ZachS

my current non-bike project (this is a very rough draft of a label design):



+i can take only limited credit, working on it with a friend of mine....

sivat

I was hoping that green fairies would have something to do with absinthe. I'm glad you didn't disappoint. There is a book called, creatively enough, Absinthe that has all kinds of cool, old absinthe ads. You might be able to get some more ideas.

humancongereel

you're making absinthe? can i try some? pretty please?

or maybe i misundertood this thread. but it does remind me that i need to get a kit and make some.

sivat

I tried making some once. It was basically a vodka infusion with wormwood and a few other spices. I've heard everclear makes is a bit more authentic tasting. Having drank real absinthe, I don't think the infusion is anywhere close.

In Absentia

Just buy it. There are plenty of websites that will send it here. Many of them are even discreet enough as to not get your expensive liquor confiscated by customs. That way you can get really good absinthe instead of ****ty, anise(ass)-tasting absinthe. The stuff you make from the kit isn't even really absinthe anyway, it's just a weak imitation from what I've heard. Edit: As evidenced by sivat's testimony.

LóFarkas

^^^ Is any of that stuff the real deal? Like, the proper hallucinogenic romantic poet deal that kills you fair and square? Cuz that's what absinthe used to be, but AFAIK current versions are more like a very strong liquor with a funny taste and that's it.

I'm guessing ZachS isn't making absinthe, just some art or whatever.

BroMax

Provincial liquor stores in Ontario, Canada have something they call absinthe. They have a website if you want to look it up. If I remember correctly, they're called OLCB, Ontario Liquor Control Board. I don't know what it is but absinthe is a foul thing.

1fluffhead

Sounds like you have never tried it. When I was in London I went to an absinthe bar and lets just say that the rest of the night was a blurry good time. Zack S nice illustration, it would make a killer spokecard.

zelah

if i drink absinthe and dont tell anyone, do i still have the edge?

cavit8

It's Pernod absinthe in the ontario lcbo's. According to the Pernod website, it's "absinthe-free" so appears to be a distilled liqueur based on star anise.

Offhoff

Its the LCBO, Liquor Control Board of Ontario. They do have something they call absinthe, it is not the "authentic" absinthe for that you must go to europe. It is, however, a fantastic drink when prepared with some water and a flaming sugar cube. In fact I'd have some now but its 10 in the morning.

Absinthe isn't foul, Chinese Snake Wine is foul, Absinthe is simply an aquired taste.

sivat

To be "real" absinthe, ie. halucinogenic, it needs to be made from wormwood. From what I know, most of the stuff now is not made with wormwood because it kills you. But even the original stuff was mostly just really strong alcohol. The guys like van gogh who went crazy were serious alcoholics who would drink the stuff like water.

pixel

There was an article in Ready-Made (the magazine) a bit back with directions on how to make your own absinthe. Never got around to trying it out.

ZachS

something made from a kit is not absinthe. and yes you can try some when i finish this batch.

an infusion is not absinthe, period.

expensive. very expensive.

you are guessing incorrectly.

absinthe is not even as hallucinogenic as pot. and it does not kill you fair and square. it got a bad rep for a good reason, though. in the 1890's an insect called phylloxera wiped out most of the vinyards in europe. in france, the lower classes switched to absinthe - just like the ingredients in gin, the herbs used in absinthe do a good job of wiping out the nasty taste of cheaply distilled alcohol. but absinthe has a much higher alcohol content than gin does (~75%), and the herbs make it easy to drink more of it. many producers were unscrupulous and added poisonous additives for color.

drinking ****loads of rotgut poison booze will kill you fair and square.

anyway, current versions run the gamut from painstakingly researched period reproductions to mouthwash-tasting czech monstrosities. mine is somewhere in the middle, basically a very tasty pastis with quite a kick to it. as authentic as it needs to be.

not quite. see above. but you're right about the guys who went crazy - and it was the alcohol who harmed them more than anything else.

wormwood does not kill you. it is mildly toxic to the liver, but only in much larger quantities than are found in properly made absinthe (as hippies who drink pure wormwood extract to get high soon learn). you don't want to drink a lot of absinthe every day, though. speaking from experience, you don't want to drink absinthe every day at all.

you also don't want to take a lot of tylenol every day. the tylenol is probably worse for you.

it's a bit complicated, because you need a still. but a fun hobby, and not too hard at all if you can cook and have a good sense of taste.



anyway, i've been at this for about 5 years now, and I pretty much know what I'm doing. need to be more consistent with my recipes, though. been a while since i made a batch, and it's time to get this **** started again.

and thanks for the compliments about the label.

SingleSpeeDemon

travsi

forget all that web ordering bullsh*t and come over
to switzerland where absinthe originated and is still
produced. switzerland home to all sorts of fun things
...like lsd.

LóFarkas

Ha! I'd drink Zachs' stuff... There's absinthe here as well, although it's illegal, and I'm not sure if any of the wormwood-y stuff is available.

I'm with sivat here (whatz a funny new feeling... mmmm). AFAIK, and that's pretty certain, the wormwood is what makes it a hallucinogenic drug instead of a liquor, and the good old absinthe of 18xx had a fair amount of whatever there is in wormwood. Most of it may have been crap liquor as well, but that's beside the point. The reason why absinthe is illegal in most countries now is the wormwood. It has some massively brutal health implications, as in "kills you fair and square". I'd have to ask my medical student buddy again to say exactly what, but it's in a different leage from bad booze. Way worse. It may make the stuff more addictive, too (although alcohol is pretty high on the addictiveness ladder in and on itself).
I guess it's a matter of dosage... If the percentage of the drug ingredient is low, then the alcohol knocks you out before you could drink enough to get really high and destroy all your internal organs.

I'm too lazy to look up the names, but a good couple of Romantic poets and painters lived in a dreamworld of absinthe visions... that stuff was pretty intense, it would seem.

HelluvaStella

Ernest Hemingway, Authur Rimbaud, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Marie Verlaine counted themselves among the ranks of imbibers.

"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were.
After the second, you see things as they are not.
Finally, you see things as they really are,
which is the most horrible thing in the world."

Oscar Wilde

I had some of the toothless stuff that masquerades as absinthe in Scotland. No unusual effects when paired with a dozen whiskeys, unless you call a roaring drunkenness unusual.