Madman or Genius? (Absinthe)

Member Name: norton501

Product:	Absinthe
Date:	09/08/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: If you respect it, it will respect you

Disadvantages: reputation: are you prepared to take the risk?

Although Absinthe has a scary reputation, the reality is a lot different.

It is a highly alcoholic drink (45-68% Alcohol by volume) containing the herb wormwood and the psychoactive chemical thujone. Wormwood was used in Ancient Egypt and has been used as a treatment for Malaria. The latest Malaria treatments contain derivatives of absinthe as it reduces fever and digestive parasites. Wormwood is also good for your liver, for digestion and for your gall bladder. So there is a slim possibility the herbs in it counteract the alcohol as far as your body goes.... I also have found you do not get a hangover with it as you normally would had you drank a third of a bottle of a 68% drink!. Things just seem funny the next day. Although you are lucid and aware of everything going on when you drink it, the next day you may get gaps in your memory but you'll know you didn't do anything ridiculous as you are very aware of what was happening.

Absinthe was made popular in the 1880s and was the drink of famous artists such as Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec and authors- Oscar Wilde, Paul Verlaine, Rimbaud etc and banned in most countries in 1915. The French President at the time is known to have said if they didn't ban absinthe one half of the population would spend all their time putting straightjackets on the other as absinthe has a reputaton for either making you into a genius or a madman. Is that a risk you are prepared to take??

It began to be sold again around 2000 and the only absinthe that has been authenticated as adhering to the ORIGINAL parisienne Absinthe is La Fee Absinthe (La Fee Parisienne) that you can now buy in SOME Tesco stores 45% = £17.19. And Bargain Booze shops 68%= £23.15.

I first tried absinthe in around 2000, and this was served to me as a shot that was set on fire first and mixed with a little sugar. I lost around 4 hours that night and didn't touch the stuff again. It is commonly held that if you drink absinthe then you must be either suicidal or trying to get so drunk you forget everything. The reality is different-- VERY VERY Different.

The PROPER way to serve absinthe is as follows:

take ONE shot of a GOOD absinthe (ie: LA FEE Parisienne)
Pour this SLOWLY over one sugar cube into a glass
Slowly pour 3-5 shots of iced WATER over the sugar cube so it dissolves
STIR
DRINK
REPEAT x approximately 3.

Oscar Wilde famously said "After the first glass you see things as you wish they were, after the second you see things as they are not then finally, after the third, you see things as they really are and that is the most horrible thing of all".

You absolutely do NOT set fire to absinthe. Nor do you drink it neat. In france in the 1880s they used to serve it as described above.

When made properly, you get a lovely mint green "louched "coloured slightly aniseed smelling drink that does NOT taste alcoholic. It is pleasant and you are supposed to enjoy it and sip it like a tall drink.

You have to respect the drink. If you do, it will do great things- if you have a few of these, the first thing you notice is you will start to feel calmer. Then you will slowly start to feel your brain wake up. Absinthe speeds up your brain but slows down your body, it gives you a lucid "drunk". You never feel "drunk" when drinking it and you can type, hold a lucid debate, think logically and funtion highly after a few drinks. Saying that, it is not for the faint hearted- they are not lying when they print the alcohol content on the bottle. With absinthe though, it seems to make you focussed and not slurry.

I hate feeling "drunk". Before I read about and tried La Fee parisienne, I had sworn myself off alcohol as I normally would go out, have three drinks., begin to feel drunk and slowly become depressed and stop drinking. I hate the falling around slurring state some people seem to adore- its not for me. Whats the point in getting so drunk you throw up for days and can't remember anything? I have a "so come on, impress me" attitude with drinks. So far nothing has done this except La Fee and Mansinthe - all versions of Absinthe.

I cannot recommend it enough if you are looking for a new experience- it is absolutely best to drink it in the house as I only know two bars that sell La Fee and the bar staff do not know how to serve it. I had to tell them and they didn't have any white sugar to hand and they used warm tap water and charged me £5 for one shot I had to persuade them to mix - although it says on the bottle itself how you are supposed to serve it.

It is an enlightening drink, but you have to respect it. Don't burn it, don't drink it as shots and don't mix it with other drinks. Only buy the good stuff, endorsed by the historians. Research it first and enjoy the ritual of pouring your drink SLOWLY over a sugar cube and a spoon. Invest in a spoon with holes in it so you can rest a sugar cube on the spoon over your glass and drizzle the water onto the sugar until it slowly dissolves. Its an artform type of drink.

If you like getting absolutely smashed then don't even try this, you probably won't like it. It makes you more aware of things. It makes you think.

Absinthe is endorsed by a lot of famous people- Johnny Depp ordered the first UK bottle of La Fee and took it to Hunter S Thompson's house to drink, Marilyn Manson was an ambassador for La fee until he brought out his own absinthe called Mansinthe (66.6%)- Mansnthe is also fantastic but tastes stronger than La Fee. The list goes on... In history- famous french artists Manet, Van Gogh, (see above) ... Lots of well known people have drank it or written about it. How can so many people be wrong?

Summary: It has a very interesting history and is endorsed by lots of famous people.