Absinthe?!

[Divinus Arma]

Yes, Absinthe. The "green fairy" is a very mysterious drink to we uncultured Americans and 'tis surrounded by myth & disinformation.


Please. Enlighten me. Have any of you tried absinthe? What are the effects? What's all the stink about it?


I have researched a little online, but I thought I would see if any of you have experience with this interesting drink.


As some of you may know, it is prohibited to buy or sell Absinthe in the U.S. and is restricted from importation. We may give it, possess it, recieve it and it is not a controlled substance like marijuana or cocaine.


Thanks!

[Byzantine Prince]

It can make you hallucinate, but usally it makes you want to touch yourself, with a tingly sensation. Oh and it is green.

[Just A Girl]

yeah It Is strong,
And many of the myths you have heard Probably arent myths.

It has been linked to insanity,
And its one of the Old Faves for the "Watch this" Tricks.
involving tea spoons sugar, absynth a lighter and a drink of your choice.
Followed by some 1 Totaly smashed out of there face.

Its been rumoured that One famous person who lived years ago,
was a big fan of this drink.
And as a result he choped his ear off.
This is probably 1 of the myths you are talking about having heard,

It also has been banned on a number of occcasions from a number of countrys.
I think this would also have been determined to be a myth, When it does have some creedance.

Any way.
Im a 8 year + scotch man..
and i dont realy relish the thought of potential madness due to drinking that stuff :)

Although i beleve that its not going to do much harm in moderation 1ce a year or something :)

[Strike For The South]

Why is all the good stuff illegal. So a few million people will get hooked and the crime rate will expontaly increase. I say we become more like the Dutch and put seeing blue rabbits and 12 breasted women aove the fabric of socitey!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I still want my guns and my jesus

[Major Robert Dump]

Heard a lot about it, from what I can tell it seems its just something else to make hypocritically illegal while alcohol, tobacco and fried foods are legal.

[Just A Girl]

absynth is alcohol.
But its Weird.
it will Mess you up....
Its been accosiated With Many of the exenrics of the past,
Vangough for is 1 i can name of the top of my head.

Its not actualy illigal here in wales.
And as such I know that the stuff is prety strong compared to other spirits i could name,

Personaly I rather get drunk on some good scotch.
But even the most Hardend drinkers i know, dont drink absinthe,
But thats quite possibly becous its so expensive,
And if they dont get there 12 cans of special brew per day. theyl get cold turkey.

Honestly though.
There are reasons why its illigal.
You DEFINATLY would not want underage kids to get ahold of this stuff.
It realy isnt your regular drink.

[Major Robert Dump]

Underage kids drink alcohol, do drugs and use tobacco, they watch porn, they sneak into R rated movies and they drive without a license. I can't justify not having something legal and mainstream because it might "hurt the children."

I realize it has some whack effects, and laws would have to be in place to keep people from driving, working etc while under its influence, as well as a way to test people for it, but this is just a pipe dream it will never happen.

Divinus you will have to go overseas if you ever want to do it. If I get there first I will smuggle some back in my rectum

[Divinus Arma]

Absinthe is legal to buy and purchase through most of the EU, unless specific member countries have adopted stricter laws. It is legal throughout Britain and France to name a few.

Empirical studies were undertaken by EU authorities and it has already been proven that absinthe does NOT lead to insanity or uncontrollable behavior. The myths and disinformation regarding this alcoholic beverage have clearly been debunked.


I would ask that this discussion not spiral into base mockery. I am genuinely curious and I would like real information rather than tom-foolery. Please.


I know that the Org is comprised of many of our European friends and it is you who I am asking for information.

I understand this is an unusual and curious topic. The first few topics clearly demonstrate the level of respect that the myths of absinthe have perpetrated. Yes, it is an unknown. It is kind of silly and weird. I am still curious, nonetheless.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

. Absinthe

At first I was like what the hell.
Then the name clicked. Guess where I know it from. Thats right the Marines. When I was stationed in Japan we would always take a new guy out on his first night there and get him tanked on this stuff. It was aged in wormwood. I believe it was 180 proof as well . Man that stuff would mess you up. One guy at my house went in the bathroom to puke but was so wasted he smashed his head open on the bowl. We had to rush him to a hospital. Good thing the base was close by. Thats was in Iwakuni in case anyones interested.

