Anyone Drink Absenthe?

[liquidglass]

Hey guys, just chilling out researching some things smoking hookah, of course, and drinking a bit of Absenthe (the legal stuff aka: no wormwood or other potentially toxic ingredients) So I figured I'd do a post and ask your favorite way to mix your absenthe (other spellings of course but that's mine lol)


If you're not sure what these methods are find the information here

How to mix Absenthe

[tinyj316]

I don't drink it very often...but when I do, I bust out a slotted spoon, a sugar cube, and water....the proper way...

[Capt. Morgan]

I've always had it straight.

[K1024]

absinthe tastes god awful...unless black licorice is your thing, then i guess its good...

also absinthe with wormwood is legal to sell in some states...i know in you can get it in Texas at least.

[Tyler]

Carmel shots all the way.

[gaia.plateau]

I only drink the real, wormwood stuff, as often as I have the opportunity to. I'm a traditionalist about it though, I just rock the torched sugar spoon, whatever it's called.

The real stuff is legal to drink in Canada, just not to sell. Fortunately though, I have many European friends.

[mjdx88]

As far as I know at this point, absinthe is legal in most us states, with wormwood. It is although lacking another chemical....I forget which but is has been found to be highly toxic/cancerous. In is still in most bottles that are produced in countries from the UK that have not outlawed the drink.

From what I have read Lucid is a modern version of absinthe that is as close to the original drink as it can be. It runs about $60 US.

All of this info I got the History Channel, modern marvels "Distilleries I and II"

On a side note when Eric started talking about releasing Tangiers Lucid....I thought he was talking about a absinthe flavored shisha. Edited August 20, 2009 by mjdx88

[liquidglass]

As far as I know at this point, absinthe is legal in most us states, with wormwood. It is although lacking another chemical....I forget which but is has been found to be highly toxic/cancerous. In is still in most bottles that are produced in countries from the UK that have not outlawed the drink.

From what I have read Lucid is a modern version of absinthe that is as close to the original drink as it can be. It runs about $60 US.

All of this info I got the History Channel, modern marvels "Distilleries I and II"

On a side note when Eric started talking about releasing Tangiers Lucid....I thought he was talking about a absinthe flavored shisha.

nice thanks for the info!

Yeah I know wormwood isn't illegal in all places but there were certain properties associated with it that caused the FDA to ban it for a while. As far as the other chemicals I have a few ideas what they are and chose not to mention them to stay within forum rules.

[liquidglass]

I only drink the real, wormwood stuff, as often as I have the opportunity to. I'm a traditionalist about it though, I just rock the torched sugar spoon, whatever it's called.

The real stuff is legal to drink in Canada, just not to sell. Fortunately though, I have many European friends.

Hate to disagree with you Gaia, the traditional method was slowly dripped ice cold water over sugar, not torching it.

But to each his own, if it's good for you, awesome.

[Majid]

Try Raki or anisette, smoother imo. Raki is 90 proof (45% alcohol) so it's quite strong, goes great with sweet melon and some white cheese. Tastes a lot like DA shisas do, anise/liquorice.

[Rani]

Absinthe is legal and has been since 2007 in the US. Interestingly enough, there's some reason to believe there was never any danger from the active ingredient (thujone). Wormwood continued to be used as a medicinal herb after the ban and no reports of major nerve damage were ever validated. Absinthe has a very high alcohol content, sometimes approaching 200 proof depending on the distiller so it's going to have a greater "drunken" effect. And it was supposedly much cheaper to make than wine and other distilled spirits, so the wine industry led the crusade to ban it. It's popularity and the glamour attached to it were severely denting the sales of other wines and spirits giving the wine industry a huge reason to get it banned. (The FDA was never involved since it was banned before the FDA even existed - 1915.) Because it was so much a part of the lifestyle of bohemian artisans, the wine industry pointed to them as examples of the dangers of the green fairy and managed to get the ban into place. I'm not much of a fan, though I have several receipes for it. Simply because in my opinion it's god-awful tasting. Now mead on the other hand.........

'Rani

[thecyrax]

I've got a big bottle of Le Fee absinthe sitting around that I've been somewhat saving for the right time.

Never been a huge fan of it, but I figure I'll bust it out on some special occasion.

[Charley]

absinthe tastes god awful...unless black licorice is your thing, then i guess its good...

also absinthe with wormwood is legal to sell in some states...i know in you can get it in Texas at least.

only if it has a limited amount of the active chemical in wormwood called thujone however with the limited amount allowed by us law most countries where it is legal don't consider ours to be true absinthe. also the wormwood is only alowed in some states in others you can get fake stuff that only has the same flavor. (no wormwood)

I only drink the real, wormwood stuff, as often as I have the opportunity to. I'm a traditionalist about it though, I just rock the torched sugar spoon, whatever it's called.

The real stuff is legal to drink in Canada, just not to sell. Fortunately though, I have many European friends.

Hate to disagree with you Gaia, the traditional method was slowly dripped ice cold water over sugar, not torching it.

But to each his own, if it's good for you, awesome.

The traditional way is straight with no sugar.
the ice method comes from France where ice is melted and dripped over 1 or 2 or even 3 sugar cubes to dissolved it into the the absinthe. there is also an auto dripper that is used sometimes where cold water from a tank is slowly driped over the sugar.
also there is the method of just adding water (no sugar) many feel it brings out the flavor much the way a few drops of water dose for bourbon.
now the bohemian method is to take your slotted spoon place your sugar cube on it dip it into the absinthe and then light it on fire to caramelize the sugar before mixing it into the drink.

now true absinthe was one of our true legal oddities for many years as it has always been legal in the use (not counting prohibition) to posses it and to consume it. what was illegal was selling or buying it. (it was done this way because collecting alcohol has long been an american tradition and it would have pissed many old rich white guys off to have to toss out a thousand dollar bottle or two to stay legal.)

