Have you tried Absinthe?

Question

Have you tried Absinthe? What were your experiences? Where did you get it from?

Answer 1

It's legal in Canada but you it's not like the real stuff from Amsterdam.

Answer 2

Ok, I've had it, and it's the same as everyone else says. However, one bit of fact:

The legal absinthe that is made and sold today will NOT make you hallucinate. Back before the FDA, this stuff was made with an infusion of wormwood, which was literally poison and supposedly made you hallucinate. The artist Toulouse Lautrec was said to have gone mad from drinking it so much and it's also a theory as to why he used color the way he did (i.e. green faces?) It's also how it gained the nickname Le Fee Verte (the green fairy).

Today, it's not created with wormwood. So it's safe to drink (as safe as super strong alcohol can be, i guess) But it does taste disgusting.

Tips on drinking it the right way:

Place a slotted asbsinthe spoon over the top of your glass with sugar cubes on the spoon. Pour the absinthe over the sugar cubes into the glass. Then light the cubes on fire, burning off some alcohol and melting the sugar into glass. Stir and drink. If you pour water in it, it should turn milky white.

Have fun!

Answer 3

you can get it from good supermarkets and its used as a mixer usually in cocktails and is actually poisonous quite bizarrely

Answer 4

I tried it and got a sore throat and trashed from trying to drink it straight (144 proof).   When cut most taste similar to anisette or ouzo(far less expensive).  One label I tried had a very high thujone content, the supposed hallucinogenic narcotic,  but I felt no different affect then any other liquor.  Overall tasty liquor.

Answer 5

Yes. My friend brought some back from Amsterdam a year ago. Although i heard it's legal in the states now.

You need the utensils to go along with it. Absinthe straight is pretty much unbearable. You need the sugarcubes to cut the strength a little bit.

The buzz was really nice though. I didn't feel any hallucinations, just mellow and chill. It's flavor has a certain "black licorice" taste to it.

Answer 6

It tastes like greasy licorice. I couldn't drink enough to even get buzzed. Blech. Even people who enjoy it and can drink a lot say that it doesn't cause hallucinations and that the effects are highly overstated. I got it at a duty-free shop in England and carried it the rest of the way home.  

Answer 7

There are many products that bear the name absinthe. Some very delicious, some less so.

The absinthe experience depends on the quality of the herbs used and whether you like aniseed flavour. The ritual is key: add iced water at a ratio of about 1 part absinthe to 4 parts water very slowly. You will see the absinthe change colour through clouding - the "louche. This is the herbal oils held in suspension being released from suspension in the alcohol.

The effect is due to the thujone in grande wormwood which acts in contradiction to the effects of the alcohol. There are many "thujone free " absinthes available now in the USA. You should experience a kind of wide awake form of inebriation with increased sense of light, colour and sound. Basically a moderation in cognitive functions to a non-linear form. This will only happen if thujone is naturally present from the herbs. Try Roquette 1797 (35mg thujone) or Century Absinthe (100mg thujone)

Your best bet is to buy online but Kubler (USA version) is the best and most authentic brand available in the USA.

Answer 8

Yes. To the best of my knowledge it is not legal in the US. In Heidelberg, Germany, however, they have (or used to have; this was 5 years ago now) an absinthe shop. An entire shop devoted to absinthe and the equipment that goes with it. It is potent stuff. The bottles in the store ranged from close to 70% alcohol content up to 97% (the latter was labeled not for human consumption).

I got very drunk from it. If I remember correctly, I couldn't master how to melt the sugar cubes properly, so I ended up mixing it with other stuff and/or using chasers. It is supposed to be a hallucinogenic, but I never hallucinated or even got high (as opposed to drunk) from it. It was just a different kind of drunk.