouard, Nouvelle Orleans, PF 1901, Verte Suisse)
LA VALOTE (Bovet, Fornoni, Martin)
LASALA (spanish Absenta, can be had for $35/liter)
SEGARRA (spanish Absenta)
UN EMILE 68 (also their La Blanche)
VERSINTHE (Verte and especially La Blanche)
VERTE DE FOUGEROLLES

These 20 Absinthes from 10 houses all are top notch quality, contrary to the extensive list of crappy or even false Absinthes. You can expect to pay $75 a liter on average.

As you can see there are two kinds of Absinthe: Verte (green) and La Blanche (white). Both are traditional. Basically the distilled Absinthes are La Blanche, and when additive herbs are steeped into it it gains flavor and a green color, producing a Verte.

If you have not a clue which to select my personal choice for the beginner would be to buy a 0.5 liter bottle of Duplais Balance (costs about $35, 15-25 glasses) which is a rather good Verte absinthe, and to buy an absinthe spoon with it.

You can use a white wine glass to serve Absinthe:



Make sure the glass can comfortably hold 130ml (30+100) or 90ml (20+60) which your Absinthe requires, and that it is fairly wide so it can fit an absinthe spoon. If you want to improvise entirely, a metal tea-strainer can be put on the glass to hold the sugarcube, and a teaspoon can be used to stir the dilute Absinthe afterwards.

An Absinthe preparation that's good for all kinds is to take a wine glass, pour in 30ml (20ml) of Absinthe, then pour 100ml (60ml) icecold water over one sugar cube on an Absinthe spoon, then stirring until all sugar is dissolved in the dilute Absinthe. Upon diluting, most good absinthe turns cloudy (the "louche") or even becomes so cloudy as to become non-transparent. This is usually a good sign, whereas absence of a louche usually is a bad sign.

You drink Absinthe by taking a sip, and spreading it through your mouth for some time before swallowing. Let the aftertaste linger before you sip some more. It is all about the taste, and a good Absinthe has a lot of taste to it. You should relax and take your time for enjoying Absinthe - if a glass lasts you at least twenty minutes before its empty, you are on the right track. Absinthe is not for chugging, and isn't about getting hammered either.

I cannot stress enough that Absinthe should always be diluted with water, 2-5 parts of water to one part of Absinthe. Drinking it neat is like drinking lemonade syrup neat: you can't expect it to taste good that way. Adding one cube of sugar is most common, some add two and others none. Sugar helps to bring out the flavor.

It's important to realize that Absinthe, real Absinthe, is a drink with often a strong anise flavor to it. If you don't like anise, chances are you won't like Absinthe.

Absinthe is best reserved for before or after dinner, or at the close of day, alone or discussing with friends. I recommend against drinking more than three glasses on a given day: if alcohol becomes a factor it is best to switch to a less refined drink better suited for stiff drinking. Absinthe is too expensive to get drunk on, it has too much flavor for continued drinking, and may give rise to a fiendish hangover if drank in excess. For the frequent drinker, one glass of absinthe a day is the most you should drink of it, and preferably more days without absinthe than with to keep it special.


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I'm going to give you one suggestion almost guaranteed to please you if you like Absinthe:

DUPLAIS BALANCE





Its one of the worlds finest Absinthes, and for its quality (a five star authentic absinthe) it is the cheapest.

It is psychoactive in the way Absinthes are psychoactive. I find it gives you drunkennness with clarity and a tendency to contemplation. It is subtle, drink it as the first drug of the day, when you are fully sober. If you smoke pot the subtleties of Absinthe are lost, so save the joint for after you enjoyed it enough.

You drink Absinthe, in descending order of importance:

1..for the flavor
2..for the ritual
3..for the psychoactivity

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Absinthe from Checkeslovicia.

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put a splash of absinthe over  spoonful of sugar, then lit it on fire to melt the sugar and mix with ice water which would be poured into a glass containing the melted sugar and a shot of absinthe

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good stuff well worth the $70

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Of course, it won't be as high quality some of the real stuff, but it will give you a taste of the psycho-activity and flavor.
It mainly consists of simply filling a tea-bag or similar filter with the required herbs and steeping it in hot vodka. Herbs are easy to obtain and you can control the amount of wormwood.

