Very high quality absinthe can be expertly experienced simply with the ice cold water. When using sugar, the cold water is dripped over the sugar and into the drink, causing the sugar to slowly dissolve into the absinthe. This very slow and gradual addition of the water forms the heart of the absinthe ritual, and is done with or without the sugar. These circumstances may have led to absinthe's poor reputation.ĭrip very pure ice cold water into the absinthe from a small pitcher. Vintage bottles of pre-ban absinthe can be obtained, and it is reputed that some of the lesser quality versions contained inordinately high levels of thujone and harmful adulterants such as copper salts, aniline dye and antimony trichloride.
ABSINTHE FAIRY MOVIE
It’s the Czech Republic that popularized the whole flaming sugar cube thing, which you’ve probably seen in a movie somewhere. Some people (myself included) prefer the slowly dripping ice water without any sugar. The traditional way to drink absinthe is by placing a slotted spoon with a sugar cube on top of a glass of absinthe, then slowly dripping ice cold water from an absinthe fountain, which slowly dissolves the sugar into the glass. You’re supposed to drink absinthe with a flaming sugar cube, right?Ībsinthe with a flaming sugar cube - Photo courtesy of iStock / Wolna And, often, the additives don’t stop at coloring agents, but often make their way into the spirit itself, often resulting in a lower-quality (if cheaper) product. The nuclear green bottles you’ll find in the Czech Republic and other parts of Europe are colored with additives. The thing to look for is that the absinthe is naturally dyed, getting any color it does have from the chlorophyll from its macerated herbs. But the thujone content of absinthe is – and always was – so low that you’d pass out or die of alcohol poisoning long before you felt those affects. Wormwood, or artemisia absinthium, the plant that gives absinthe its name, does contain a chemical compound called thujone that allegedly has hallucinogenic properties. Absinthe’s hallucinogenic properties are – and always were – mostly just an urban legend. Does today’s absinthe make you hallucinate?Ībsinthe with sugar cubes - Photo courtesy of Getty Images / rez-art One giveaway is often the color, but more on that later. That said, you can also buy absinthe that Edgar Allen Poe probably would have considered sacrilege.
You can buy absinthe today that is ingredient-for-ingredient identical to the absinthe they used to make back when Van Gogh sliced his ear off. In Switzerland, however – the exception to the rule – you can only label your product absinthe if it's distilled, uses no natural coloring and is absent of certain additives.
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