Absinthe: The Guide to Getting, Preparing, and Drinking Absinthe
Not too long ago, I passed through U.S. Customs with a nice little bottle of magic from Israel. It was green, it was bitter, it was something that’s supposed to get you really messed up. But low and behold, after a night of merely 3 shots of alcohol, I wake up to see pictures of me without any pants for majority of the night.
While this can easily be described as “the night my girlfriend dumped me because of the amount of nudity on facebook,†it’s actually “the night that absinthe kicked my ass.†And absinthe baby, I got only one thing to say to you: welcome to the U.S. of A.
Absinthe is Legal
For those of you that don’t know already, absinthe has been legalized in this beautiful nation for the first time since 1912. No more do you have to empty shampoo bottles to import the highest concentrated alcoholic beverage into the States. No. If you want to grab a bottle, just find a store that carries it. Boing!
Yes, you’ve all probably heard from your friend that his cousin went to France and had absinthe and was so fucked up he started hallucinating. But most of the time your friend’s cousin is full of shit. But don’t worry weary public, I’m here to hold your hand and walk you through that mystical place that is le truth, de la absinthe.
But what is absinthe?
The first thing you need to pop into your head when you hear the word absinthe is alcohol by volume (ABV). To put this all into perspective for you, beer has an ABV of 12%, wine 15%, vodka, whiskey or rum 60%, and absinthe…89.5%. That’s 180 proof. Take that Bud Light!
Unless you break out a bathtub and have your g-ma dust off her old recipe for grain alcohol from 1930, this is the crème de le crème. You can’t get more alcohol than this without sipping rubbing alcohol. So if you’re looking to really party hardy hardy, you can’t go wrong with these numbers.
But wait, I’ve seen that absinthe poster with the sort of hot chick on it. Isn’t she adding all these crazy things to the absinthe and drinking it out of some strange glass? And for that I would give you a cookie because you just saved your ass.
I have tried absinthe straight up and it was a bad idea man. Don’t do it! Chugging an entire coke after a non-prepared shot doesn’t even cut it. Think of the bitterest thing imaginable, and that is the pure taste of absinthe.
Preparation
There are two ways to prepare absinthe to cut the edge: The Kosher Way and The Poor Man’s Way. The Kosher Way is a little more complicated. You pour your shot of absinthe into a glass and then hold a slotted spoon over it. You place a sugar cube on the spoon and then pour water over the sugar and into your glass. This will distill the harshness of the 90% alcohol you’re about to consume and also cut the bitter taste. Prepared this way is more like a cocktail you nurse.
If you’re looking to fully get a college experience of absinthe, you need to follow The Poor Man’s Way. You need a shot glass, a normal glass, sugar, a spoon, and a lighter. Poor out a shot’s worth of absinthe and pour it into your glass. Then take your spoon and dip it in a little bit of the absinthe. Poor sugar on the spoon, and then light the spoon on fire. You read that correctly, free-base your sugar (also known as caramelization). Once all the sugar is a golden brown (and you’ve blown out the flame), quickly dip the spoon in the cup of absinthe and stir quickly. The sugar will mix directly with the liquid, making your shot lose its bitter edge.
A disclaimer on the Poor Man’s Way: because you don’t distill the alcohol content, you will fully feel the power of 90% ABV. Chasers work just fine but be prepared to feel the burn.
Hallucinations
Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Can absinthe make you hallucinate? The answer is, sort of.
When shopping for absinthe you need to read the fine print. Absinthe is made from a mixture of flowers that when mixed around creates a different type of absinthe. The one you want to look for contains wormwood.
Say it with me, “wormwood.†Now that is what will make you “hallucinate.†Wormwood as a drug is used to help alleviate extreme pain. It’s most common use was for pregnant women in labor. So if you take back enough shots (usually 2-3, but hey, go crazy if you want) you will feel a sense of euphoria accompanied by your body getting drunker faster than ever before.
About this time is when you should hallucinate. But in all honesty, you won’t. The “hallucinations†you’ll experience are really things you might see if you were just really drunk. During my experience I saw a floating, fuzzy dot about 10 feet in front of me that I was chasing around. While that is out of the norm, it’s not like dropping acid or smoking salvia. Maybe you’ll see something when you’re out of your brain on absinthe, but most likely you’ll experience a very loose, high-type drunk that’s just plain fun.
