Ah, Absinthe - recently made legal again in the United States. After many experiences with different types of Absinthe over the past 8 years or so I've unfortunately come to the conclusion that the wonderful thing about Absinthe is its mystique. It always comes in a beautiful bottle with a fancy, often art-nouveau label. It's never a boring color - sometimes it's bright green, sometimes red or blue or yellow. Most Absinthes turn opaque and milky like magic when ice water is added. Finally, with a 60%+ alcohol content you're sure to catch a buzz - or simply black out. As for the taste, think Jaegermeister without the sugar mixed with the old-fashioned amber-colored Listerine your grandmother used to keep in her medicine cabinet. In my opinion, there's almost no amount of sugar and/or water that can be added to a glass of Absinthe to make it actually palatable. Finally, at $40 and up for a 750ml bottle at the local liquor store this isn't "Two Buck Chuck."
So sayeth me. The video above is a light look at a Slate correspondent's experience.
How about you? Have you experienced any Absinthe magic? [Slate.com]
Comments (29)
Really strong alcohol - yay. Why do we need to numb our senses to have a good time, anyways? Ooh, Oscar Wilde did it.
Sounds like drug-culture wannabes.
I absolutely detest videos made like this - jerky camera movements, jump cuts, arbitrary zooming. Ick. They're trying to make something really lame, moderately interesting - at least visually.
French new wave was cool. This sucks.
Where's my vodka?
If it should be done, go out and do it. If it shouldn't be done, go out and stop it. If you can do neither, maybe no one else can. Perhaps you can learn to live without (or with) it.