[Divinus Arma]

At first I was like what the hell.
Then the name clicked. Guess where I know it from. Thats right the Marines. When I was stationed in Japan we would always take a new guy out on his first night there and get him tanked on this stuff. It was aged in wormwood. I believe it was 180 proof as well . Man that stuff would mess you up. One guy at my house went in the bathroom to puke but was so wasted he smashed his head open on the bowl. We had to rush him to a hospital. Good thing the base was close by. Thats was in Iwakuni in case anyones interested.

Nice to hear from you Gawain.

I would guess that your frineds were sick from drinking excessive amounts of 180 proof alcohol, rather than from the wormwood in the drink.

I had anopther Marine tell me today that his buddys drank it in Okinawa. He never tried it so he could not speak on the effects.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

A pal of mine in college created a drink named the Death Shooter.

50/50 mix of Bacardi 151 and Pernod 130.

He always claimed it would have been even better with Absinthe replacing the 130.

I had one, once, thought it ghastly and went back to my Jamesons.

A pair from that same drinking crowd introduced the drink in Erlingen (sp?) Germany a little while thereafter, where I heard it developed a following -- though that may be apocryphal.

Slainte!

[Divinus Arma]

I understand Pernod 130 to be a weak representation of Absinthe and not at all the real thing. It seems that Pernod 130 is primarily a market cork where no real product exists, kind of like the fake marijuana advertised in "high times" magazine.

[Just A Girl]

Hey can you guys explain what Proof means?

I mean We drink spirits here.
On the bottle it says 45% Vol

That means its 45% alcohol.
an avarage beer is 5% vol

Explain to me how 181 Proof is a more logical and understandable decription.

[Proletariat]

Well, you can get Absente here in the US, which is the same thing sans the wormwood (the hallucinogenic stuff). I tried because I was curious about it after reading For Whom the Bell Tolls and it was truly disgusting. Tastes like licorice, but sweeter and really syrupy. Must be an aniseed drink, I guess.

[Proletariat]

This system dates to the 18th century, and perhaps earlier, when spirits were graded with gunpowder: a solution of water and alcohol "proved" itself when it could be poured on a pinch of gunpowder and still ignite the wet powder. If it didn't ignite, the solution had too much water in it and the proof was considered low. This process led to the nickname firewater, coined by Native Americans.

A "proven" solution was defined as 100 degrees proof (100°). This has since been found to occur at 57.15% ethanol. This is still used as the British definition. A simpler ratio to remember is 7:4 - 70° proof is 40% alcohol by volume.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_proof

Just a silly tradition, like pounds instead of kilos.

[Just A Girl]

well that means That the 180 proof Absynth previously mentioned, should have killed the person drinking it as it would have been near enough 100% alcohol.

[Just A Girl]

Oh and here in pritain we go By % of volume.... Not degrees proof...

that wikipeda Shure is a starnge thing to use to demonstarte fact.

[QwertyMIDX]

It has Thujone (the active ingredient in wormwood) in it which has hallucinogenic properties and also acts as a stimulant; the alcohol is almost an afterthought. The exact nature of Thujone is only vaugly understood though, it shares many chemical properties with THC (the active ingredient in weed). Absinthe itself is a distilled alcohol to which numerous herbal indigents are added too; extract from the leaves of the artemesia absinthium (wormwood plant) being the most important. It is traditionally made from a base of grape alcohol, although various other bases, especially grain and beet alcohol have been used by brands trying to produce cheaper products.

You can buy Absinthe in Quebec, but it’s hard to find anything other than the French variety which doesn’t have enough Thujone to have hallucinogenic effects. Absinthe from eastern Europe tends to have more. In an interesting side note, vermouth used to be made using the wormwood plant as well, it takes it's name from the german word for the wormwood plant, wermut.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Hey can you guys explain what Proof means?

