Anyone tried absinthe before?

[///M42 sport]

I tried a shot before. Def. wont do that again.

[Fusion]

Depends how good your high school or college alcohol training was.
A friend of mine had a shot of burning absinth (with a straw, waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles), almost fell on the ground after swollowing it, couldn't breath for like five minutes and his eye balls almost fell out. I laughed hard.
And yea, buy the quality stuff, should have 70-85% alcohol.

[kronus]

Brought a quality bottle of it back from France. Not really my thing, but we managed to drink half of it over a few months.

[n2bimmer]

I had it in Cancun, It was okay. Gets you all warm inside.

[Sepp]

I love it.
Had quite a bit of it in Jamaica. That was a great time.

I cannot usually deal with any type of hard alcohol, but love the stuff (and the Pernod)

[shiftbmw]

Had it a few times. I don't particularly care for it...I'd take a good scotch anyday over Absinthe.

[CorvallisBMW]

Anyone that lives in the PNW, head over to this place for the best cocktails on the west coast (absinthe or not):

http://www.teardroplounge.com/teardrop.html

[Sepp]

I though the USDA, (or whatever) put a caveat on Absinthe being sold for consumption (in a public house) in the states?? although it's legal to enjoy it in the confines of your home.
Maybe it's changed?
Is it being served here?

[der affe]

as of last year, it was legal in the US

[Sepp]

Right, legal for use in the home, but I thought it was banned from public use in a "bar"??

I'm usually living under a rock....

[AndrewBird]

Actually, it has been legal in the states since 2007. I've never heard of it being banned in public use. I do know a few places serve it here.

And the whole lighting it on fire shit is fucking stupid. Even taking shots of it is pretty dumb. It's not intended to be served either way. Proper preparation is to slowly drip cold water over a sugar cube into the absinthe, about 5 parts to 1. This brings out the louche, which alters the flavor by bringing out all the herbal flavors from tings like the anise and fennel in it. Lighting it on fire is just a flashy looking way for bars to sell it.

This will only work with a true absinthe though and not an absinthe liquor (for the most part). True absinthe doesn't contain any added sugar and really doesn't taste that great without a sweetener.

I could go on and on about it, but really, there is a lot of good information about it on the net. Wikipedia even has a pretty decent page on it explaining it's origin and it's "hallucinogenic properties", which is a bunch of BS.

[Sepp]

Thanks for the update.
I just prefer it in a glass of ice!

[Fusion]

And the whole lighting it on fire shit is fucking stupid. Even taking shots of it is pretty dumb. It's not intended to be served either way. Proper preparation is to slowly drip cold water over a sugar cube into the absinthe, about 5 parts to 1.

Try explaining this to someone who has already had 3 shots :)

[BMW_TUNER]

INFO
In the United States, Absinthe was banned in 1912, following the French ban three years before, but the current US Customs restrictions on the importation of Absinthe only are dated from 1958 while the USDA and FDA regulations still ban the sale or importation of any beverage containing wormwood.


So yes you can buy it in the US but it can not contain wormwood.

The funny thing is that a local liquor store imported ten cases of the real stuff without the label "contains no wormwood" and sold it localy undetected. I bought two bottles.

It is fantastic if prepared properly.