If you would like to understand how to drink Absinthe you first need to understand what Absinthe is absinthekit. Absinthe is actually a mysterious and mythical distilled liquor produced from an alcohol base, such as wine, and flavored with herbs which includes common wormwood (artemisia absinthium), fennel and aniseed. It has an anise flavor and it is usually green in color, although La Bleue styles are clear.
Absinthe is extremely strong, as much as 75% ABV and approximately twice as strong as spirits like vodka or whisky. It was famously suspended in the early 1900s because of its thujone content. Thujone, in wormwood, was believed to be like THC in cannabis, also to be psychoactive and cause psychedelic effects
. Now it’s known that Absinthe only contains very tiny levels of thujone and it is perfectly safe to drink sparingly.
Absinthe devotees involve Van Gogh, Degas, Gauguin, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway who famously developed an Absinthe cocktail called “Death in the Afternoon” – a mix of Absinthe and champagne. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, it’s claimed, drank a “Tremblement de Terre” (Earthquake) which was 1 part Absinthe combined with 1 part cognac!
How to Drink Absinthe in your own home
In Absinthe bars your Absinthe are going to be prepared for you and your waiter could use an Absinthe fountain to arrange your drink, but you will want to know how to prepare your own Absinthe at home.
Firstly, you will need to obtain a quality Absinthe. Here are some ideas and a few help for getting a significant Absinthe:-
– Search the web or in a liquor shop for Absinthes that may contain real wormwood and have a thujone content. Wormwood gives Absinthe its feature bitter taste. Absinthe just is not Absinthe without having wormwood, but there are many Absinthe substitutes or fake Absinthes which don’t contain wormwood or contain southernwood as an alternative.
– If the Absinthe lists its organic ingredients, try to find the ingredients aniseed and fennel, in addition to the wormwood, and other herbs just like lemon balm, star anise, angelica, hyssop and dittany.
– Check out the ABV (alcohol by volume). It has to be between 45 and 75%.
– Make your personal real Absinthe from essences. These distilled herbal Absinthe essences can be found from AbsintheKit.com who offer essences to Absinthe distilleries. The essences consist of wormwood and are user friendly – simply mix with a neutral alcohol base just like Everclear or vodka. An incredibly economical method to make real Absinthe.
Once you have your Absinthe you will have to use “The Ritual” (the term for the art of making a good Absinthe) to make your Absinthe for drinking. To make your Absinthe you’ll need:-
– Absinthe
– An Absinthe glass
– A slotted Absinthe spoon
– A sugar cube
– Ice cold water
Pour 25-50ml of Absinthe to the glass and rest the Absinthe spoon above the top of the glass. Position a sugar cube on the spoon and either make use of an Absinthe fountain to drip the iced water on the sugar cube or work with a steady hand to gradually pour or drip the water over. As the sugar and water solution blends inside the Absinthe, the essential oils inside the herbs will split, because they’re not water soluble, and may cause the drink to louche, or go cloudy. This louching is the desired effect and if your Absinthe doesn’t louche then you have not got a top-quality Absinthe.
The ratio of water to Absinthe should be between 3:1 and 5:1 depending on your taste. Stir the drink when all the water has been added and settle back and enjoy the experience.
These instructions on how to drink Absinthe will help you to make the perfect Absinthe every time.