La Fée Verte (the green fairy) as it is called in France dose not get you drunk providing it is true absinthe.
the active ingredients in the wormwood alter your perceptions before the alcohol has time to intoxicate you.
the stuff you buy here in the USA has little or none of this and only gets you drunk.
true absinthe also permanently changes your brain chemistry
it has long been a favorite of many historic artist and writers such as Van Gogh, Hemingway, and even kerouac.
prolonged usage has been associated with mental illness (see the artist and writers listed.)

I have had the distinct pleasure of drinking the real stuff on many occasions. it is unlike anything you ever have had before. the taste is horrible if you so much as get one drop in your mouth you might as well drink the whole glass because that taste will linger there for hours regardless of how much you have.

I myself prefer the bohemian method. however if you try this be very careful as you have a flame over alcohol that is nearly 200 proof and you can set the whole glass on fire quite easily.

[thecyrax]

absinthe tastes god awful...unless black licorice is your thing, then i guess its good...

also absinthe with wormwood is legal to sell in some states...i know in you can get it in Texas at least.

only if it has a limited amount of the active chemical in wormwood called thujone however with the limited amount allowed by us law most countries where it is legal don't consider ours to be true absinthe. also the wormwood is only alowed in some states in others you can get fake stuff that only has the same flavor. (no wormwood)

I only drink the real, wormwood stuff, as often as I have the opportunity to. I'm a traditionalist about it though, I just rock the torched sugar spoon, whatever it's called.

The real stuff is legal to drink in Canada, just not to sell. Fortunately though, I have many European friends.

Hate to disagree with you Gaia, the traditional method was slowly dripped ice cold water over sugar, not torching it.

But to each his own, if it's good for you, awesome.

The traditional way is straight with no sugar.
the ice method comes from France where ice is melted and dripped over 1 or 2 or even 3 sugar cubes to dissolved it into the the absinthe. there is also an auto dripper that is used sometimes where cold water from a tank is slowly driped over the sugar.
also there is the method of just adding water (no sugar) many feel it brings out the flavor much the way a few drops of water dose for bourbon.
now the bohemian method is to take your slotted spoon place your sugar cube on it dip it into the absinthe and then light it on fire to caramelize the sugar before mixing it into the drink.

now true absinthe was one of our true legal oddities for many years as it has always been legal in the use (not counting prohibition) to posses it and to consume it. what was illegal was selling or buying it. (it was done this way because collecting alcohol has long been an american tradition and it would have pissed many old rich white guys off to have to toss out a thousand dollar bottle or two to stay legal.)

La Fée Verte (the green fairy) as it is called in France dose not get you drunk providing it is true absinthe.
the active ingredients in the wormwood alter your perceptions before the alcohol has time to intoxicate you.
the stuff you buy here in the USA has little or none of this and only gets you drunk.
true absinthe also permanently changes your brain chemistry
it has long been a favorite of many historic artist and writers such as Van Gogh, Hemingway, and even kerouac.
prolonged usage has been associated with mental illness (see the artist and writers listed.)

I have had the distinct pleasure of drinking the real stuff on many occasions. it is unlike anything you ever have had before. the taste is horrible if you so much as get one drop in your mouth you might as well drink the whole glass because that taste will linger there for hours regardless of how much you have.

I myself prefer the bohemian method. however if you try this be very careful as you have a flame over alcohol that is nearly 200 proof and you can set the whole glass on fire quite easily.

What do you mean by saying La Fee does not get you drunk?

The stuff I have (68% alcohol) got me drunk as hell before when I tried it.

[Charley]

La Fée Verte is french for the green fairy its a common name for the drink La Fee is a brand of it.
i stated the real stuff dose not get you drunk because the active ingredients in it alter your perception before the alcohol has time to take effect.


[quote]La Fée Verte (the green fairy) as it is called in France dose not get you drunk providing it is true absinthe.
the active ingredients in the wormwood alter your perceptions before the alcohol has time to intoxicate you.
the stuff you buy here in the USA has little or none of this and only gets you drunk./quote]

[thecyrax]

Oh.... ok..

So is the La Fee (brand) the real stuff?
I really have never experienced any sort of hallucinations from absinthe (having tried 2-3 different types).


This is the closest to the bottle I have (mine is ever so slightly different):

[Balthazar]

i stated the real stuff dose not get you drunk because the active ingredients in it alter your perception before the alcohol has time to take effect.

This is a big fat myth. Absinthe does not make you hallucinate. Not the original stuff, not the "soft stuff".

You said that "the active ingredients in it alter your perception before the alcohol has time to take effect", while in fact the alcohol is what alters your perception. It's placebo. Some people say they feel a different kind of drunk, like they're clear headed or "lucid drunk". Might be, but they're not hallucinating.

Modern science has estimated that a person drinking absinthe would die from alcohol poisoning long before he or she were affected by the thujone. And there is no evidence at all that thujone can cause hallucinations, even in high doses

@ HowStuffWorks.

“Today it seems a substantial minority of consumers want these myths to be true, even if there is no empirical evidence that they are,” said the study’s lead author Dirk Lachenmeier in a release. “It is hoped that this paper will go some way to refute at least the first of these myths, conclusively demonstrating that the thujone content of a representative selection of pre-ban absinthe… fell within the modern EU limit.”

Wired

Absinthe does not (and never did) cause hallucination any more than Nakhla Double Apple does.