Getting Your Own
A final piece of advice as you go off to the nearest liquor store carrying absinthe. Don’t rely on the bottle you’ll by there. While absinthe has become legalized, the U.S. is only producing and selling a few brands of absinthe. Most of these start at an ABV of 45% as opposed to the typical 90%. If you want the real good shit, you can personally import it from out of the States. As time goes on though, the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau will allow more types of absinthe be produced and sold through U.S. liquor stores.
And when you get a bottle of the good stuff, happy trails.
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Actually, there is a right way and a wrong way to drink absinthe. The fire method is inauthentic and dangerous, designed to cover up the foul taste of drinks which claim to be (but are not) absinthe.
That crazy buzz is a result of drinking hot, high concentration alcohol– it hits your bloodstream like a freight train! There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it’s not the wormwood– it’s just mild alcohol poisoning.
The absinthes currently available in the US are expensive and are meant to be savored for their complex flavors. The buzz you describe can be had for a lot less with good old Everclear or Bacardi 151 or other absinthe-wannabe products from Eastern Europe.
Rum, Whiskey and Vodka are not nearly 60% they are 40%… Amature move there slick
Also Everclear is something like 95% so absinth is not the strongest apart from rubbing alcohol
Hey,
boys leaving comments,
little tip:
calm the fuck down.
Seriously.
All together it was a well written article and much more articulate than half the shit that’s out there so how about you take your percentage-Nazi heads out of your asses and go take a nice, long, luxurious punch in the face.
The stuff you had in Israel had thujone in it and the stuff you can buy in a liquor store doesn’t…therefore no green fairy.
First of all, Beer is typically less than 5% ABV. Rum is typically 30-40%.
Second, the whole “light the sugar on fire” method is not historically accurate. At all. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthiana
Also, Absinthe has not been illegal to drink, just to make or sell in the US. the laws haven’t changed, either; there are simply more people producing near-absinthe that slide under the law.
Lastly, everclear is 190 proof, or 95% ABV.
And ipwnlife, articulate or not, this article is incredibly inaccurate. this writer needs some more experience drinking before he should think to ‘enlighten’ others on the subject.
Beer is rarely 12% abv. Bud light is under 5% abv. Most vodkas are 35-40% abv. Your article is under 5% meaningful.
Alright, overall, not a bad article, but your numbers are inflated a little bit. Beer usually ranges from 3-8%, wine goes from about 12-15%, vodka and other similar spirits are usually 40% and Everclear (grain alcohol) is 95%. Absinthe, however, is not the 90% that you boast, but anywhere from 40-70%, which isn’t even as much as Bicardi 151.
and
ipwnlife, stop hating, the numbers make a big difference
Wormwood has it right. Unless you REALLY like licorice, it is not worth it to buy the shit legal in America. Save up your money and buy the real stuff. You will get quite drunk from the legal stuff (Lucid and whatnot) but all you really get is a feeling like you ate a whole box of Good n’ Plenty’s.
Thojone Content is key to a good absinthe experience.
The buzz is a two-fold one, or at least it has been for me in the past:
The first part, you feel “drunk”, but w/out the negative sideaffects; ie: double vision, stumbling, etc. Then, as soon as you feel the aclcohol “start to wear off”, BOOM, you are suddenly very, very drunk.
NEVER drive on absinthe, no matter how capable you feel, because it can hit you quite suddenly.
Good sites that I’ve tried in the past, and had excellent results with:
http://www.lafeeabsinthe.com/ (La Fee, the penultimate absinthe)
http://www.originalabsinthe.com/absinthe-king-gold-p-56.html (kings gold. the ultimate. Hemingway and Van Gogh’s preferred brand.)
Hope this post has been helpful in some way!
Cheers.
….Of the various brands I’ve tried and have in my house alll are between 65-70% rather than 85-90%….I think thats a bit of an overstatement
we did a podcast all about Absinthe where we demonstrated all four ways of preparing and drinking the green fairy.
Wormwood on April 22nd, 2008 3:30 am The stuff you had in Israel had thujone in it and the stuff you can buy in a liquor store doesn’t…therefore no green fairy
This is very correct right now the amount of wormwood allowed to be in the U.S. product is under 10mg per liter. But again there is no thujone in the absinthe available in the states. Ive seen the Lucid brand at the store here in town, and tried some of my friends after he bought it. And to be honest, it was crap. He paid 60 bucks and it was horrible. If you want real absinthe do as us drinkers have been doing. Find a good company online and pay the courier fees. you can get a bottle from LaFee for roughly 100 bucks, I get mine within 5 days.
