March 27th, 2007
Absinthe is the new green
If you’re curious about absinthe, aka the “green fairy,” check out the Virtual Absinthe Museum. You could lose an afternoon there as easily as if you were actually drinking the stuff.
“It’s the fruit of many years’ research and is the largest and most authoritative site on the internet devoted to the history and lore of absinthe,” says David Nathan-Maister, who publishes the site and runs Oxygénée Ltd., a U.K.-based business devoted to all things absinthe, including both new and vintage bottles of the storied herbal spirit. The company takes its name from a poster advertising Cusenier’s Absinthe Oxygénée, “one of the greatest brands of the era” — the “era” being the time before absinthe was banned in 1915. The ban (which has been lifted in Europe but not the U.S.) and lots of other fun facts are covered in the site’s Absinthe FAQ. And you can buy nice, Art Nouveau posters there, too.
Permalink | Filed under Absinthe, Books & resources, Liqueur |
March 27th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Readers may also be interested in the Savoy Cocktail Book, mentioned in the March 23rd post: this has more than 40 cocktail recipes from 1930 featuring absinthe.
If any readers want to try absinthe, make sure you get REAL absinthe. There are a few more details on my blog.
March 28th, 2007 at 4:55 am
i just made the dopest pastis with dried strawberries to add fruit…four anises….and saffron to finish…. i’m gonna finish it with some worm wood and hopefully will end up with some dope absinthe….
i capped the proof at 80 but at the moment the flavor harmony makes up for it….hopefully i can get the wormwood effect without a massive amount of bitter….
absinthe is mainly significant today because it used to be trendy….. if you really want to get messed up drink an infusion of Yohimbe bark….. a great african aphrodisiac…. i just got some but haven’t done anything with it…. and i’m told its like viagra and ecstasey at the same time….. but supposedly also easy to overdose on… = (
January 14th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I have enjoyed reading all that has been said here about Absinthe, but I find that one fact is lacking.
No one has mentioned the fact that Absinthe is still illegal here in the United States.
Lucid is known not to be original enough to pass for an Absinthe since it is made with more synthetic ingredients than natural herbs, which is why the law allows it here at all.
However, people like Van, Oscar and the rest who indulged themselves to the point of misbehaving have it in their character to behave as they did; so if they did drink some other liquor and not absinthe, it would have made no difference in their lives.
A well distilled Absinthe makes one merry with special effects superior to intoxication, and these effects come from the combination of more than eight natural herbs of which wormwood and thujon are of insignificant levels.
I am not subscribing to the opinion that Absinthe makes people mad; what I have read is that due to the popularity of the special liquor, bootleggers and began producing bad Absinthe to the detriment of both drinkers and Absinthe itself.
I can tell you authoritatively that the real stuff is still being consumed here by those who know how to get it, and there is no case of any one of them lopping of his or her ear.