DEVOLVE: Absinthe Recipes

How To Make Absinthe

One ounce dried chopped wormwood
One tablespoon angelica root
One teaspoon hyssop
One half teaspoon coriander seeds
One quarter teaspoon caraway seeds
One pinch cardomon pods
One pinch fennel or anise seeds
One liter vodka

You would need a still and knowledge of how to blend the ingredients properly to produce real absinthe. This will give you an idea of what the effects of thujone and alcohol feel like, but the result is not genuine absinthe.

In a glass container add the wormwood to the vodka. Set aside in the dark for ten days. For extra-powerful absinthe, use Everclear or 151 rum instead of vodka. This will give you a green-colored tincture (the green comes from the chlorophyll, and does not indicate the presence of the active ingredient, thujone).

100 proof vodka works good. too. Then strain out the wormwood and add all the remaining herbs and spices. Wait four more days, then strain these out and serve. Best when drank straight in short shots with water chasers. If trying Everclear (actually not recommended), dribble a little in a tall glass with ice and sour mix or cranberry juice.

Absinthe Suissesse

2 oz absinthe
One splash anisette
1/2 oz white creme de menthe
One raw egg white

Named in honor of a Swiss Girl, make this one by pouring everything into your cocktail mixer with ice and shaking vigorously, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

If you can't find white creme de menthe, use clear creme de menthe and add a splash of heavy cream (it's supposed to be white-ish). If it is still too strong, add a splash of club soda.

My personal variation: pour over white ice cubes in a glass goblet. Dust with nutmeg, and garnish with a sprig of fresh wormwood, two green straws, and a Swiss flag. Make the white ice cubes by pouring a little milk into the ice cube tray with water and freezing well ahead of time.

Absinthe Margarita

2 oz absinthe
Sour mix
1/2 oz Gran Marnier or triple sec
Lime juice
wedge lime
Splash tequila

Just substitute absinthe for tequila. Salt the rim, fill glass with ice. Pour in the absinthe and sour mix. Splash in some tequila just to kill the odor and taste of the absinthe. Float the triple sec. Garnish with lime. Salud!

Cajun Mary

2 oz absinthe
Bloody Mary mix (spicy tomato juice)
Splash tabasco sauce
Splash worchestershire sauce
Sand and pepper
1 jumbo shrimp

My favorite bloody mary variation made with absinthe: Fill cocktail glass with ice. Pour in absinthe and bloody mary mix. Add the worchestershire and tabasco. Salt and pepper it. Garnish with the shrimp.

For a great impression, use brown ice cubes made with worchestershire dribbled into the water in an ice tray and frozen ahead of time.

Bloody Brain

1 oz absinthe
1/2 oz amaretto
Bailey's or other Irish cream liqueur
grenadine

Substituting absinthe for 151 rum: In a shot glass, start with the amaretto. Then using the back of a spoon, dribble the absinthe down the inside of the glass, layering it on top of the amaretto.

Using the spoon again, slowly pour in the Bailey's, letting it curl into a cloud on top of the amaretto. Sprinkle a couple drops of grenadine {blood) on top.

It should look vaguely like a brain floating in formaldehyde. (Also known as a Brain Hemorrage). Best tossed back in one gulp. An awesome way to serve absinthe shots.

Other Absinthe Variations On Popular Drinks:

Black Orchid: substitute absinthe for the vodka (Make some blue ice cubes by dribbling blue curacao into an ice tray with water. Way cool looking, and delicious, too.)

Black Devil: substitute absinthe for the rum. Vermouth is white wine flavored with wormwood, y'know.

Dirty Martini: substitute absinthe for the gin. Basically, same as above with a splash of brine from the olive jar. Makes you say, Ugh.

Screaming Banshee: substitute absinthe for the vodka (basically a shot of absinthe added to a Banshee).

Frappe (Hawaiian ice): absinthe over shaved ice with the flavoring of your choice (lime juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, etc.)

Notes on the Psychopharmacology of Absinthe

I get email asking me about the effects of my absinthe. It contains the same active ingredients as distilled absinthe and has the same effects. Now, what are these effects? I describe them as a cross between pot, ecstasy, cocaine, strong coffee, and vodka.

Thujone is discussed elsewhere, but I think there may be more to the effects of absinthe than thujone, namely the highly-complex synergistic effect of a psychoactive cocktail.

Other ingredients in the recipe have their own reputations. Angelica root is crewed as a drug in Lapland. Anise and fennel seed both contain potentially psychoactive anethole.

Caraway seeds are reputed aphrodisiacs and the basis of the German liqueur kummel. Coriander is mentioned as an aphrodisiac in the Arabic One Thousand and One Nights, and is said to conjure up the devil when used in combination with fennel in the same text.

Other recipes call for hops, a sedative and hypnotic, and calamus root, which contains psychoactive asarones, used as an inebriant by Native Americans. And then there is the hyssop, a nervine. Add it all up, the sum may be greater than the whole.

Negative effects of absinthe may also have to do with ingredients other than thujone. Everyone has read of the old absinthe ritual involving pouring absinthe over sugar cubes and ending with the absinthe turning milky as cold water is added to it.

Competitors with Pernod flooded the market with imitation absinthe made by mixing industrial alcohol with flavorings, copper sulfate for the green color, and antimony trichloride to make it turn milky when water was added.

These ersatz absinthes were neurotoxic, and the syndrome called absinthism may have actually been due to copper sulfate and antimony trichloride poisoning (as well as the 150 proof).

Books

Absinthe:
History in a Bottle

In words and images, the book looks at the history, art, literature, and culture related to absinthe, as well as the people in the community that adopted absinthe as their drink (primarily artists).

The main history associated with the drink took place in France (and to a lesser extent Europe) at the end of the 1800's to the beginning of the 1900's. The people who play their part in this history include Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Picasso, and many others.

Nearly 200 illustrations, over 60 in color. Even the black and white pictures are good quality. The color images are for the most part good looking absinthe ads, and artwork by artists who used absinthe.

Absinthe: History in a Bottle

Absinthe Sip of Seduction:
A Contemporary Guide

A rich journey into absinthe. Punctuated with color reproductions of classic and current lithographs, posters, postcards, cartoons, antiques, glassware, bottles, and other tools of the absinthe drinker, this thorough study explains and illustrates the history, culture, and mystique of the drink.

In addition to the customary glimpses of history, the authors provide insights into the controversy and effects of the Green Fairy. Explained are sipping instructions, variations including French, Czech, and German methods, cocktail and drink recipes, and even suggestions for culinary accompaniments.

Absinthe Sip of Seduction

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