Absinthe

I had always been curious about absinthe since I was a teenager, seeing it in a movie one day. It was a mysterious green spirit with a ritual preparation of a sugar cube, spoon, water and sometimes fire. The drink was banned in Europe in the late 1800s or early 1900s (this ain't wikipedia, people! You want stats, look em up!). Thats what drew me to this drink. The fact that I'm not supposed to drink it, makes me want to drink it MORE!

I went to Spain in 2004. I went on a search for absinthe. Unfortunately, due to the shitty value of the US dollar vs the Euro, my $500 spending money turned into 340 Euros upon exchanging it =(

The cost of living equaled America so there was no money for expensive souviniers. Especially since upon my return, I'd have to pay the rent. My plan WAS to buy a bottle of absinthe and sneak it back into the country in my luggage. Thankfully, I didn't buy it cuz I was selected for a random luggage check at the Madrid airport on my way home and they went thru all my luggage. They would've confescated the bottle since at the time Absinthe was illegal in the US. My absinthe dreams were crushed and stuffed aside somewhere until recently.

I don't really remember what started up my quest for absinthe THIS time, but at a bbq, I mentioned to some friends that I really wanted to try it. Everyone else said they did too. I decided to buy a bottle from Europe and have it shipped to me, and have a get together of my more adventurous friends to taste it.

Absinthe for those who don't know is a spirit distilled from wormwood which contains a chemical called thujone. It is rumored to cause hallucinations, and spark creativitiy. Many great artists of the belle epoque were absinthe drinkers. It was also rumored to drive people crazy. This is arguable, with people saying that the symptoms of some of these absintheurs were those of alcoholism, rather than drinking too much absinthe.

I don't do drugs. Never tried any (except my lifelong desire to try LSD just once - haven't yet)
but I wanted to see what the absinthe effect would be like. Would it make me hallucinate? Would it make me want to paint some dark twisted picture? Would I do crazy shit, totally out of character for me? I dunno! But I was sure as hell gonna find out.

Old Absinthe ads

"The Absinthe Drinker" . The green fairy, or fee verte was a nickname for absinthe.

Later on, there was propaganda against absinthe, saying it caused you to go insane.

Worried yet? Nahhhhh, this made me want to try it MORE.

I finally got my bottle of Strong 68 from Alandia, cooked some burgers, and chicken, broke out the slotted spoons I ordered, and decided to git 'er done.

Glasses lined up with spoons and a sugar cube.

There are two "rituals" to prepare absinthe, just like in the old days. The French ritual is to pour 1 oz of absinthe in a glass, top with a slotted spoon and a sugar cube. Drip cold water onto the sugar cube so it melts into the drink. You are supposed to dilute the drink with 3-5oz of water. I don't think we even used that much. Oops.


The Czech ritual is the same except you drip a few drops of absinthe on the sugar cube and light the cube on fire til it caramelizes, then you dunk it in the absinthe. You can also set the absinthe on fire and let the flame melt the sugar cube. I didn't do this because I didnt want to set the house on fire lol.

The essential oils of the drink come out when mixed with water and it turns into a cloudy liquid called a louche. Stir and bon apetit!

The taste was spicy, not bitter like everyone said. I did put 2 sugar cubes in though fearing bitterness. It had anise in it, like what's in sausage. Everyone laughed when I said absinthe tasted like sausage. But I am a fan of flavor and spice. I really enjoyed the experience. I even had 2 glasses, after swearing I'd only have one to start. Everyone had multiple glasses except 2 people.

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Did I hallucinate? No. Was I drunk out my mind? No. Did I feel different? YES. It took a while for it to kick in. I felt a little light headed, and due to my lack of experience with drugs, I'd assume it was a high feeling, but I really don't know. I remember laughing hysterically at a kid across the street trying to lean on a bush to take a picture of something in the next yard (it was dark and 1am at this point) and we all started cracking up. More than we probably would've if we weren't drinking.

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2 friends went home, 2 left. We went for a walk on the beach. It'd be all good as long as I didnt decide to walk to Portugal at low tide in the pitch black. That didn't happen. Returned home and cleaned up. Another friend went home. The last one was staying over because they wanted to hang at the beach the next day. I put my stuff away and went in my room to catch up on the daily Facebook happenings. Thats when I noticed something.

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I was looking at the font of the words on the screen. It was so THIN and WIDE. Why didn't i notice this before. I saw the dots on my sheets had a lining around them, and they had a pattern that repeated. The weaving of the fibers on the lampshade. The wood on the ceiling (I have a hardwood ceiling like a hardwood floor. weird). The numbers on the clock were dimmer than the numbers on the cable box clock. The triangular pattern of skin cells on my hand. I was staring at them in wonder. I never gave a SHIT before about those things.

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Then my hearbeat sped up for no apparent reason. I hoped I'd be able to sleep. I got up to pee. When I got in the living room my friend was still up watching tv. I felt like I was floating (but not drunk-drunk). Then I went back into my room and fell asleep. When I woke up I was fine.

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We barely made a dent in the bottle. We are gonna do it again. I was defintely a fan of absinthe. But if you don't like spice, you probably won't like this.

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I felt a connection to people during the Belle Epoque era carrying out age old rituals of preparation and feeling to some extent, the same buzz they did. I didn't paint any pictures or write any deep poems, but absinthe just gained a few more fans that night.

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The people who were too scared really missed out. I can't wait to do it again! I have it here but its lame to drink by yourself, so...until the next time!