The standard
technique of serving Absinthe is by using a method called The Ritual and to dilute it with water. Some people are bored of drinking Absinthe this way and want to realize what to mix Absinthe with. Hopefully this information will enable you to enjoy Absinthe even more.
Absinthe is actually a strong liquor which happens to be flavored with herbal plants including grande wormwood (artemisia absinthium), aniseed and fennel. It also sometimes features petite wormwood (artemisia pontica). The aniseed gives the drink its wonderful anise taste and the wormwood gives the Absinthe its typical bitter or slightly sour taste.
Grande wormwood consists of thujone, named 3 thujamone or 3 sabinone by the book The IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry. Thujone is a ketone as well as a monoterpene much like the other terpenes, menthol and camphor. Some other names that thujone obtained from wormwood has been termed as are Absinthol, salvinol and tanacetone.
Thujone is the reason that Absinthe was banned in many countries in early 1900s. It was the thujone that was held responsible for the madness and suicide of Van Gogh and many artists and writers claimed that drinking Absinthe gave them their genius and creativity by means of dreams and hallucinations. The famous Absinthe drinker Oscar Wilde claimed of Absinthe:
“After the first glass of Absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.” You never know what would happen after a whole bottle?!
We now know that Absinthe is not any more hazardous than some other strong spirit just like vodka and whisky, although it is twice the strength. Research shows that Absinthe only includes traces of thujone and that it isn’t probable to take in enough Absinthe for thujone to obtain any negative or side effects. It won’t make you hallucinate or go insane and is now legal in most countries. It is still illegal in Ireland but the Irish can order it from offshore and have it shipped for personal consumption.
You can make your personal bottled Absinthe by making use of Absinthe essences from AbsintheKit.com. These essences are created by distilling standard Absinthe herbs and all you should do would be to mix them with vodka or Everclear – an easy and economical approach to make Absinthe.
What to Mix Absinthe With
Now that Absinthe is legal in most countries, we can easily try out using it in cocktails or make classic Absinthe cocktails such as the New Orleans Sazerac or Death in the Afternoon.
Sazerac Recipe
1 teaspoon of a top quality Absinthe
Ice cubes
A sugar cube or perhaps 1 teaspoon of sugar.
1 ½ ounces of Rye whisky (not bourbon)
3 dashes of angostura bitters
1 Lemon peel twist
Freeze a glass in your freezer.
Swirl the Absinthe surrounding the glass to coat the sides as well as bottom level of the glass. Dispose of (or drink!) the extra.
Position the many other ingredients within a cocktail shaker or mixer and shake for about ½ a minute.
Pour in the glass, including the lemon peel.
Death in the Afternoon
5 ounces of chilled champagne combined with 1 ounce of Absinthe – delicious!
Some individuals like to use mixers like lemonade, 7UP and cherryade with their Absinthe and I have even been aware of Red Bull being mixed with Absinthe! Be inventive when deciding what things to mix Absinthe with, use recipes off of the Internet but give them your own personal twist or make up your own. Have a great time.