There are various ways to drink it. It all depends on the type of absinthe and what you prefer. French absinthe is usually done with sugar, spoon, and water. Czech is done alot of time with fire. you must be careful while doing this. You take a special spoon and load it with loose sugar. Then you drip a few drops of absinthe on the sugar, letting it soak into the sugar. The sugar is lit and held steady until the flame burns out. The carmelized sugar is then mixed into the absinthe.
The buzz that I have personally experienced is almost like a low grade shroom buzz. It is definately a body buzz, but I have never seen anything such as spots or fuzzies.
Lastly I would just like to say, please respect your absinthe. Dont drink it in shots. If you want to slam back black licorice, hit up the jager.
It’s pretty pathetic that, when posting an article about alcohol, you don’t know what the fuck distillation is. Hint hint: it’s the opposite of watering something down. Check your facts before writing anything else again. This article is absolutely abysmal.
want to get really messed up, this guy is absolutely mental (fifth of vodka then three big shots of absinthe):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Csw1ctUsU
sorry just 2 shots, still nasty but!
Why are a bunch of inexperienced high school kids posting to a site called “college drinker”? If you think “real absinthe” has very high thujone levels, please explain why the bottles of absinthe left over from the original distilleries averages under 10mg/L . Please explain why neurochemists told the FDA that thujone is not a measureably psychoactive substance in concentrations that aren’t also potentially lethal.
Please, oh “experienced drinkers”. Please tell us. As soon as you’re finished running around fighting crime in your Batman underoos, of course.
I make my own beer and if you use White Labs Zurich Lager yeast you can easily make beer that is 12% ABV.
Beer is rarely 12%, 5% is more common. Standard proof for alcohol (vodka, rum, tequila, bourbon/whiskey, brandy, scotch, etc) is 40% / 80 proof. Most absinthe is on par with “cask strength” whiskeys and brandies — roughly in the 50% - high 60% range, or 100-140 proof.
For those that think this article is well written, I feel for sorry for you.
Thanks a lot Cicada. great websites. also, to the author, poorly written, inaccurate article.
[...] Absinthe: The Guide to Getting, Preparing, and Drinking Absinthe : College Drinker [...]
It’s not the amount of wormwood which is critical, it is the distillation method. In the past the distillation was pretty shoddy, so too much thujone got in and people went mad. These days, no matter the amount of wormwood, there is probably no thujone in your absinthe, due to controlled and inspected distillation processes.
And, it’s ‘lo and behold’.
Tip: when buying cheap substandard Absinthe from your local offlicence drop buy the farmers market and pick up some wormwood. Then stuff it into the bottle and leave it to soak for a week or two. Hey presto: cheap wormwood augmented Absinthe.
Wormwood or not this stuff is the only thing I have seen people reduced to crawling around on all fours barking like a dog..
The Absinthe craze took of in the UK about 8 years ago when someone spotted the gap in the market. people were spending silly money on it. In Czech its what you drink if you can’t afford beer..
I bought my Green Fairy in Munich.
After half a whiskey glass of the stuff I was really fucked, but in a weird way. Even though my lips and body did not belong, my mind was completely lucid.
Oh and did I mention the runaway heartbeat, shivers and hearing the ocean? Weird that; since the nearest ocean is 200kms from me.
Man, that salvia is some hardcore shit. We used to use it to initiate people into our crazy outdoors club. Go whitewater kayaking for a day, then get seriously fucked up around a fire that night. Heeeeeeesh.
LOUD NOISES!
I have “hallucinated” on Absinthe. It involved drinking enough absinthe to probably kill most people (I’m a fat man). But be warned, it wasn’t “Hallucinations” like any other drugs you’ve tried. It was halllucinations like what I can only imagine was probably mild alcohol poisoning. That night I actually blacked out. I really really REALLY wouldn’t recommend it. Otherwise, a few properly made louches (don’t fuck around with lighters - all you’ll end up with is third degree burns) is enough for a very very good night.
