Absinthe Absinthe Absinthe

[skow69]

What is the purpose of veronica?

I need to take the time to learn these things. I'm just now realizing that herbs have specific purposes. I'll have to spend some time with that Modern Herbal book.

[sweeps]

Yes, Veronica officinalis = speedwell.

It's used medicinally to treat cough and cattarh and externally to treat skin problems. In absinthe, it's mostly used for its color, although it also brings slightly peppery herbal notes to the flavor. Supposedly, the green it brings tends to last longer then that of the other coloring herbs, although it's really easy to overdo it. The Duplais recipe for white absinthe includes it in the main maceration and I seem to recall that it's used in some vermouths.

My greens tend to last reasonably well. I usually include veronica in the coloring herbs, I bottle at 72% , I use dark brown bottle and I store in the dark. Not sure which of these is the biggest factor. All my vertes have held their color better than my one attempt at a rouge using hibiscus. It tasted good, but went from ruby red to peach in a relatively short time.

[sweeps]

Just ran a small batch of the Nimes recipe.

[skow69]

Black Alder or elecampane?

[sweeps]

Elecampane.

I did some Googling and found I'm not the first person to notice the elecampane/black alder confusion. There are several posts about it on the Wormwood Society forums.

[skow69]

I'm a little surprised at that, since they are so adamant about discouraging any talk of home distilling. How do you like it?

My poplar, arnica, and angelica arrived. Here we go.

[sweeps]

I think there are a couple of licensed distillers on that forum, but to be honest, I don't really spend any time there.

Good luck with your Chartreuse.

[skow69]

I used to spend a lot of time there. The guy who makes Ridge was an official, also Marteau. Pacifique showed up sometimes and Delaware Phoenix. Some others, too. COs were actually well represented, considering all the drama and infighting that seemed to go on.

But actually I meant to ask how you liked the elecampane. LOL I was tired.

[sweeps]

It's probably too early to tell (I haven't colored it yet), but the most noticeable thing in the aroma is that the anise is downplayed slightly and there is a very strong top note from the wormwood, but I guess that is not too surprising given the recipe.

More when I've got it colored.

[skow69]

Ya, looks like it might be hard to get a good louche, too. I struggle with the louche, but I like it thick and milky. I have no patience with wimpy, thin louched absinthe.

[skow69]

So sweeps, have you make a batch of each of the geographical variations. I started with the standard Pontarlier and went immediately out into left field. I suppose all those experiments were actually based on the others, though. I didn't do anything that hadn't been done.

[skow69]

Success! The mythical elixer of the Carthusian monks is a reality. Well, the perfumed spirit at least. Yet to be sweetened and colored. I had to sample a shot, of course, being the virgin batch. This is my first experience with herbal liquor other than absinthe, and it certainly is different. Very dominant hyssup, but very pleasant. Better finish it up and try the whole package.

Sweeps, how do you prefer to drink it?

[sweeps]

Ya, looks like it might be hard to get a good louche, too.

Yup. After coloring, I took a small sample and diluted it. Almost no louche at all and very little mouthfeel. I usually take my absinthe without sugar, as I find that the anise brings enough sweetness to the drink, but not this one. Even with sugar, there was still very little body to the drink. Definitely the most disappointing absinthe I've made. Not sure what to do with it.

The weird thing is, I'm not a huge fan of anise flavor. I don't really like ouzo, sambuca, etc., but absinthe is appealing to me because of the herbal notes and I thought I might prefer the Nimes recipe for the higher wormwood content and reduced anise. I guess I was wrong. Maybe it would work better with fresher anise - now I think about it, this stuff has been stored very carefully, but it must be more than a year since I bought it. I don't know - chalk it up to experience, I guess.

[sweeps]

So sweeps, have you make a batch of each of the geographical variations.

Not really. I started with the Pontarlier from Duplais, then the Montpelier. Definitely preferred the latter, so I've more of less stuck with that. My favorite so far, though, was a batch of the white absinthe from Duplais, colored red with hibiscus. Lovely complex mix of flavors, although I think next time I'll leave it white. The hibiscus brought some nice tart fruity flavors, but the color had started to fade long before the drink had really mellowed out.

[sweeps]

Success!

Congrats!

I like a shot of it over a couple of ice cubes - that's a particularly nice way to end a meal. I also like a splash of it in some rum with a dash of lime juice. It goes really nicely in coffee too.

Whip up some yellow Chartreuse and you can make a Jewel of the Nile cocktail. 1 1/2 oz dry gin, 1/2 oz green, 1/2 oz yellow, shake with ice and strain into a glass.

[skow69]

Well, my first batch of Chartreuse is four days old, and I should prolly be doing the inaugural tasting, but some people came by, and we invented the Chartreuse milkshake. You can guess the rest. I have about half left. It is so much better than it was then.

It's a little sweet for my taste. I might use less sugar next time. Although everyone else said it was perfect, don't change a thing. I need to ramp up neutral production. I was barely keeping up with my absinthe habit.

I colored it (1 liter batch, about 48 oz. after sweetening) with 3g hyssup, 3g Mellissa, and 1 1/2g mint. It turned out a sort of tawney color, like a dirty gold.

So drop the other shoe, sweeps. What other amazing herbal spirits do you have tucked away in your recipe book? This all came about from an off-hand remark I made that I thought would fall by the wayside like all the rest. And it turned into the greatest discovery in years.

[sweeps]

Chartreuse milkshake?? I'm both horrified and yet somewhat intrigued.

Herbal liquers I've done so far - Chartreuse (green, yellow and white), Trappistine, Bénédictine, crème de menthe, Élixier Combier (I hope I'm getting all the accents in the right places), Liqueur du Mont-Dore, Anisette, plus a bunch of things that were just macerations. These were mostly out of Duplais.

Not tried yet, but plan on having a go at Carmelite water (eau de melisse) at some point and definitely one of the alpine liqueurs based around genipi.

[skow69]

Uh-huh. I knew it. I have a lot more research to do. Do you have any favorites in that list? I feel like I might have tapped into a whole new unexplored universe. The Chartreuse experiment exceeded my expectations by miles. I would like to say that it lives up to everything I have ever heard about Chartreuse, but then I remember that I have yet to try the real thing. Anyway, it is an excellent beverage that seems (to me, at least) to showcase the flavors that herbs can bring to the party. And I am keenly aware that my fake Chartreuse is still green. I guess I thought that absinthe represented all that herbal liquor had to say, but now I have to question that.

My garden is definitely going to look different this year. Besides the wormwoods, I'm considering planting, well, pretty much everything in my absinthe recipe. Wish me luck.

[sweeps]

Good luck! I'm just hoping that this winter hasn't killed a bunch more of my plants. Hopefully, those that survived last winter are capable of surviving pretty much any winter.

Out of those recipes that I've tried, the anisette is really the only one I didn't particuarly like. I was intrigued by the presence of tea and sassafras, but they were completely overwhelmed by the anise. It was also way too sweet. The white Chartreuse was too sweet for my tastes too, but the flavor is really good. The Trappistine and Combier both have a nicely balanced cardamom flavor and they mix nicely with gin. The crème de menthe was a very pleasant surprise. I did the second recipe from Robinet and the result was so different to the commercial fake green syrupy crap.

[skow69]

The Chartreuse is amazing. It keeps improving every day. It is no longer too sweet. I won't change the recipe. I ordered a bottle of the Real Thing, just couldn't stand not having a benchmark. If the home grown version had been just mediocre, it wouldn't have mattered, but this is so exceptional that I have to find out how much better the brothers of St. Bruno can make it. The vendor claims they age it in barrels for five years before bottling. Obviously, "the patience of a saint" is more than just a cliche for them. I love buying European liquor (read absinthe) but I hate paying the freight. Damn ocean.

It sounds like I was right about opening a new herbal universe. I am pretty well overwhelmed by the possibilities. Not a bad condition to be in, all in all.

I hope you guys in the east get a break in the weather pretty soon, at least long enough to dig out. Remember when we used to call it "global warming?" Seems pretty ironic now. Makes you wonder what other extremes are ahead that we can't predict yet.

[sweeps]

Yeah, I really don't mind winter, but record breaking weather every week is getting a bit much. Next week, our temperatures are forecast to soar to almost average, but I'll believe it when it happens.

I'll be very interested to hear how you think the Duplais fake compares with the real deal.

[Jimbo]

Yeah, I really don't mind winter, but record breaking weather every week is getting a bit much.

Amen to that. Was 2F here today. Cold is normal, its winter and we live in the north, but fuckinhellenoughalready

On topic with Absinthe, Im down to my last quart. Time to hit up the herb shops online again...