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No!  That has nothing to do with Absinthe at all!

The name Absinthe comes from the Wormwood, which is "Absinthe" wormwood in French. Absinthe stems from the greek word Apsinthion, that means "undrinkable".

What you propose will absolutely be just that, undrinkable.

If you steep the herbs in vodka and then distill it, only then will you have an absinthe. And its easy to distill in your kitchen using pots and pans, like so:








Start with 3 liters of cheap but good tasting flavorless vodka, toss in 100gr aniseed, 100gr fennel and 75gr wormwood (you can buy this at herb shops for cheap), in a gallon jug. Then let this sit in a dark closet for 2 days. After that, toss it herbs and all into a Wok Still. Changing the water every 15 minutes or so, distill of those 3 liters, two liters and leave the last liter and the herbs behind.

Those 2 liters you distilled, put in the clean gallon jug and shake vigorously when cold to aerate it, then put it in glass bottles.

Optionally, if you have it and wish it, you can add 5ml foodgrade glycerin (2 teaspoons) per liter.

Presto, you now have 2 liters of a traditional-style "holy trinity" Absinthe that is way ahead of all that Czech crap, for cheap. I recommend to let it sit in the bottles, in the dark, for at least 3 months before drinking. If you keep it well stoppered in the dark, the taste will only refine as it ages.

I myself have taken it one step further and can produce a liter of quality homemade Absinthe (about 55-75% ABV = 110-150 proof) for about $5 using the finest herbs.

Wiccan_Seeker said:

Quote:

Of course, it won't be as high quality some of the real stuff, but it will give you a taste of the psycho-activity and flavor.
It mainly consists of simply filling a tea-bag or similar filter with the required herbs and steeping it in hot vodka. Herbs are easy to obtain and you can control the amount of wormwood.

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No!  That has nothing to do with Absinthe at all!

The name Absinthe comes from the Wormwood, which is "Absinthe" wormwood in French. Absinthe stems from the greek word Apsinthion, that means "undrinkable".

What you propose will absolutely be just that, undrinkable.

If you steep the herbs in vodka and then distill it, only then will you have an absinthe. And its easy to distill in your kitchen using pots and pans, like so:


<img src=https://files.shroomery.org/files/07-003/925595595-kenya_wokstill.jpg>


<img src=https://files.shroomery.org/files/07-003/940716903-wokstill_distilling.gif>


Start with 3 liters of cheap but good tasting flavorless vodka, toss in 100gr aniseed, 100gr fennel and 75gr wormwood (you can buy this at herb shops for cheap), in a gallon jug. Then let this sit in a dark closet for 2 days. After that, toss it herbs and all into a Wok Still. Changing the water every 15 minutes or so, distill of those 3 liters, two liters and leave the last liter and the herbs behind.

Those 2 liters you distilled, put in the clean gallon jug and shake vigorously when cold to aerate it, then put it in glass bottles.

Optionally, if you have it and wish it, you can add 5ml foodgrade glycerin (2 teaspoons) per liter.

Presto, you now have 2 liters of a traditional-style "holy trinity" Absinthe that is way ahead of all that Czech crap, for cheap. I recommend to let it sit in the bottles, in the dark, for at least 3 months before drinking. If you keep it well stoppered in the dark, the taste will only refine as it ages.

I myself have taken it one step further and can produce a liter of quality homemade Absinthe (about 55-75% ABV = 110-150 proof) for about $5 using the finest herbs.

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That is how I do it as well, but didn't suggest it because some may consider it too much trouble. Ah well, you explained it well.

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Wickan_Seeker, see if you can grab a bottle of Kubler or Jade Verte Suisse. youd probably like them.

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Oh hell yea :P
A friend offered me a glass of Jade Edouard once. Jade is teh yummeh, but unfortunately ragingly expensive. If you can spare the money, Jade is top notch I agree, based on my experience with the Edouard and the raving reviews its been getting. Plus, gorgeous labels on the bottles, the modern creepy art labels are the only downside of Duplais. Makes dinner guests think you're serving a gimmick drink. One sip and they're sold though

As i recall there is (or was) an "american" version of Kubler without the wormwood. That of course will not do, not because of "psychoactive effect" but because wormwood is such an important flavor component of Absinthe.