Post #524323 by congawa on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 9:32 AM

My only experience has been with Herbsaint (since it's $6 cheaper than Pernod at Bevmo, and the Bum seemd to favor it over Pernod), and because of its needing to be used sparingly I still have most of the bottle I bought well over a year ago (the suggestion of 50ML bottles is a good one, if you can find them). I'm not really big on licorice/anise flavor in general, and wasn't particularly enamored with in in exotic cocktails.

However, since I started using it to make Sazeracs I've really begun to appreciate it. I got some Sazerac Rye Whiskey and it is an amazing when combined with a tiny bit of Herbsaint "rinsing" the glass--it really makes the rye components come out. It also works well with Irish Whiskey, and in an Irish Blackhorne (essentially a Manhattan with Irish whiskey, and a few drops to 1/2 a teaspoon of Herbsaint, or Pernod or absinthe). I realize I am talking extremely non-exotic cocktails here, but once I started using Herbsaint with whiskey I appreciated it more than I had in conjunction with rum.

And one thing to add to the older part of the thread--Gantt/Beach was from Louisiana, and still had an affinity/pipeline to his home region (as indicated in his call for Louisiana rum in several drinks), so I wouldn't be surprised if a) he spent many a formative night at the Old Absinthe House, and b) he was already acquainted with the folks at Legendre and their product developments even before they were on the market (and since poster "Herbsaint," in his excellent and informative details, mentioned that LA & SF were the biggest early market of Herbsaint outside of Louisiana, Beach may have even helped word of mouth in that regard).

Brent