Absinthe

I was barely over a wicked case of strep throat, and not as well rested as I should have been, yet nevertheless participated in a night of absinthe drinking on New Years Eve. It arrived with my friends Max and Moritz, brothers visiting from Germany and Switzerland, respectively.

In the pictures below you can get a feel for the interesting method of preparation. There is a special perforated spoon with a wrinkle between handle and head that keeps it balanced on the edge of a glass. The spoon goes on top of your glass, and a sugar cube on top of that. Absinthe is poured over the cube, and then the alcohol-soaked sugar is ignited. It's not entirely clear to me why this is necessary, but I was told it has something to do with carmelizing the sugar. The melted sugar is then dumped into the liquid in the cup and stirred in with some water. Bottoms up. Tastes like licorice.

Comments

Anonymous said…
...absinthe isn't meant to be ignited, that's a gimmick invented in the 1990's in the Czeck Republic. Use the spoon and the sugar cuber but pour cold water trough the cube until it melts, but very slowly. If you're drinking true absinthe, it turns opaque, it louches. The ideal water-absinthe ratio is 3:1. Oh, and any absinthe coming from the Czeck Republic is a fake. True absinthe is distilled. And it's not an hallucinogenic no matter what you may heard. More info, try The Wormwood Society
17/1/06 16:49
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