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Dude - rubbing alcohol is generally only 70%
isnt rubbing alcohol isopropyl? not ethyl? really, look at the bottle next time you’re sippping, “serious gastric disturbances…etc
St. George Spirits, who make Hanger 1 vodka, make a really good ‘real’ absinthe. If I’m not mistaken, they’re the only company in the US that’s currently producing ‘real’ absinthe. There’s also a brand called Lucid that sells it, but that is produced outside the country.
The preparation method above is not the correct way, echoing some of the other comments here. The hallucinations associated with absinthe are mostly folk-loric, and have more to do with impurities in the cheap absinthe of the early 20th century, than they do with the wormwood.
A good quality absinthe, like a good quality spirit of any variety, requires no sugar or pyrotechnics. Pour the shot, add some water or ice, and drink. I’ve even had it straight up, and it’s just as easy to sip as scotch or cognac- I’m sure shooting it would probably burn on the way down though.
It is not a good plan to drink more than three glasses of absinthe. If you have real absinthe with the wormwood extract, (not really sold in the U.S.) you don’t want the alcohol to get in the way of the ‘hallucinogin’. This can happen with more than three in a sitting. Also, as other people have already stated, the abv’s given were incorrect, and the law has not changed in America allowing true Absinthe to be made here. They just aren’t really policing the import of a bottle here and there. I hear the Swiss absinthe is the best, but I can’t say.
As pointed out the alcohol concentrations are terribly inaccurate. To put this into rea perspective: beer has an ABV of 4-11% (most commercial beers ~4-5% some of the stouts and boks etc will hit the 8-11% barrier but most people dont drink those), wine 11-14%, vodka, whiskey or rum 35-45% (except the specialty proofs like bacardi 151 which is 75.5%) etc etc, and everclear rocks a 190 proof ~95% or the 151 proof which is also 75.5%. The basic rule is half the proof is % of alcohol. 200 proof is pure ethanol alcohol in the US (.5 * 200 = 100% alcohol, .5*151 = 75.5% alcohol, .5*80 proof = 40% alcohol). So don’t be so short to shoot good old US/caribbean alcohol down, it can pack just as much of a punch depending on the distillation process.
As many others have said, there are many, MANY alcoholic beverages in the 180 proof (or higher) category. Pisco Sour being one of my favorites (South American).
And a goodly portion of them taste a whole lot better than Absinthe. So, if you are only looking for the buzz (as this poster apparently was), find something that tastes better. Absinthe is NASTY!
Dudeman, thujone don’t make you hallucinate. All absinthe does is make you really drunk.
THE PERCENTAGES ARE WRONG THEREFORE THIS ARTICLE ABOUT HOW TO DRINK AND WHERE TO GET ABSINTHE FROM IS USELESS!!!
Wow get a grip and reread the title:
Absinthe: The Guide to Getting, Preparing, and Drinking Absinthe
Thanks for the good read James.
This is a poorly written article indeed.
1.) The alcohol contents of just about every type of liquor mentioned are inflated, some as much as twice the actual value. The real numbers have been cited in the article multiple times, so I’ll forgoe reiterating them here. However, I will state that one of my favorite beers is a French ale called La Fin du Monde, and it is a hefty 9% ABV.
2.) It doesn’t mention louching at all, which is a characteristic of any proper absinthe and is what held much of the drink’s appeal for many of it’s more prominent drinkers. To louche means to turn opaque with the addition of water or ice. That was real the point of the water dripping through the slotted spoon. As the water slowly drips into the glass the liquor turns from it’s bright, clear green to a cloudier hue. When done right it can be pretty interesting.
3.) The fire is totally inaccurate. It’s not an appropriate way to prepare the drink at all. The reason fire found it’s way into the equation is because of absinthe’s spotty history. For a while, absinthe was illegal in many places. It was also very hard to distill properly. As a result, cheap bootlegged versions of it popped up all over Europe. Due to shoddy methods of production these imposter “absinthes” did not louche, thus killing much of the appeal. To make up for this bartenders started the burning sugar show, among other presentations. The fire seemed to catch on the best and propogated. When you burn sugar in a proper absinthe it ruins it.
