Questions on Absinthe
 

What exactly is it. I know it was banned now has been reintroduced-in Paris?<BR> I do not think you can buy it in US. Can you bring it back to the states? Thanks, PJ

Good luck with the liver transplant pj. Try this link and trawl its forum<BR>Tony

It's a truly revolting bright green spirit that tastes of aniseed, a bit like the rocket fuel version of Pernod.<BR><BR>You drink it with a little water and sugar, but to be honest, in the UK it's only drunk by boys who just want to get pissed really quickly and cheaply.<BR><BR>It was illegal in many European countries for a while because it is very damaging to your health and sanity, and was the ruin of many a Parisian prostitute.<BR><BR>By all means try it, I have, but I doubt whether you'd want to take a bottle home for a casual evening tipple. You might as well drink Methylated Spirits.

Alright here is that elusive link.<BR>http://www.sepulchritude.com/chapelp.../absinthe.html

You can also drink it in Prague and Barcelona.....

It is the stuff van Gogh drank when he decided to cut off his ear lobe. He and Gaugin drank it together in Provence.<BR><BR>It is however much different today than what those guys drank. It is made from the root of some bush and the original properties produced some pretty psychotic halluceogenic behaviour.<BR><BR>Somewhat similar to Daschle and Gephardt around electin time!<BR><BR>US

It’s distilled from wormwood and is very “heavy” tasting, not unlike Chartreuse. However, while it is actually arguable that Chartreuse may have medicinal qualities ( over 50 mountain herbs are used in the process) absinthe is well documented to be extremely hard on the brain and other organs. Large quantities can have some rather off-putting psychoactive results. I tried some in a pub in London this spring. It’s worth a taste, just to say you’ve tried it, but I doubt that your ever going to become an aficionado. Besides that, it seems to me that I paid something like &pound;8 for a short glass of the stuff which is a tad bit on the pricey side for me.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder!!

Whatever the agent/ingredient that used to be in absinthe that made you go insane has been removed. That is why it is back on the market.

Recently bought some Sebor brand absinthe in London for about $25/bottle. Sebor is Czech and is reputed to have a somewhat less anise-y flavor than some of the other brands.<BR><BR>I've not tried it yet. It's one of the original ingredients in a drink called a Sazerac (created in New Orleans around the turn of the century) and I brought it share with some friends from there (they're kicking in the Peychaud's bitters).<BR><BR>High alcohol content, as with most herb-based spirits.

Yes, the wormwood content is gone for the British version, but the real stuff is available in Spain and the Czech Republic. Aquired taste but interesting. You can have it shipped here for alot of $$, but you may want to sample the real stuff abroad to see if you like it first.

1. Absinthe does not make you go insane.<BR><BR>Just had to get that out of the way.<BR><BR>Anyway, Absinthe (true Absinthe with wormwood that is) is legal in Great Britain, Spain and the Czech Republic. I have not heard that the French were planning on lifting the ban that was put in place about 80 or 90 years ago. The French were actually one of the first to ban the drink in Europe because someone who drank Absinthe in addition to a host of other alcoholic drinks in one day flipped out and killed his entire family. This is how the rumor came about that the drink robs you of your sanity.<BR><BR>As for bringing it back to the US, you can try. They will not arrest you for trying to bring it in the country. The worst thing that a customs agent may do is take it away from you.<BR><BR>By the way, Absinthe still has wormwood in it, otherwise it is not absinthe.<BR><BR>

Hi<BR><BR>I think you can buy it again in France.<BR><BR>I'm certain I saw it in a local hypermarche.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com<BR>

You can buy it here (Paris) now and order it in restaurants (selected...) What I've heard is that the powerful wine lobby got jealous of everyone ordering absinthe in the 19th century and worked very hard to gave it a bad name...anyway, the stuff available today in France is nowhere's near as strong as the "real thing".

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=2&tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=absinthe&option=&start_row =2&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_st art=1&query=absinthe<BR><BR>Apparently, it gives a mighty hangover - check out the article.<BR>Regards

Funny you should post this! I bought some in Prague a couple months ago--it is about 60-75% alcohol and is usually drunk 4 parts water to 1 part absinthe. Plus one sugar cube. My brother and I decided to see how pissed we could get so we did a sip straight (bleah!). Then we put in a sugar cube, one part water, and one part absinthe. That was more tolerable but we by no means got so drunk that it was something to write home about. I guess we expected too much. To me it was the same effect as doing shots of any other alcohol, but with a bite.