La louche! I'm trying Absinthe for the first time this evening

[htuttle]

It's probably more mixology than cooking, but I did bake a nice piece of Cod and roasted some Asparagus with it.

I mixed the Absinthe with some sugar syrup and some ice cold S. Pellegrino sparkling mineral water. Wasn't sure about using S. Pellegrino, since it's a little more bitter than plain water, but the effervescence is making this kind of awesome, like it's the sort of fizzy glowing green Romulan drink I'd order in 10 Forward on the Enterprise.

Yah, and this stuff is 132 proof, lol. It is a 375 ml bottle of Letherbee Charred Oak Absinthe Brun from Chicago. The bottle has a hand-written batch number on it, so I'm assuming it was from kind of a boutique distiller. It was the cheapest bottle that the local liquor store carried.

My wife sipped it, and nearly spit it out, lol. I think it's really interesting, but I like Uzo, too.

[pbmus]

1. My French uncle distills peaches and pears and makes

A 160 proof liqueur that he calls , Eau de vie or water of life

[yonder]

10. Sounds tasty!

The Irish call their water of life "uisce beatha" or "the creature" (the craytsure). Ain't no peaches and pears in that though. Good old single malt. I think uisce may be where the word whiskey is derived from.

Which reminds me of a Scottish song I cam across last year. Good words which celebrate the crafting of fine whiskey:

My apologies for sidetracking the absinthe thread.

[Major Nikon]

13. Seems like everyone in France knows someone who makes homemade brandy

I've had a chance to sample some of it over the years and some of it is incredible.

[Hortensis]

14. We used to have a neighbor who made brandy

each year out of our wild blackberries. Pretty good. They moved to Florida last fall, though, and it's past time to clear probably 80 feet of roadside bank of the brambles we let grow up for him. Spring was already past time...

[RockRaven]

2. Every time I encounter absinthe I'm transported back to the 1st time I read For Whom The Bell Tolls

I wasn't even old enough to drink back then, and had no clue what it was like beyond the words on the page, but the connection persists because it's where I first encountered it, if only in my imagination.

[FakeNoose]

8. Yes I was thinking the same thing

Ernest Hemingway really loved him some absinthe!

I'm pretty sure the absinthe we can buy now is a tame imitation of what they made in Europe in the 1920's and 30's. It was more like moonshine in the old days when people didn't even know how strong it was. Even after Prohibition was over absinthe could not be imported because it was too strong.

[brush]

11. Beware the worm.

[notdarkyet]

3. Anthony Bourdain did a show on it. I've wanted to do it ever since I saw the show.

[htuttle]

4. Halfway into my second, I've determined two things

1) This stuff is awesome!
2) I'm going to deeply regret this tomorrow.

Recipe so far: I large jigger of Absinthe, a splash of sugar syrup, and pour in cold S. Pellegrino sparkling mineral water until it gets cloudy (la louche, the murkiness).

[BigmanPigman]

7. He hung out in Oscar Wilde's hotel room

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2018, 08:43 PM - Edit history (1)

and the peacocks on the wallpaper were making him trippy. Man, I miss Tony. No Reservations: "Why The French Don't Suck".
Skip to 15 min mark.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vkgyn

[trof]

15. Thanks. Enjoyed that.

[OnDoutside]

5. Remember, Absinthe makes the arse go wander......

[LunaSea]

6. Have I got a link for you!

Forget the overpriced green fairy nectar.
Make your own.
Adjust the proof level to your own tastes (although the
higher the proof the better the results)
Enough supplies to make a sizable batch.

http://absinthekit.com/

Much better than the boutique stuff!

[procon]

9. Back in the day, it was the "in" drink for my college crowd of artsy hippies.

At parties, everyone brought a pipe to pass, and at least an Absinthe glass, sugar cubes and the spoon in expectation. Those who had the money brought Absinthe to dole out sparingly to their dearest friends.

My boyfriend bought us a matched set of Pontarlier style glasses and silver Absinthe spoons for christmas. I still have my spoon. Somewhere in my china cabinet there's a bottle of very old Absinthe that hasn't been opened in years.

[safeinOhio]

12. Brought back a bottle of the real stuff from Italy a few years ago.

Still have half a bottle and save it for special guest. No charge for the green fairy.