One thing I’ve seen a couple times in these comments bears repeating. Thujone, which is a neurotoxin, which comes from wormwood, DOES NOT MAKE YOU HALLUCINATE. Just as weed doesn’t make Mexicans rape white women and go on murderous rampages and isn’t a “gateway drug” that will inevitably lead to dangerous cocaine and heroin addictions, absinthe does not make you hallucinate. This myth came about because of the prohibition in the United States and many European countries and was adopted into popular culture by ignorant fucks, many of whom post on this site it would seem. THE GREEN FAIRY IS A MYTH - COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT.
[...] Want to cut your ear off like Vincent Van Gogh , then learn the right way to drink Absinthe [...]
It’s fun to see your percentage wars and websites, quite entertaining. If you really want to learn about and taste the green fairy, take a trip to Switzerland. The two most known Absinthes come from there. The Green Fairy (Fée Verts) come from the Val-de-Travers in Canton Neuchatel, and the lesser know Blue (La Bleue) Comes from Ajoie in Canton Jura.
In The Val-de-Travers there is an absinthe festival every year, with local producers, tastings etc..(in French) http://www.absinthe.ch/
Have a look at the Artemisia distillery website, they have some very good info: http://www.absinthe-suisse.com/
This guide is all false.
Absinthe has about 63 % alcohol on average
It will not destroy you after 3 shots…
It is legal in the states but its fake…
(AMERICAN ABSINTHE DOES NOT CONTAIN WORMWOOD)
And it does not cause “Hallucinations” unless you drink it on a daily bases and build up a big enough concentration of wormwood in your blood steam that will most likely cause “hallucinations” at a later time than while drinking…
For all you percent nazis, the author was most likely quoting the maxes of all the beverages out there, not the commons. And beer around 12% isn’t all THAT uncommon outside of the US. Expand your world view.
What the heck I always drank it wrong when i was in Europe I thought I was supposed to just take it like a shot
The green stuff is fake, without wormwood, the active hallucinogen that Van Gogh, etc, swore by…
There are only a few countries in the world that sell the real stuff…
Sure, it’s 70% alcohol, but so are a lot of over-proof rums, etc…
I’ve drank lucid, its gag nasty, if you hate black jelly beans, than avoid it. It is a very different feeling, best bet is to order a bottle online and get it shipped in to the usa , the real stuff, although i can’t say what the taste is like
[...] you need to know about that mysterious green drinkread more | digg story « List: 10 Unmanliest Drinks In The [...]
So lemme tell you how I like to drink Absinth. By it, open it, and chug it. Thats it. Then when I get drunk I like to watch comedies…yeah thats right comedies. My favorite has gotta be this show called DFT News man its to funny.
http://www.digitalfuntown.com/homepage.php
Excellent info. Well written, concise and to the point.
Thanks!
Best,
Absinthe On The Net
I’m not sure if anyone else went through this but the first 45 minutes of my 62% absinthe consisted of the weirdest buzz ever. It was the closest I have ever come to being drunk and sober at the same time. Wikipedia describes it as a kind of “lucid drunkenness” which is exactly what it was. But at one point, I became so incoherent, I was basically like a feral child, stumbling and searching for my cellphone even though it was in my pocket etc. You should really drink this carefully, hallucinations or not. Oh yeah, and eat something midway through the night….the flavors of whatever you’re eating will be magnified tenfold.
First, read the labels. It is illegal to claim the an ingredient is or is nor in the bottle. Here in Michigan both Lucid and Vinet Ege (to name only two) claim to have wormwood. Both taste like Jager basically. Maybe throw in some Chartreuse. Anyway it is not the alcohol content that makes me want to explore the green fairy. It is that “other buzz” and both brands deliver. I know the taste of pure wormwood extract — it has always been legal to buy at herbal stores.
I certainly tasted wormwood in Lucid. I drank the Vinet Ege straight and had a great buzz w/o all the ritual of slowly dripping ice water? For Lucid I just pour a shot over a cube. When the cube is gone it is cloudy. And it definitely affects my libido like alcohol alone hasn’t in 40 some years (I’m almost 60).
The Absinthe sold in the U.S. has been deprived of “thujin”, the chemical compound responsible for “the green fairy” and the hallucinating effects.
There appears to be 3 areas in need of lucidity (if you recommend a brand):
What’s its name.
Where did you buy it.
How do you know it’s wormwood content% ?
I have looked into cicada’s leads and they seem most credible but I’m not convinced I must spend that much and hassle with overseas.