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Absinth
Apr 13, 2004 23:19:18 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Apr 13, 2004 23:19:18 GMT -5
Who has tried absinth? The real distilled wormwood stuff. I’ve wanted to try it for a while, but it’s still not legal in this country. When I went to Germany my friends were going to buy some for me, but in German the words for absinth and vermouth are the same, so I ended up with a bunch of sweet vermouth. It was good, but it wasn’t absinth. Scott
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dcas
Warlock
Duke of Pennsylvania, Knight Commander
Posts: 481
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Absinth
Apr 15, 2004 22:28:24 GMT -5
Post by dcas on Apr 15, 2004 22:28:24 GMT -5
You can get it online. The thing is, it's not illegal to make it yourself or even to drink it, it's only illegal to sell it. I'm not certain that it's illegal to buy it overseas and have it shipped here.
I've never tried it.
I think GT promised to bring some of his own 'home-brew' to the GameFest.
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Absinth
Apr 15, 2004 23:50:59 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Apr 15, 2004 23:50:59 GMT -5
Laws on ordering mail order booze differ from state to state. In Pa. it is not legal. Scott
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Absinth
Apr 16, 2004 0:33:17 GMT -5
Post by SteveDF on Apr 16, 2004 0:33:17 GMT -5
What you need to do is fly over to europe for a weekend vacation and bring some back with you.
;D
And the stuff tastes awful, so I never tried more than one mouthful. But I am very picky when it comes to spirits.
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Absinth
Apr 16, 2004 6:34:25 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Apr 16, 2004 6:34:25 GMT -5
The last time I was in Europe Spain and Holland were the only two places where you could buy absinth. I've heard that it's much more common now. Hopefully I'll make it back to Europe this fall. I've heard absinth tastes horrible, which is the reason for pouring it through sugar cubes, but it has a mystique about it. Scott
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dcas
Warlock
Duke of Pennsylvania, Knight Commander
Posts: 481
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Absinth
Apr 18, 2004 15:18:04 GMT -5
Post by dcas on Apr 18, 2004 15:18:04 GMT -5
Laws on ordering mail order booze differ from state to state. In Pa. it is not legal. True enough but this is probably one of the most frequently broken laws on the books. Here in Philly it is common to hop across the border to NJ or DE to buy liquor (cheaper & better selection). Not that I am advocating breaking the law, of course.
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Absinth
Apr 21, 2004 17:30:56 GMT -5
Post by kennethmcdonald on Apr 21, 2004 17:30:56 GMT -5
TEXTuh,guys isn't this supposed to be somekind of medievil poison.could be wrong.
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Absinth
Apr 21, 2004 21:43:47 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Apr 21, 2004 21:43:47 GMT -5
TEXTuh,guys isn't this supposed to be somekind of medievil poison.could be wrong. No, absinth is a green liqueur having a bitter anise or licorice flavor and a high alcohol content, prepared from absinthe and other herbs. It was banned from almost everywhere for a while (Spain and Holland were the only two places in Europe where you could legally buy it), but now it's becoming fairly common. The reason it was banned was that it also contains distilled wormwood, which can act as a neurotoxin. Scott
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Absinth
Apr 25, 2004 13:09:08 GMT -5
Post by GT on Apr 25, 2004 13:09:08 GMT -5
Yeppers. DCS--I will bring the homebrew to MF; not as good as European, but gets the point across. Bitter? Yes, but so is beer. Wasn't that an "acquired" taste for most brew drinkers? poison? No; not in the quantities most people consume. ^__^
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pluto
Prestidigitat
Posts: 1
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Absinth
Jul 26, 2004 17:12:06 GMT -5
Post by pluto on Jul 26, 2004 17:12:06 GMT -5
I know this is an old thread , but I figured I'd post this anyway as a warning to anyone thinking about trying Absinth . IT'S TERRIBLE STUFF. I had a friend who'd brought back a bottle from Germany and we each had a few ''drinks'' . It tastes horrible , the high you get from it is interesting for a while , but made me feel ill , kind of like I had mild food poisoning . Even though I had only drank maybe 4 onces of the stuff , I felt horribly sick the next day . I grew up in a big drinking town , Glou. Mass , and like to think I can hold my own , but I'll never drink absinth again. Be carefull with that stuff. On the other hand I did just create an elf character for a ODnD game , and named him Absinth.
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Absinth
Jul 26, 2004 18:07:31 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Jul 26, 2004 18:07:31 GMT -5
Absinth is traditionally poured through sugar cubes into your glass to help with the taste, and for some reason when the absinth passes through the sugar, it changes color, or so I hear. I still haven't tried any. Scott
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Absinth
Jul 26, 2004 18:09:02 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Jul 26, 2004 18:09:02 GMT -5
Oh yeah, welcome to the board Pluto. Scott
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dcas
Warlock
Duke of Pennsylvania, Knight Commander
Posts: 481
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Absinth
Aug 2, 2004 13:32:34 GMT -5
Post by dcas on Aug 2, 2004 13:32:34 GMT -5
Absinth is traditionally poured through sugar cubes into your glass to help with the taste, and for some reason when the absinth passes through the sugar, it changes color, or so I hear. I still haven't tried any. From what I've read, when cold water is poured over the sugarcube into the absinthe (as opposed to the absinthe being poured through the sugarsube), the absinthe becomes cloudy. The effect is called 'louching,' which sounds far too much like 'douching' for my taste, but what are you going to do? I'm guessing that the louche is caused by the cold water and not the sugar. Perhaps GT would know, although he drinks his neat.
