Absinthe

They have decent deals on multi-bottle specials. One is a bottle of Un Emile and a bottle of Verte. They also have another with a Blanche and a Verte. Either deal is pretty good.

Jade is also quite nice.

I am trying to remember who I bought the Deva (and a nasty bottle of Mari Mayans) through. The Deva was pretty good and was only ~20 Euros!!! Damned memory.

Where memory fails, google succeeds... it was eabsinthe.com. Bought from them a few times with good luck.

Just beware that shipping is not cheap.

I enjoy the taste of Anise but do not care for sweet liqueurs; how would it be without the sugar?

Richard

Some are sweet enough that no sugar is necessary. I find a pastis of Herbsaint, not an absinthe, works best without the sugar. A tall glass of pastis, a hot texas afternoon and a few friends is a good thing.

Seeker of Knowledge said:

I enjoy the taste of Anise but do not care for sweet liqueurs; how would it be without the sugar?

Richard

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Absinthe is QUITE bitter without the sugar. The sugar, and the water to dilute it, are about the only things that make absinthe palatable. Truly, it is waaay too bitter straight. And ridiculously strong!

SmoovD said:

They have decent deals on multi-bottle specials. One is a bottle of Un Emile and a bottle of Verte. They also have another with a Blanche and a Verte. Either deal is pretty good.

Jade is also quite nice.

I am trying to remember who I bought the Deva (and a nasty bottle of Mari Mayans) through. The Deva was pretty good and was only ~20 Euros!!! Damned memory.

Where memory fails, google succeeds... it was eabsinthe.com. Bought from them a few times with good luck.

Just beware that shipping is not cheap.

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Man, that is a lot of brand familiarity. Is there some secret Edwardian absinthe den in Burleson that I am missing?

Because that is information I would want to have.

Good absinthe is a tasty liquor. A lot of absinthe fans are a bit like speaker cable nutters though

Kübler tastes just like the illegal (in Switzerland) Neuchatel basement-made stuff with the super-high thujone content, and has the same effect, even though it has a lower, legal thujone level. It gets you drunk. Really quickly. Alcohol that strong probably shouldn't be that sweet and mild. Neuchatel-style absinthes do not require any sugar.

If a romantic fantasy is important to you, shell out your money and order a bottle of Century. Otherwise, don't worry too much about extremely high thujone content (as long as the liquor is made with a traditional method including real wormwood) and enjoy any one of the traditional yet readily available Absinthes that tastes good to you.

Absinthe, meh, you haven't missed much.

I believe the Peacock Lounge in Austin carries absinthe. After I heard it tastes like black licorice (blech), I decided to pass on trying any.

I got my girlfriend, and a coworker to pitch in, and ordered a multi buy special of three bottles of Jade. Very excited. It's already shipped actually. Very fast and prompt replies to the email I sent. Good experience from absintheonline.com

Spacegeezer said:

Good absinthe is a tasty liquor. A lot of absinthe fans are a bit like speaker cable nutters though

Kübler tastes just like the illegal (in Switzerland) Neuchatel basement-made stuff with the super-high thujone content, and has the same effect, even though it has a lower, legal thujone level. It gets you drunk. Really quickly. Alcohol that strong probably shouldn't be that sweet and mild. Neuchatel-style absinthes do not require any sugar.

If a romantic fantasy is important to you, shell out your money and order a bottle of Century. Otherwise, don't worry too much about extremely high thujone content (as long as the liquor is made with a traditional method including real wormwood) and enjoy any one of the traditional yet readily available Absinthes that tastes good to you.

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+1. Well put.

Good luck, Neil.

I just went to specsonline.com (for those of you know are familiar with Specs, you know it rules.) They have a few bottles of Absinthe, some from France and Switzerland. I wonder if those are the real deal?

Think I would enjoy it with an equal volumn of water added. Thank you everyone.

Richard

I've been interested in trying Absinthe forever, but don't really know where to start.

The cool thing is looks like I have a neighbor in Pflugerville (yeah, I'm that guy that says I live in Austin even though I technically live in Pflugverille, lol) that I can hit up for advice

msandoval858 said:

I've been interested in trying Absinthe forever, but don't really know where to start.

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http://www.wormwoodsociety.org/

I'd always wanted to try absinthe served correctly and had the chance just before this past Christmas. It was "illegal" absinthe that a shop owner had procured on a recent trip overseas. He did the full flaming sugar cube and water drip presentation - it was quite impressive. That said, I don't think I'll be drinking absinthe again any time soon; it was just way too sweet for my tastes. It might have been that myself and friends had been drinking bourbon and smoking cigars before we ordered up the absinthe, but regardless I just don't think it is for me.

msandoval858 said:

I've been interested in trying Absinthe forever, but don't really know where to start.

The cool thing is looks like I have a neighbor in Pflugerville (yeah, I'm that guy that says I live in Austin even though I technically live in Pflugverille, lol) that I can hit up for advice

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Mike

Last night I ordered three bottles from absintheonline.com/liquers de france.

I put in the wrong zip code for the shipping address, so right after I got the confirmation email, I replied and asked them to correct it. I woke up this morning, I had a reply saying the changed it and saved it to their records, and another email telling me the package had been shipped, plus the tracking information!

The website also has a lot of good info about absinthe in general, check it out.

Kbennett said:

I'd always wanted to try absinthe served correctly and had the chance just before this past Christmas. It was "illegal" absinthe that a shop owner had procured on a recent trip overseas. He did the full flaming sugar cube and water drip presentation - it was quite impressive. That said, I don't think I'll be drinking absinthe again any time soon; it was just way too sweet for my tastes. It might have been that myself and friends had been drinking bourbon and smoking cigars before we ordered up the absinthe, but regardless I just don't think it is for me.

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I had never heard of a flaming sugar cube till From Hell came out. I have since come to understand that it was a marketing invention of the Czech "Absinthe" producers. Depending on the type of absinthe, any sugar at all can be way too much. All in all, I'd consider it more of a "panty-dropper" than a hard drink, personally.

Spacegeezer said:

...All in all, I'd consider it more of a "panty-dropper" than a hard drink, personally.

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Are "panty dropper" drinks usually 136 proof? That's 68% alcohol. You're average mixing alcohol is usually 80 proof (40%). I regularly drink bourbon and I usually don't prefer anything over 90 proof. Anything higher than that is too strong and unenjoyable. Absinthe, however, is on a totally different plane.

SmoovD said:

FYI-
Steer clear of any Czech-made absinthe.

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Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with the Czech stuff? I was over there a while back, and really enjoyed it. Two drinks, and you had a buzz that lasted all night. I think I might even still have a little bit kicking around that I brought back.

Tommy_C said:

Are "panty dropper" drinks usually 136 proof? That's 68% alcohol. You're average mixing alcohol is usually 80 proof (40%). I regularly drink bourbon and I usually don't prefer anything over 90 proof. Anything higher than that is too strong and unenjoyable. Absinthe, however, is on a totally different plane.

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Traditionally absinthe is mixed about 3-1 water to absinthe, reducing the overall alcohol percentage to roughly 22% by volume. I personally recommend people with limited access to absinthes try Kübler, which is available in most of North America and only 53% but tastes so good it requires less water and no sugar. At half strength concentrations it is very simple to convince most anyone to down copious amounts of the sweet, fresh, herby beverage. My girlfriend enjoyed it, at least, and while she only enjoys an "Old Fashioned" made with about a finger of bourbon and lots of club soda, she will gladly drink an absinthe at higher concentrations.

Giant said:

Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with the Czech stuff? I was over there a while back, and really enjoyed it. Two drinks, and you had a buzz that lasted all night. I think I might even still have a little bit kicking around that I brought back.

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Czech "absinthe" is rarely actually absinthe, but rather a highly alcoholic distilled liquor with some essence of wormwood added around the time of bottling, I guess. I don't know if there are any Czech brands doing real absinthe, but the usual brands are not half as pleasant as the real thing - provided you enjoy all the herbs that are in the traditional recipes.

I have only ever bought one bottle of Czech absinthe, and it was the rankest, most unpleasant liquor I ever had the displeasure of owning. Its effect was akin to drinking Listerine with broken glass. I'd place its flavour profile somewhere between Fluoroantimonic acid, bile and burning tar. It may have been Hills, I don't recall. Whatever it was, if someone were to give me another bottle, I'd use it on them as a molotov cocktail. Nasty, vicious stuff.