Some letters had a lot of competition for them. Some I still haven’t worked out what to post about yet. For A, there was only ever one possibility.
If you’re like most of the people I talk to about absinthe, you’re probably already about to email me the details of the nearest Alcoholics Anonymous. Chances are how I drink absinthe and how you think I drink it are very different.
1: Never, EVER, drink it neat. Classic absinthe strength is 68%. It was never designed to be drunk neat. Only idiots out on birthdays / stag do’s do that. A good absinthe should be diluted with three to four measures of water. Not only does it change the flavour and appearance (maybe a post for another time), it drops it to a far more sensible strength.
2: Savour it. A good glass of absinthe should be enjoyed, sipped slowly. If you can pair it with good company and an open fire, you’re pretty much on to a winner.
3: Ignore the colour. Several people have said they’ve drank black absinthe in the past. This means nothing! Traditional absinthe is green, but I’ve had red, clear and black too. These have no bearing on the strength, most are just colour additives.
4: Learn the rituals. Ok, it’s a fancy word for how you prepare it. But just as you’d drink red or white wine at different temperatures, parisian and bohemian absinthes should be prepared differently. There’s plenty of guides out there, Alandia (where I tend to get my mail order absinthe from) has a nice range of videos showing the different techniques.
To me, it’s also important to try different brands and blends. That why my current (and selected past) selection looks like this:
I’ve been to a few of those parties, and they served to make me love my new life in Denmark even more. Absinthe is generally not on the menu, but there are rituals surrounding their use of Schnaps, which I enjoy more than the actual drink.
Hiya
belated popping from AtoZ but I’ve made it.
So erm… what is it?
I’m from Ireland, is it like poteen???
auntyamo
http://ficticiousamo.wordpress.com/
It looks to be of similar strength, but the production is completely different. If you want to know what it wastes like, have a glass of Pernod. When wormwood (one of the key ingredients in absinthe) was banned, it was removed from the process and Pernod was born.
I’ve been wanting to try absinth for a while now – so I’m glad I saw this. I am going to have to do more research, It think.
If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask.