#ABSINTHE PERCENTAGE FULL#

Whether you prefer to call it a carrot-on-a-stick or a full-on bribe, it worked. And I think this was their last-ditch (and generous!) effort to help me suck it up before they just tossed in the towel and let me sink on my own. You see, I was a lousy student, headed for mountains of mediocrity. Lucky me!īack in the day (like, when people still used Travelers Cheques) my parents struck a deal with me: finish college and they’d pick up the tab on airfare to and from Europe. Quite greedily, I’ve managed to sample a taste of almost all the recipes Caroline makes for Pickled Plum before they’re published. Heck, I haven’t even introduced myself yet.Īnd, while you don’t hear from me much, I work behind the scenes at Pickled Plum. Aussie Justin did the ordering.Īfter he dipped a large sugarcube in the wormwood infused absinthe – then placed the drenched cube on the slotted absinthe spoon atop the glass and set it on fire, I could see the bartender shaking his head.Ī patron at the table sitting next to us said, “You’re doing that wrong.”īut maybe I should back up to the beginning.

#ABSINTHE PERCENTAGE FULL#

We made our way to a dark bar with illuminated bottles full of greenish spirits on display. “Yeah – you burn a sugarcube and drop it into this green drink – and you might hallucinate green fairies,” he said in all earnestness. ( In all fairness, I didn’t know he was wrong about some of this stuff until later.) at the time, it wasn’t widely legal), he then went a bit off the rails. It is a drink – a spirit actually – and 2. You see, in the late 90s, absinthe wasn’t legal in the US or much of Europe, but it was A-OK in Spain a fact Justin the Aussie barbarian knew well.Īnd while he was right about those facts (1. He had downed, like, three since I arrived at the small terrace bar in Plaça de George Orwell in Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) 30 minutes prior. And I was wondering how many beers he had managed to consume before I met up with him. “The green fairy,” said the Australian with the nose that sat sideways on his face from one too many rugby scrums. Exquisite flavor – and makes a great gift! Image by: Absinthe – 10 Facts and Myths About The Green Fairy Learn all about absinthe, and how a once celebrated spirit went from banned substance to reborn. Pernod was just one producer that switched to Pastis production and many Pastis would have a similar but less bitter taste than Absinthe.Whether you think of Absinthe as a creativity spawning elixir, or just a super delicious drink, there’s no denying that the green fairy is cloaked in a bit of mystery. Pastis is a natural off-shoot of Absinthe and was originally made as an alternative after the banning of wormwood-containing Absinthe. Now legal again in most countries it makes an interseting drink and has a unique taste. That is not to say that it should be approached with caution! Some of them can be very strong and need to be diluted with ice, water or other mixers to make them palatable. As it turns out Absinthe is no more dangerous than any other alcohol. Rumour and speculations of this kind led to it being banned in many countries in the early 20th century and eventually it pretty much disappeared. It is traditionally made with wormwood, anise, fennel and other flavouring herbs and has been said at various times to be dangerous and/or having the effect of a psychoactive drug. Absinthe is the father of Pastis and was first produced in the Canton of Neuchatel in Switzerland.

Absinthe percentage