Absinthe
While there’s no canonical description, Absinthe is a high-proof spirit flavored with anise and similar botanicals, the most notable of which are the leaves of Artemisia absinthium, aka grand wormwood. Most anise is green in color, which gave rise to the iconic “green fairy,” which is said to be seen when one consumes the spirit. A psychoactive chemical known as thujone is present in wormwood, and this gave absinthe an awful reputation in the early 1900s, when a handful of drinkers went on criminal sprees (some murderous). By 1915 it was widely outlawed. By the late 1990s a better understanding of thujone (which is present in modern absinthe in only trace amounts) led to these bans being relaxed. In 2007, absinthe was once again legalized in the U.S., opening the door for a rush of hundreds of new brands. Absinthe is properly served by placing the spirit in a glass, then pouring cold water slowly over a sugar cube placed over the glass on a specific type of spoon. Prepared absinthe “louches” by turning a milky white color.
Top Absinthe Posts:
Does Absinthe Make You Hallucinate?
Absinthe Cocktails Featuring Lucid
La Fée Absinthe Parisienne
In addition to American whiskey and bourbon (one of which we just reviewed here), Indiana’s Spirits of French Lick also focuses on brandy and botanical spirits, including Indiana’s first commercial absinthe and a unique Calvados-style ...
If you think of Absente as the entry-level product from France’s Distilleries et Domaines de Provence, you can consider Grande Absente its top-shelf offering. The primary difference? Grande Absente is bottled at a considerably higher ...
One of the most venerable absinthe brands on the market, the French-produced Absente dates back to 1999 — well before the 2007 re-legalization of genuine wormwood in the U.S. As such, Absente was originally made ...
Tenth Ward Distilling can be found in downtown Frederick, Maryland, where it produces a dazzling array of craft spirits, ranging from honeyjack (distilled mead) to Maryland’s only absinthe. Today we look at a pair of ...
National Absinthe Day is, whoa, today! March 5. While absinthe may not be the It Spirit it was a few years ago, it’s finding plenty of action as a cocktail ingredient. Here are a number ...
If I wanted to be perfect on style and grammar, I’d call this post “Spirits of Spirits of French Lick.” You see, the distillery is called Spirits of French Lick, not French Lick, which makes ...
So you’ve mastered mixing the manhattan, the old fashioned is old news, and you can recite the difference between a gin martini and a vodka martini in your sleep. And yet, that classic cocktail itch ...
It was hot in the Seventy7 Lounge in Culver City that day. Maybe it was the blazing sun outside or the close quarters inside, filled with contestents and onlookers. Maybe it was the absinthe. Maybe ...
This April, we landed in Austin, Texas to see what bartenders in the region could do with absinthe — you know, outside of pouring it into a glass with sugar and water. The results were ...
“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible ...
