Comments on: Absinthe - still criminal? http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/ Bars, bartenders and imbibing in Beantown. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:30:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Br. Cleve http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6667 Br. Cleve Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:44:09 +0000 http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6667 When I first started buying absinthe in Spain in the mid-80's, it was selling for the equivalent of $8 a liter, and was consumed, I was told, only by elderly, beret-wearing Catalan men. When absinthe began being produced in the UK in the mid-90's, it was priced at an astonishing equivalent of $60 or so a bottle. After that, I saw many new brands available in Barcelona, with prices creeping up to around $20 a liter --- although you could still get a glass at Bar Marsella for about $5! Cheap brands are still available in northeastern Spain, but so are bottles selling for $30, 40, 50. Is it all about the trendiness and making a buck off the suckers....er, I mean the curious? Yes. There is a certain amount of refinement in the higher priced brands -- sort of like between Pepe Lopez and Don Julio, but maybe not that extreme. Not $60-70 extreme, to be certain. Save your money and go to Barcelona. It's a beautiful city. When I first started buying absinthe in Spain in the mid-80’s, it was selling for the equivalent of $8 a liter, and was consumed, I was told, only by elderly, beret-wearing Catalan men. When absinthe began being produced in the UK in the mid-90’s, it was priced at an astonishing equivalent of $60 or so a bottle. After that, I saw many new brands available in Barcelona, with prices creeping up to around $20 a liter — although you could still get a glass at Bar Marsella for about $5! Cheap brands are still available in northeastern Spain, but so are bottles selling for $30, 40, 50. Is it all about the trendiness and making a buck off the suckers….er, I mean the curious? Yes. There is a certain amount of refinement in the higher priced brands — sort of like between Pepe Lopez and Don Julio, but maybe not that extreme. Not $60-70 extreme, to be certain. Save your money and go to Barcelona. It’s a beautiful city.

]]> By: Stephen http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6633 Stephen Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:37:36 +0000 http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6633 i use huge (probably illegal) quantities of worm wood in my sweet vermouths... it can become a great anchor flavor... it has never seemed to make me hallucinate and i've been known to drink the stuff on the rocks all day while i work... i've made pastis before and i feel that they can produce a different kind of drunk... so from my limited experience anise oils are the real problem... and people that drink them obsessively should't be trusted with children... i use huge (probably illegal) quantities of worm wood in my sweet vermouths… it can become a great anchor flavor… it has never seemed to make me hallucinate and i’ve been known to drink the stuff on the rocks all day while i work…

i’ve made pastis before and i feel that they can produce a different kind of drunk… so from my limited experience anise oils are the real problem… and people that drink them obsessively should’t be trusted with children…

]]> By: Frederic http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6624 Frederic Sat, 22 Dec 2007 02:55:40 +0000 http://drinkboston.com/2007/12/22/absinthe-still-criminal/#comment-6624 Many of the same people that are lining up to drink absinthe are the same ones that wouldn't ever think of ordering pastis which is pretty much the same alcohol (save for one herb in 40 and sometimes some extra sweetness) for half the price and a lot more variation. Many of the same people that are lining up to drink absinthe are the same ones that wouldn’t ever think of ordering pastis which is pretty much the same alcohol (save for one herb in 40 and sometimes some extra sweetness) for half the price and a lot more variation.

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