Post #343576 by Carmine Verandah on Mon, Nov 12, 2007 8:41 PM

I've been enjoying the discussion here about one of my favorite alky bevs and looking forward to trying some of the recipes. I've had a number of different kind of pastis - IMHO, Herbsaint is quite the best of that genre. The herb in some of these is a cousin of wormword called southernwood. No thujone. There is an Indian restaurant in my town advertising itself as an "absinthe lounge." Like da kids say, "As if."

Haven't gotten around to hittin' the rounds of absinthe brands, but so far find La Fee to be quite satisfactory. Cheaper when the U.S. dollar isn't so strong, but as I drink it in the traditional fashion (a small portion with a larger one of ice cold water and a sugar cube), I find that a bottle goes a long way. Not usually fond of the licorice flavor, but it makes a lovely drink for a warm summer night...

The scandalous hallucinatory effects reported in the 19th century, I suspect, are simply the result of good ol' fashioned alcoholism or the effects of horrible things put in by underground distillers -- mercury and other toxic goodies.

The essential oil in wormwood can be deadly however. There is a cautionary tale to be found at the Gumbo Pages (a celebration of all things N'Awlins): http://www.gumbopages.com/nejm.html

I have been thinking of making a simple syrup out of absinthe and trying it out over green tea ice cream, or perhaps ice cream made with coconut milk. Shall report on it anon...

There's a swell web site called La Fee Verte that gives a lot of attention to absinthe with good advice: http://www.feeverte.net/retrospective/index-1998.html

[ Edited by: Carmine Verandah 2007-11-12 20:43 ]