Gear
Absinthe Will Get You in Trouble
But you can own as much of the gear as you like
As with all drugs, the ritual is part of the fun. And absinthe has a particularly elaborate set-up. Pour your “dose” into the bottom of a glass. If you want it sweet, use a special little slotted spoon filled with sugar that balances across the rim of the glass. Trickle cold water over the top, and let the sweetened water drip through the holes. (Lighting a sugar cube on fire over absinthe is a poseur’s recent invention.) If you’re drinking it without the sugar, slowly drip cold water into the glass. Either way, diluting your drink to a palatable level causes the herbal oils in the liquor to come out of suspension and release their aromas and flavors. The clear green liquid turns milky, a state referred to in absinthe lingo as the louche.
In Belle Époque France, fancy absinthe paraphernalia was often marketed by the distillers themselves, in an effort to clean up the drink’s reputation as a madness-inducing intoxicant. Crystal glasses, jewel-like silver spoons, and fountains were intended to appeal to elegant women of leisure, and they did.
Today, absinthe revivalists are not only re-creating the spirit precisely as it was, over a century ago, but also commissioning replicas of the paraphernalia. The drink itself is for all intents and purposes illegal —no commercial domestic distiller makes real absinthe with the allegedly mind-altering wormwood. And there are laws against importing it. (The neutered version is legally sold.) But the gear’s unquestionably legal. Which doesn’t stop me from enjoying it.
BROUILLE GLASS SET
By Cristalerias San Miguel, $28, Liqueurs de France
A nifty way to dilute your absinthe is to use a two-piece Brouille glass set. It looks like an old-fashioned ice cream sundae glass with a short highball glass fitted on top. The bottom of the upper glass is actually a dripper.
Here’s how it works: A one-shot dose of absinthe is poured into the bottom glass; then the smaller glass is packed with ice and placed on top. When the drinker pours water into the top glass, it’s chilled by the ice and drips through the pinhole to the absinthe below.
Out of all the Brouille glass set replicas, the Cristalerias San Miguel version is the best. The 150-year-old cooperative of artisan glassblowers, based in Barcelona, has been hand-blowing the sets since the early 20th century. Seamless and gorgeous, they’re also well designed. A slight bulge at the base of the bottom glass measures a single dose so that there’s no guesswork, as with many other sets. The glass is also roomy enough to swirl your drink and breathe in that licorice-y smell.
“CARDS” SPOON
By Frenchman SARL, $10, The Absinthe Spoon
The most common absinthe spoon during the drink’s heyday was flat and spade-shaped. But fanciful variations abounded, including one shaped like the Eiffel Tower. Most are available today in replica. My favorite is the “Cards” model, with dripping holes shaped like spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Its bowl is rounded, not flat, which is better for stirring, if you care to. The longer handle prevents your spoon from falling into larger-rimmed glasses.
LADY 4 SPOUT FOUNTAIN
By Frenchman SARL, $255, La Maison d’Absinthe
A fountain is the ultimate accessory for the absintheur, dispensing drops of water, not absinthe. Originally the fountains contained asbestos filters, which have been discontinued. One of my faves, La Maison d’Absinthe’s Lady 4 Spout Fountain, is shaped like a bubblegum machine with metal spigots (some modern fountains use plastic). Its nickel alloy base is in the shape of a lithe female figure holding the water reservoir. She’s likely La Fée Verte, or the Green Fairy, absinthe’s nickname allegedly referring to its genesis as an herbal health tonic. You can see the inspiration of Edgar Degas, a hard-core absinthe drinker. But of course art, like a taste for sugar in your absinthe, is subjective.
Louisa Chu is a chef and food writer who's cooked her way through the world's hottest kitchens, from El Bulli to Alinea. And yeah, that's her taking Anthony Bourdain on the Paris meat market tour in No Reservations on the Travel Channel. Louisa can currently be found in Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie on PBS, Gourmet's Choptalk, and her own food blog, Movable Feast.
"The drink itself is for all intents and purposes illegal"
Not true. It is illegal in the United States. Perfectly legal elsewhere.
Chuckles - "It is illegal in the United States. Perfectly legal elsewhere." Not true. Absinthe remains in a grey area in the US and even in France. In the US it is illegal to distill, import, or sell - but legal to possess and consume - and you can buy it online for personal consumption - I highly recommend Liqueurs de France http://www.absintheonline.com/.
In France, products labelled simply as absinthe are actually illegal, so now they're usually labelled spiritueux à base de plantes d'absinthe (wormwood based spirits). And some Swiss absinthes are still banned there - at an absinthe tasting in France, I sat with one of the finest Swiss absinthe makers in the world who'd just tragically had one of his own bottles seized at the border.
i think most absinthe you can buy now that is labelled as absinthe (and I'm pretty sure you can buy it in Ontario) is not true absinthe, it doesn't have the hallucinogen. it basically tastes like a good pastis. we brought a bottle back from spain and have been slowly working our way through it. (well, not me, i hate anis tasting things, but my partner and friends have been enjoying it.)
You need to come to Canada. :) The "gimmick" at one of my favourite restaurants (Absinthe Café in Ottawa) is the flaming sugar cube dripping into a glass of absinthe.
It doesn't have the hallucinogenic properties of the drink of yore, but at 80% alcohol, it packs one heck of a wallop. A fun finish to a satisfying meal.
Blog:
http://definitelynotmartha.blogspot.com
Wormwood is not a hallucinogen. A person ingest more thujone (the mind altering drug) from a leaf of Thyme then a glass of absinthe. The history of absinthes is really interesting. Liqueurs de France is a wonderful place to order from. Ted Breaux's Nouvelle-Orléans is great.
they sell it here in Hawaii - but yes.... there is no wormwood, and thus, its "legal" absinthe....
