La Fee Verte – An Absinthe Tasting

Thanks to Addie Broyles of the Statesman, I was able to attend an absinthe tasting at Peche, a hip little bar and restaurant in downtown Austin. I had never had absinthe before – it only recently became legal in the United States, and the only other place I’ve seen it is in giant bottles at the liquor store – but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

It turns out all those rumors about absinthe being an evil drink that will cause you to hallucinate aren’t really what they are made out to be. Wormwood, one of the key ingredients of absinthe along with fennel and anise, actually has less hallucinogenic properties than rosemary. You know rosemary, the nice unassuming herb everyone has hanging out in their spice rack.

What gets you with absinthe is the alcohol content, and the fact that it doesn’t taste super alcoholic. Assuming you like anise flavor, it is smooth to drink and you don’t notice the 130 proof.

Absinthe gets its name from the wormwood – its scientific name is Artemisia absinthium – and thankfully not from the modern-day inventor, Pierre Ordinaire. Although that might have avoided a bunch of those rumors if it had been.

Our tasting began with a Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail Earnest Hemingway invented and named after his nonfiction book. It consists of absinthe (we had Kubler) mixed with champagne. According to rumor, Hemingway drank 5 or 6 of these a day.

Next up was Pernod absinthe prepared in the traditional fashion. This consists of placing a sugar cube on top of a special absinthe spoon set on the glass, and then letting ice water slowly run over the ice cube into the glass. This brings out the louche, or the milky qualities of the drink. Also, because sugar is added to absinthe after bottling, this actually makes it a true, neutral spirit, not a liqueur as it is often referred to as.

Finally we had the St. George, also prepared traditionally. This one was more milky, and was stronger than the others – probably because, as I just found out looking it up, it has brandy in it, along with additional herbs. Below is St. George on the left, Pernod on the right.

To help all this go down we were given very tasty fried chickpeas, and I ordered some gougeres with crispy duck liver and marmalade. Yum!

The night was extremely fun and interesting, and the people at Peche are great. If you go, be sure to talk to the head bartender Russell and he’ll whip you up something amazing.

Everyone should have absinthe once in their life. Here’s a few more things to know:

Absinthe is photosensitive, so it shouldn’t be stored in clear bottles (it will turn brown). If you see green absinthe in a clear bottle, it’s probably made in the Czech Republic, is tinted with artificial color, and isn’t considered authentic. Clear (blanche or bleu) absinthe is made in the Swiss style, bottled immediately after distilling. Green (verte) absinthe is when a new batch of herbs is added to the distillate, resulting in a natural green color.

Don’t try absinthe kits. Now that absinthe is legal in the U.S., there’s no need to try your hand at creating an inferior product. Not to mention the potential dangers. If you’re looking for a brand to try, I definitely recommend the Pernod.

Have you tried absinthe? What do you think?

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