I mean We drink spirits here.
On the bottle it says 45% Vol

That means its 45% alcohol.
an avarage beer is 5% vol

Explain to me how 181 Proof is a more logical and understandable decription.

The easy way is to just cut the proof in half. 180 proof is around 90% alcohol

[InsaneApache]

Oh and here in pritain we go By % of volume.... Not degrees proof...

that wikipeda Shure is a starnge thing to use to demonstarte fact.

We always scaled alcohol content in proof until recently. Probably because we are in the EU it got dropped. Just like our pints, quarts, ounces, pounds and soon our miles.

[Just A Girl]

We always scaled alcohol content in proof until recently. Probably because we are in the EU it got dropped. Just like our pints, quarts, ounces, pounds and soon our miles.

Prehaps,
But I still use ,Ounces, pints, and miles. i know that a 13mm spanner is near enough 1/2 inch. or 8/16th's

but ive never 1ce used the term proof to describe alcehol.

Hell i still call marathons marathons. "snikers"
and Pound strechers TOMS.

but there ya go. im funny like that.

[Kanamori]

Bleugh, I'd do so many other things before Absinthe. Going nuts in a bad way, when I can still walk around decently, isn't my idea of fun.

[Ronin]

I don´t drink alcool so I´ve never tried the stuff ....even if it´s legal and sold oppenly over here...
There is however a famous Portuguese writter from about a century ago, Fernando Pessoa, story goes that he used to get smashed in the stuff before going back to his house and putting pen to paper....

Let me tell you something.....when you read his stuff it sure has hell shows the state he was in

[Ironside]

Well as mentioned here, it was an alcohol containing Thujone that became quite popular for the hallucinogenic properties and "insperational" properties, espicially amont painters, artists, etc. Creative people.
Heavy drinking of it did often cause severe brain damage after a while though, and it was the reason why it became illegal and fell out of use.

Nowadays the active substance (wormwood) has been removed in most cases and that type of absinthe is now legal (even in Sweden, sold at systembolaget).

It's green and quite strong, but I've only been in contact with it once personally.

[Brutus]

Why is all the good stuff illegal. So a few million people will get hooked and the crime rate will expontaly increase. I say we become more like the Dutch and put seeing blue rabbits and 12 breasted women aove the fabric of socitey!

Ironically absinthe was illegal in the Netherlands until last year.

[Duke Malcolm]

I've only had a few nips of absinthe, but it was rather tasty. I choked on the overwhelming taste of alcohol the first sip though. I didn't have enough to hallucinate or any such things...

I wouldn't go an buy it though, also since it is rather expensive in Tesco's... I'll stick to my cognac...

[Major Robert Dump]

Can someone tell me how much it costs on Pesos pls?

[RabidGibbon]

Off the back of a bottle my brother in law brought back from Prague:

Absinth 35 is a unique product containing herbs and spices. Thuyon contents: 35mg/kg. Excellent combination of herbs macerated in 70% fine grain spirit guarantees a top quality together with experience of thuyon "euphoria".

Whilst drinking it you could take a sip and hold it in your mouth, wait for it to evaporate and inhale it (Then run around the room squealing "Ahhh It burns it burns us!"). It did have a kind of aniseedy aftertaste, although mainly it tasted of.... well 70% spirit. As for any "euphoria" we only ever cracked it open at the end of a night when we were all normally pretty "euphoric" to begin with.

[Fragony]

It isn't that hot, you can buy it just about everywhere here. It gives a mild high for a 5 minutes or so.

[Kagemusha]

And a terrible hang over. We have had this tradition with my friends that in summer when we go to the Rock festivals.We always have one bottle of that stuff with us last summer in the festival i was also, nobody touched that stuff.Its great stuff when you have little but try to boose yourself up with other boose and then have some Absinth as the last few shots.Pleasent dreams and even more pleasant hangover.