Discovering How To Drink Absinthe

If you wish to know how to drink Absinthe you first need to know what Absinthe is www.absinthekit.com. Absinthe is a mystical and mythical distilled liquor created from an alcohol base, for instance wine, and flavored with herbs such as common wormwood (artemisia absinthium), fennel and aniseed. It’s gotan anise flavor and is usually green in color, although La Bleue styles are crystal clear.

Absinthe is extremely strong, as much as 75% ABV and approximately twice as strong as spirits like vodka or whisky. It was famously banned in early 1900s due to its thujone content. Thujone, in wormwood, was thought to be like THC in cannabis, and to be psychoactive and cause psychedelic effects . Now it’s known that Absinthe only contains really small amounts of thujone and is perfectly safe to drink in moderation.

Absinthe enthusiasts consist of Van Gogh, Degas, Gauguin, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway who famously developed an Absinthe cocktail known as “Death in the Afternoon” – a variety of Absinthe and champagne. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, it’s claimed, drank a “Tremblement de Terre” (Earthquake) which was 1 part Absinthe blended with 1 part cognac!

How to Drink Absinthe at Home

In Absinthe bars your Absinthe will be prepared for you and your waiter could use an Absinthe fountain to prepare your drink, but you may wish to learn how to prepare your own Absinthe from home.

Firstly, you will need to purchase a quality Absinthe. Here are some tips plus some help for buying a decent Absinthe:-

– Search the web or in a liquor shop for Absinthes which contain real wormwood and have a thujone content. Wormwood gives Absinthe its attribute bitter taste. Absinthe just is not Absinthe without having wormwood, but there are many Absinthe substitutes or fake Absinthes that do not consist of wormwood or contain southernwood instead.

– If the Absinthe lists its herbal ingredients, look for the ingredients aniseed and fennel, along with the wormwood, and other herbs like lemon balm, star anise, angelica, hyssop and dittany.

– Consider the ABV (alcohol by volume). It must be between 45 and 75%.

– Create your personal real Absinthe from essences. These distilled herbal Absinthe essences can be obtained from AbsintheKit.com who offer essences to Absinthe distilleries. The essences contain wormwood and are convenient to use – simply mix with a neutral alcohol base such as Everclear or vodka. An extremely economical way 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 arrange your Absinthe you should have:-

– 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 over the top of the glass. Put a sugar cube on the spoon and either use an Absinthe fountain to drip the iced water over the sugar cube or work with a steady hand to slowly pour or drip the water over. As the sugar and water solution mixes in the Absinthe, the essential oils within the herbs will split, because they are not water soluble, and may make the drink to louche, or go cloudy. This louching is the desired effect and if your Absinthe does not louche then you have not got a top-quality Absinthe.

The proportion of water to Absinthe needs to be between 3:1 and 5:1 depending on your taste. Stir the drink when all of the water has been added and settle back and relish the experience.

These instructions on how to drink Absinthe will help you to make the perfect Absinthe every time.