It must be good. The last time I had a glass of absinthe I began painting like Toulouse-Lautrec.
Hey you guys are correct.
It is not yet legal in the US. However the FDA seems to be loosening up it rules here. I can also say it does not make you hallucinate. It does however give you a totally unique buzz. Its more like a stimulant than a hallucinogen.
At any rate I recommend avoiding the stuff on the shelves in the US and instead opting for a bottle of Duplais from Switzerland. Also if you can find it there is a brand called Obsello from Spain. According to the shop keeper who sold me my bottle it is the best in the world. Though I cant speak for the world it was the best I have ever tried and I have had about 50 brands. Unfortunately their site says you will be able to order online soon but does not let you do so now.
Here is a link to the Duplias site and the Obsello site.
<a href="http://www.absintheclassics.com/absin...
<a href="http://www.obsello.com/">obse...
Hey you guys are correct.
It is not yet legal in the US. However the FDA seems to be loosening up it rules here. I can also say it does not make you hallucinate. It does however give you a totally unique buzz. Its more like a stimulant than a hallucinogen.
Ahhh, finally the truth about absinthe comes out:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/2...
About time...I am tired of telling people that it does not make you hallucinate anymore then any other high proof liquor.
Man oh man oh man.... Do your research before you comment! And as for you, Louisa Chu, thanks for recommending us for "gear," which is actually called accoutrement, but do a little bit of research before writing an article!!! You're just continuing the myth and misinformation!!!
1. "The drink itself is for all intents and purposes illegal —no commercial domestic distiller makes real absinthe with the allegedly mind-altering wormwood."
WRONG.
Absinthe is not illegal and NEVER has been. The amount of thujone is the ONLY thing that has ever been regulated. It is against the law to exceed 10ppm thujone in a finished food. Absinthe has never been "named"; however, the faulty research and documentation has been disproven and now absinthe is available (not made legal) once again in the U.S.
The recipe available today is almost the EXACT recipe of that nearly a century ago. WORMWOOD AND ALL!
2. And there are laws against importing it.
WRONG.
Since importation of non-FDA compliant absinthes is prohibited and there are no proper means for ensuring duties or taxes, any non-FDA compliant absinthe in the United States is untaxed liquor, which is illegal. It's not just absinthe, it's ANY untaxed liquor.
3. "i think most absinthe you can buy now that is labelled as absinthe (and I'm pretty sure you can buy it in Ontario) is not true absinthe, it doesn't have the hallucinogen."
WRONG.
Contrary to popular misconception, absinthe is not hallucinogenic, psychedelic, or narcotic. If you're looking for this kind of experience you'll be very disappointed in genuine absinthe.
During the decades preceding the ban of absinthe, alcoholism grew at an alarming rate. As absinthe was in vogue at the time, very inexpensive and extremely high in alcohol, it was easily abused by people with an addictive predisposition.
An often neglected fact is that there were millions who enjoyed absinthe regularly with no ill effects whatsoever. There were thousands of cafés all over Paris. At its height of popularity, the people of France consumed over thirty-six million liters of absinthe a year. EVERYONE drank absinthe.
4. "Wormwood is not a hallucinogen. A person ingest more thujone (the mind altering drug) from a leaf of Thyme then a glass of absinthe. The history of absinthes is really interesting. Liqueurs de France is a wonderful place to order from. Ted Breaux's Nouvelle-Orléans is great."
Sort of-at least you are the closest yet.
While in extremely high quantities thujone (an oil from wormwood) is known to be a dangerous neurotoxin, science has shown through chemical analysis of vintage absinthes and contemporary absinthes made strictly according to historical recipes, that the previous estimate of thujone levels in pre-ban absinthe were greatly exaggerated. One would die of alcohol poisoning long before one could consume enough absinthe to get a toxic dose of thujone.
An analogy would be to study the effects of high doses of pure caffeine on lab rats and then condemn coffee for its tendency to cause heart failure. The symptoms of caffeine overdose are very similar to those of thujone poisoning and include: muscle twitching; confusion; twilight consciousness; fever; irregular heartbeat; hallucinations; dizziness, vomiting; diarrhea; convulsions and death. Most of us are familiar with the deleterious effects of caffeine abuse, yet no one is suggesting that we ban coffee.
5. "The "gimmick" at one of my favourite restaurants (Absinthe Café in Ottawa) is the flaming sugar cube dripping into a glass of absinthe."
Sigh...Terrible.
At no time in the history of absinthe, until the late 1990's, has the "Czech Method" of lighting absinthe-soaked sugar on fire—recently popularized in the movies From Hell, Moulin Rouge, and Alfie—ever been used. This is a modern marketing gimmick for inferior products and a pointless abuse of good absinthe.
I could go on, but it's pretty tiring. Here is an excellent website that you could ALL benefit from before, god forbid, passing on ANY of this information...
http://www.wormwoodsociety.org
AT LEAST read the frequently asked questions and educate yourselves...
So, if I am traveling to Europe (eg AMsterdam), buy a bottle of absinthe and try to carry it into the US for my own consumption, am I breaking a law?
Thanks
Is there some reason that you want to buy it in Europe and risk sneaking it through customs? You can legally order it online from Europe, or buy it legally in the MANY U.S. liquor stores
Note: Most Czech absinthe, contrary to marketing, bears little or no resemblance to absinthe. This applies to most other Eastern and Central European absinths as well. With the exception of a few small-batch artisanal offerings, most absinthes produced outside France, Switzerland and Spain are terribly inferior absinthe knock-offs and marketed by less-than-ethical businesses. Some are little more than aromatized, artificially colored vodkas.