l'heure verte: Absinthe of the day!

We all know of the hyped claims of hallucinogenic effects and manufactured propaganda of deleterious effects of the green muse, and frankly we don't give a damn. We care only of what 4 out of 5 doctors have told us for years:

Absinthe Makes the heart grow fonder.

It is in spirit of this medical wisdom that (I hope) we post pictures of our Absinthe of the Day here. Please help me to preserve the already inherent beauty of this thread and fight disinformation by posting experiences and questions and photos relating to real absinthe:

Flavored with the holy trinity: Artemesia Absinthium (Grand Wormwood), Anise and Fennel then distilled. and if colored, done naturally with herbs [Artemesia Pontica (Roman Wormwood)]

*Green dyes and and fire are not the purpose of this thread, rather to spread the informed appreciation of true Absinthes.


I'll go first, and with a Blanche to break with conformity to the cliches.

From Pernot Distillery: Absinthe Pontarlier Cousin Jeune

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My favorite commercially distilled blanche, Very fragrant peppery wormwood upfront with rich but subdues anise. Pairs well with Tamahagane :D



Cheers!

Thanks for the thread Jnats

Canada needs to get a grip and start importing quality Absinthe brands.

Interesting apparatus for chilling!

OK, I never tried it but have been mildly curious. I would appreciate a few suggestions of brands for a "beginner" to try.

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Originally Posted by 4freek

Thanks for the thread Jnats

Canada needs to get a grip and start importing quality Absinthe brands.

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Ah, you may need to be the one to take the reigns on that one. you're Canadian/ in Canada...and real change has to come from within so: start importing it!

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Interesting apparatus for chilling!

OK, I never tried it but have been mildly curious. I would appreciate a few suggestions of brands for a "beginner" to try.

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Thank you. It is one of my Chemglass Soxhlet Extractors and a custom 6 port gas cycle manifold. Why waste good tennen toishi, tool, razor, and absinthe money on a fountain when you have your best glassware available?


I'd love to!

Well, the great thing about Absinthe is that unlike other spirits, the best stuff (aside from pre ban) cost about as much as the worst. $100 is plenty to buy the best, and for 30ml "dose" of ~168 proof Absinthe at 1:4 to water in glass... 100/700 *30 = $4.28 a glass. I don't know about around you, but going out by me it's hard to spend less than $5 on a pint. So with economy of solitary drinking dialed in: Let's go for the best.

Jade Liqueurs- By a biological Scientist by day, and absinthe distiller by night: Ted Breaux. Tackled the problem in a way I couldn't resonate with more: how to make a drink that hasn't been legally made for nearly a century? To recreate Pernod Fils and Pernot and other great pre ban absinthes: Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy of pre ban absinthe to reveal their chemical makeup and reverse engineer to tweak old recipes and methods. Adjust to taste.

I've had pre ban and I can say that Ted has come with the closest way to get commercially distilled absinthe that tastes like Pre- Ban (and with the same compounds and concentrations)
Of his:

Jade PF 1901- is very much like the most infamous and most popular Pernod Fils Absinthe of the Belle Epoque. Very Anise heavy profile. Well liked, but not my favorite.

Jade Esprit Edouard- My favorite. More like Emile Pernot's pre ban turn of the 20th century absinthe. More fennel and wormwood forward. A stronger profile and more masculine Absinthe.

Jade CF Berger (renamed from 1812)- An even stronger flavor profile of Wormwood and Anise and coriander. Another favorite.

Jade Nouvelle-Orléans- An absinthe Aliester crowley would have enjoyed. Formulated off of old New Orleans recipes that were distilled and served at absinthe houses in the french quarter before prohibition.

Very floral and fresh green, minty, anise absinthe taste. Very refreshing. My wife's favorite and one of mine as well

There's another, final installment from Ted, but I haven't had enough bottles yet to decide how to rank it.


Cheryl Lynn of Delaware Phoenix Distillery in Walton New York: Meadow of Love

An outstanding wormwood profile with a skillful floral background and balance of traditional anise and fennel with violet flowers


All of these are world class Absinthes and the experience you would expect before the 1912 french ban.

Nice,,, Good to see another fan of the Green Fairy :)

here is another old thread on it

http://straightrazorpalace.com/finer...zor-users.html

The wife and I have been enjoying this mostly as a summer drink but we both love it :p

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Nice,,, Good to see another fan of the Green Fairy :)

here is another old thread on it

http://straightrazorpalace.com/finer...zor-users.html

The wife and I have been enjoying this mostly as a summer drink but we both love it :p

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HAHA! YES! Our numbers grow! Thank you for sharing your earlier thread, I had not seen that one. Now I have twice as much absinthe to talk about. ...wish it worked as multiplier to the quantity I had to drink as well.

I agree with you and your wife it IS the perfect summer drink. ...It is also the perfect Fall, Winter, and Spring drink. :Placeholder for needed absinthe smiley:

I love the ritual of the perfect Louche

It is almost as fun as getting the perfect slurry on a Nakayama :p

Certain aspects of creating a drink and the serving of the drink can add to the enjoyment of a cocktail
Scotch for me is not only about the liquor but also about having a nice heavy cut rocks glass that has heft and the right sound as the 5 ice cubes roll around in it :)
A well made and served Old Fashioned has the same feel to it

Absinthe takes that whole experience to a different level :)

From left to right is the 5 recommendations: Jade PF 1901, Jade Esprit Edouard (eddy), Jade CF Berger, Delaware Phoenix Meadow of Love.