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Absinth
Sept 1, 2004 22:16:10 GMT -5
Post by GT on Sept 1, 2004 22:16:10 GMT -5
Caused by the thermal difference of the cold water and the addition of sugar, maybe? I've never really experimented because as DCAS says, I like mine neat! It is an intriguing question, however... ^___^ I finally tried some European stuff... I think that, once again, like beer there are differences, but the wormwood and spices in the alcohol base are what makes "absinthe". Of course, there are certain brands that I'm told are superior that I would love to try--when I get the opportunity/cash!! Heh.
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Absinth
Sept 1, 2004 22:19:38 GMT -5
Post by GT on Sept 1, 2004 22:19:38 GMT -5
BTW--the absinthe laws are treated as a 'blue law' in most places. I know that the Indiana statutes in the 80's still had a law in the books that it was illegal to serve homosexuals at a bar... Can you imagine enforcing that law, in any state?? Blue Laws in general are a hoot to this Libertarian!
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dcas
Warlock
Duke of Pennsylvania, Knight Commander
Posts: 481
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Absinth
Sept 2, 2004 18:34:05 GMT -5
Post by dcas on Sept 2, 2004 18:34:05 GMT -5
I thought 'blue laws' were mostly concerned with Sundays? PA still has some blue laws on the books -- for example, a retailer can't sell cars on Sunday, and a bar has to serve food in order to maintain a 7-day license to serve liquor. One of my favorite neighborhood bars closes on Sunday, not because they don't serve food, but because they don't like the hassle of a 7-day license. When I was younger we used to go on vacation to Ocean City, NJ (actually, we still do), and in those days (20+ years ago), the boardwalk was basically shut down on Sundays. Our favorite arcade would open at 12:00 am Monday morning! Ocean City is still officially "dry," although you're allowed to drive off the island, buy booze, and bring it back onto the island. There's a couple of convenient liquor stores set up for that very purpose. ;D All of the various state laws regarding the importation, sale, and consumption of liquor are holdovers from Prohibition. Prior to Prohibition states might have blue laws but liquor was generally not regulated. Absinthe might be the exception, I think it was banned prior to Prohibition.
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Hadit
Prestidigitat
Posts: 6
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Absinth
Sept 3, 2004 23:29:58 GMT -5
Post by Hadit on Sept 3, 2004 23:29:58 GMT -5
I have been fortunate enough to have tried three different types of absinthe, although all were home-made. The first was in a opaque bottle (so I couldn't see the color) and was mixed liberally by my host with ginger ale. It was quite tasty after mixing and beyond the effects of the alcohol, I found the intoxication to be very dreamy and almost meditative... kind of like poppy tea. I felt very thoughtful and blissed out. The second was of my own make (along with close friends). Technically it was a wormwood tincture, as opposed to true absinthe, as we had not the capacity to distill it. It had a lot of moxy though, let me tell you! Buried beneath the good earth from new moon to new moon, mixed with an assortment of other herbs to ellicite various effects, the color was a loamy brown and it tasted like liquid bark. Without a doubt the bitterest thing to have ever touched my lips! Extremely potent, though, oh yes. Not for casual drinking. (Probably just a few hairs shy of actual poison.) The third was true ambrosia. Made by a friend in Oregon who takes brewing and distilling seriously (as well as alchemy), this stuff was wonderous! It's color was a pearly light green and, though very strong, it could be easily drank neat. (Though the ritual of fire and sugar adds to the drama nicely). In fact, it was almost too good as one had a tendancy to overdrink the stuff, and as mentioned by others, the hangovers from absinthe tend to be heavier than most. My friend would charge around $125 a bottle and it was worth it if you could afford it. I have yet to try "officially" made absinthe, though I keep prodding another friend of mine who has an unopened bottle on his end-table he brought back from Scotland. It looks too green to me though... as if food coloring was added. Absinthe can also be purchased in British Columbia I am told (I am living in Seattle) and brought home, although other sources have warned me that the common Canadian absinthe is pretty trashy.
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dcas
Warlock
Duke of Pennsylvania, Knight Commander
Posts: 481
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Absinth
Jan 19, 2005 17:51:47 GMT -5
Post by dcas on Jan 19, 2005 17:51:47 GMT -5
Laws on ordering mail order booze differ from state to state. In Pa. it is not legal. It is not legal from other states, but check this out: www.lcb.state.pa.us/licensing/lic-faq3a.aspI think I'm going to look into this some more.
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Absinth
Jan 19, 2005 18:13:36 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Jan 19, 2005 18:13:36 GMT -5
I know that applies to liquer that you could legally buy here, but I don't know if it would apply to absinth. Let me know what you find out. Scott
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Absinth
Jan 19, 2005 19:04:30 GMT -5
Post by Scott on Jan 19, 2005 19:04:30 GMT -5
GT, you'll be providing the absinth this May correct? Scott
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