[skow69]

For Christ's sake, Jimbo, you live in a place called Iceland that's about 30 feet away from the north pole. The Vikings who colonized that rock must have been some tough bastards.

[astronomical]

My approach to absinthe was to make a palette of single herb macerations which were then redistilled. It allows me to make tons of blends on the small scale and try many crazy combinations. Unfortunately, my approach is rather non tradiitional, so, I dont have much to add. I dont particularly like anything black licorice flavored so I put in very little anise or fennel (if any). Thus, any purist would say I make some sort of herbal wormwood hooch. Well, I like it.

Regardless, I like blending drinks out of a palette. Its a lot of fun. I suggest it to anyone. I wish I was an OCD note taker, but, I;m not and replicability of the product would still require a similar palette. My paletter records amount of herb used in the macerations but we know herb potency and flavors fluctuate wildly.

[skow69]

Nothing wrong with herbal wormwood hooch. Besk is a very popular beverage in many places. I haven't tried it myself. I don't know anyone who has even heard of it and I certainly wouldn't pick one blindly off the shelf of the local state liquor store. If you tried that for absinthe, you'd end up with an Ordinaire or Absente, something barely fit for tails recycling.

As it happens, I'm in the midst of making some herbal extracts, myself, in hopes of learning to identify some of the individual flavors. Nothing I would dare call a palette.

[skow69]

Jimbo, have you built your new absinthe yet? My recipe has evolved some more, but maybe we could trade samples when you're ready? If the shipping to the north pole isn't too outrageous, that is. I was going to send a bottle to my daughter in Alaska a while back until I found out it would cost $65 to get it there. I decided it could wait until she came down to visit. Or I build up enough stock to send her a case.

[skow69]

Sweeps, my store bought Carthusian Chartreuse has arrived! It is a unique beverage with an intense flavor. I can see how it would develop a cult following.

First impressions:
It is a lovely, authentic looking shade of light green that, previously, I would have called peridot. I guess I now know, for the first time, what the color chartreuse looks like.
My HG is much sweeter than the CO, and more aromatic. The CO is drier and more bitter.
I find the dominant up front flavor of the two very similar. I think it is the genepi and maybe the hyssop coming through. After the first rush, mine just sort of fades pleasantly to oblivion. The CO actually builds intensity and variations come through. It hangs forever in my mouth and nose. Complexity and the advantage of age, I think.

I am frustrated by the limitations of my palate and my vocabulary for these things. In hopes of learning to identify ingredients, I am (as we speak) making extracts of mellissa, hyssop, angelica root, and genepi. 5 oz. batches, coming off the still around 70%. Micro batches are a super PITA. More later, I'm about 4 oz. deep in the HG and the CO. Tough job, but somebody.....

Skol

[sweeps]

Thanks Skow. It's been years since I had real Chartreuse. Maybe I should start dropping hints for my next birthday.

I took my not very successful Nimes attempt and sat it on some more anise overnight, than ran it again with some feints. Much improved. There's still a nice blast of wormwood, but the mouthfeel is much better and it now louches. Not an award-winning louche, but a louche nonetheless.

[skow69]

One of the coolest things about distilling. If things don't work out the way you thought, in most cases you can patch it up and try again. More activities should be so forgiving.

To be clear about the Chartreuse, I am mostly impressed by how close the initial flavor rush of the HG matches the real thing. I was not surprised to find that the CO was better, and I want to give the monks all due credit for making an excellent product (like they need my approval), but somebody did a great job of reverse engineering that recipe. As far as I can tell, the basic flavor is the same, the difference is all in the complexity and polish, which are truly amazing. I don't think I have ever tasted anything that captured my interest and attention any more than this does when it hits my taste buds, and that includes all of the Jades and the Delaware Phoenix products as well. That's the highest praise I can give. That being said, it would be fun to age the HG for 3 years and then compare them.

[sweeps]

.. somebody did a great job of reverse engineering that recipe.

I had a few spare minutes today, so I did a quick hunt through Google books to see if I could find an earlier source than Duplais for those recipes. No luck, but I did find what claims to be the source of that weird recipe in Bonnor-Petit:

https://books.google.com/books?id=dM9IA ... &q&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I don't know anything about the author, but he claims to have devised this recipe and that most people prefer it to the previous ones. Actually, the others are a bit different from the Duplais versions. They all use wormwood, rather than genipi and the green also includes juniper berries. There's a couple of absinthe recipes in the book too.