In the glass is CF Berger with the Louche.
The problem with Meadow of love is the clear bottle she uses. It doesn't offer any shielding from UV rays and must therefore be stored in the dark to protect the chlorophyll which is the harbinger of green color. If it decays you loose the green color and get left the feuille morte (dead leaf) ocher/ golden brown color. Nothing bad though, it's the same as you find with most pre ban bottles of absinthe.

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I checked into that a couple of years ago when I became interested in getting the good stuff.
Out LCBO has a provincial monopoly on liquor and all importations have to go through them. The duties and taxes were so high that it discourages importing, which is what they want.
There is a BC company that makes Absinthe, brand name Taboo, but I have no idea what the quality is.

Unless things have changed in the last 2 years, or the monopoly is broken, I don't think we'll see the good stuff here any time soon

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Originally Posted by jnats

Ah, you may need to be the one to take the reigns on that one. you're Canadian/ in Canada...and real change has to come from within so: start importing it!

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Frog Legs anyone? Attachment 220622

Paul Devoille Verte de Fougerolles Very good 'cheap' bottle of absinthe, though I miss the earlier batch, tasted like p#%sy and anise. :rofl2:

Already a 2 absinthe night, as it's a sad day seeing off an old friend.

Well, more my best Kouzaki aoto for razors than a 'friend' in the traditional sense of the word.

dos:

Jade N.O.

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Kouzaki aoto: you were the truest blue, and my razors will miss you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I love the ritual of the perfect Louche

It is almost as fun as getting the perfect slurry on a Nakayama :p

Certain aspects of creating a drink and the serving of the drink can add to the enjoyment of a cocktail
Scotch for me is not only about the liquor but also about having a nice heavy cut rocks glass that has heft and the right sound as the 5 ice cubes roll around in it :)
A well made and served Old Fashioned has the same feel to it

Absinthe takes that whole experience to a different level :)

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Ah! I can see this post now.. weird. I saw it when it came in and went to respond but couldn't. I completely agree, and I find it very interesting and going with intuition. I wrote on this before, but all vices, addictions and hobbies are as much or more about the ritual than the act. There have been multiple papers on the ritual being more addictive than the substance- from sex, tobacco, heroin, gambling, alcohol, razors, honing, absinthe etc. The most captivating ones are the ones with the most ritual and gear, the specialized accouterments- the more of it there exists the more poised a hobby stands to become an obsession. Were people crave the act of a cigarette long after the nicotine withdrawal and cravings have subsided- it is the linked memories to the ritual that make them so alluring and satisfying. I can skip right over opium and the religious sacraments and rituals of most every culture, and go right to the perfect lather, the feel of the brush on the face, the opening of your pores and skin as air hits freshly exposed skin for the first time- or as you put it- to raising the perfect slurry. With many hones and naguras and progressions- well, a community that spends more time taking about shaving than actually shaving- it's not news I suppose that rituals can have a more lasting psychological hold on the human mind than substances. It seems they're also the most likely to be feared by the out group perception bias- anything with lots of specialized tools and rituals is somehow perceived with subconscious acknowledgement to the reality of it its tangible allure as dangerous. Which is partly why beer does well to stay informal and marijuana has had such a hard time- if it wasn't for peoples laziness it might be interesting to see how Gillette would have responded to straight razors...they could have tag teamed with the vinyards. (funny if you know the story about the ban (I have gathered already that you do, Glenn))

I will post the paper my wife is working on about absinthe, once it is published. It should be well liked.

cheers.


edit: There have not been papers explicitly on honing, absinthe or razors being addictive to my knowledge, I was merely grouping them as being correlated with much of the studied independent variables.

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Peppery wormwood- Young Cousin in the glass

and anesthetic soaked scent- Surgeon's Narutaki under steel. I didn't realize at the time the synergy of these two until now when my mouth feels as comfortably tingly as my olfactory would suggest it should be in smelling this toishi. An excellent Absinthe and stone pairing. :rofl2:

Ah, a beautiful line up of Jade absinthes. Bravo!

Nice setup there. Long time fan. Perrier pairs with the terroir of Pernod, I would say. [now say that fast three times ;)] Glad it is legal in this US now. It use to cost a ton to get from the EU. ;)

Classic
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Green Beast
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Tomate
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I have been wanting to try that for awhile now, but since I can't stand the smell or taste of black licorice I didn't want to get it and have the anise turn it into a bottle that is going to sit around collecting dust. Is the taste of the anise as strong as Jagermeister?

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Originally Posted by JSmith1983

I have been wanting to try that for awhile now, but since I can't stand the smell or taste of black licorice I didn't want to get it and have the anise turn it into a bottle that is going to sit around collecting dust. Is the taste of the anise as strong as Jagermeister?

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Solution. I'll give you my address, then you can enjoy buying it and yet not have to bother with it lying around. :D

A holiday in Massachusetts with one of my favorite absinthes, butterfly. A Boston recipe distilled in Switzerland.

Pro tip: while traveling if you should be without your boullier - a condiment bottle works great :-) cheers!
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