Responsible drinking corner

This just in....

"Scottish Courage, Britain's biggest brewing group, has given a Gallic twist to the old Scots standby, the "whisky chaser", with Deco.

Deco is presented as a 275cl bottle of Kronenbourg 1664, topped by a plastic bottle containing a 25ml shot of absinthe. The package, which will cost between £4.50 and £5, is available in bars and nightclubs in London and Brighton, but will be rolled out nationally in the autumn. The lager is 5% alcohol while the absinthe weighs in at 45%, considerably weaker, ScotCo says, than most French versions."

Trader Woody

holy s-balls. so when they say absinthe, are they talking REAL absinthe, oil of wormwood and all? i'd be less concerned about the alcohol content than that.
and if so, will woody be shipping to US addresses? :wink:

La Fee Verte

All you could ever want to know about Absinthe. I think somewhere in there is the claim that the "effects" were not so much the wormwood, but the lack of sterility, other herbs mixing, strong drink, blah blah blah.

Eat a monkey.

There was an article in Modern Drunkard Magazine at http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com about absinthe that caught my attention. It played up the hallucinogenic aspect supported by famous imbibers like Wilde, Crowley & Hemingway. I don't know where facts end and bullshit begins however. I get a laugh out of their outrageous approach , but I take it with a grain of salt (like my tequila). Called my local liquor supermarket here in San Diego and they say it's sold there in the liqueur section...hmmm. I'll have to drop in and check it out.

[ Edited by: Shipwreckjoey on 2003-05-30 19:35 ]

I have had a number of different absinthes from Europe-Most taste exceptionally bad and none made me see "La Fee Verte". Many years ago I was lucky to have 2 shots of some high quality home-brew made here in the Good Ol' USA and brother-it made me see GOD!

Talk to me in person, the written word cannot convey the ecstasy of the moment. Oh yeah, the next day, the WORST hangover ever (and I've had some doozies!)

There are indeed a vast number of Absinthes available now on the European market. A few years ago I looked for it in Amsterdam as it wasn't available in the UK - "No, I'm afraid we are not allowed to sell it here". To which my reply was, "But, but...this is Amsterdam. Surely EVERYTHING is available here!"

A few years down the line and we can pick it up at the supermarket. Little old pubs where old men drink even stock it. So Rain, let me know if you want a bottle shipped. Obviously you'll have to take your chances with customs!

The feeling you get from absinthe contrasts strongly with other 'high octane' boozes. (STROH springs to mind at 70%). I have strong memories of downing a couple of shots of Absinthe, strolling into my local pub, and having no concept of volume (noise-wise). I couldn't tell if I was shouting or whispering, and was very concerned that I might be exhibiting symptoms of Tourettes. Significantly, I also felt like I was floating slightly. Not a feeling I get after 8 pints of Stella Artois.

Trader Woody

You can get in in Canada - inf act, I worked on some ads for it. However, it's not quite as lethal as the original european version. Probably some health regulation put a stop to that. Can't have our free healthcare system clogged with people gone off the deep end on absinthe!

yeah, customs... hm. i'll have to think about that.

i dig stella artois - they serve that at the one arthouse theater here in orlando. of course, it's way overpriced, but you can get it at other places around as well. i found one place that serves corsendonk brown at a WAY cheap price - they probably have a good deal on stella, too.

at ABC liquor they have "Absente" (no 'h'), and the label looks very french art-nouveaux, but you can bet it's just some nasty tasting liqueur. i'll have to check out that link that was posted above.

Rain,
Ditto at my liquor store as well. Absente sounds like a new Cadillac model. As long as there is a governmental agency that seeks to defeat American's freedom of choice to control the substances that we can put in our bodies there will always be an underground / sub-culture or grass roots movement that will be working overtime to circumvent and overcome their efforts. That's why prohibition failed & the U.S. gov't / DEA is losing the so called "war on drugs". But if you want to shoot up a hastily tested anthrax vaccine...hey be our guests.

the first time i drank absinthe was in praugue back in 96', we had been drinking straprahmen lager and had reached the gallon of beer stage and descided that more beer would cause us to bust so we risked absinthe.
before i drank the absinthe i was really drunk, slumping of the bar stool drunk, downed the absinthe straight and once i finished spluttering and gasping for breath, found myself totally straight not drunk at all.
BUT when i went to the bar toilet I discovered that i may have been clear headed but i was still drunk from the neck down.

Here's a recipe for bathtub absinthe, from a recent issue of Bust. The fine print (included below) says "Don't try this at home!"

1 liter high proof vodka
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup dried wormwood (do not use wormwood oil)
6 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp chopped angelica root
4 tbsp star anise
1 tbsp each: fennel seeds, coriander seeds, hyssop, orange flower water
1/2 tbsp each: cardamom seeds, tarragon, marjarom, melissa (lemon balm), cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 whole nutmeg clove

Combine vodka, wormwood, and sugar in a glass jar. Let soak for 48 hours. Strain, squeezing alll the liquid out of the wormwood. Add the remaining ingredients. Let the mixture soak for a week. Strain.

To serve:
Pour absinthe into a glass. Place a sugar cube atop a flat, perforated spoon. Drip water slowly over the sugar cube, then light on fire and dump into the glass. Blow out the flames. Stir rapidly. Indulge.

Disclaimer:
This recipe is presented for educational purposes only. No warning, express or implied, is given that this recipe is legal, healthy, or even tastes good. BUST Inc is not liable for how this information is used. Use of any information is at your own risk. Reported side effects of thujone [the chemical in wormwood that gives absinthe its kick] and wormwood are nausea, vomiting, insomnia, restlessness, vertigo, tremors and seizures. Large doses of thujone have been found to cause delirium, convulsions, seizures, paralysis, brain damage, renal failure and death. Do not take if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. As with any alcoholic beverage, please drink responsibly.

*Here's a recipe for bathtub absinthe *

I gave up bathtub absinthe a few years after I got back from 'Nam.

• Reported side effects of thujone and wormwood are nausea, vomiting, insomnia, restlessness, vertigo, tremors and seizures.

Those are side effects? That's a pretty good day for me lately. Ya know, I've started working out, watching what I eat...been doing a lot better.

*As with any alcoholic beverage, please drink responsibly. *

One hand on the wheel at all times, yep!, unless I got an important call.

midnite

This is the Absynth y'all ought to try: http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?absynth_us

:), emspace.

While alcohol use is accepted in our society, it is critical for each of us to achieve a responsible approach to social drinking. This approach can best be achieved through several methods. These include:

Thinking about our drinking behavior;
Increasing our self-control; and
Becoming aware of things that occur before we choose to drink.

RSA Course Online

Pooh Piglet

[ Edited by: poohpiglet 2011-06-09 00:31 ]

On 2011-06-09 08:53, Unga Bunga wrote:

HA!!!

[ Edited by: bigtikidude 2011-06-10 09:46 ]