Jimbo's Absinthe

[Rastus]

I am following this thread, as i was looking at the fountains and other such paraphernalia, drooling, and it occurred to me...

I would have to craft it out of copper....

i really love that style though, like art nouveau has always had a soft spot in my heart.

[confederatecondenser]

I hope everyone keeps the info. flowing. My wife has enjoyed absinthe in her travels and would like me to make some.
I am educated on the art of distilling many types of grain alcohol. Thats what I like. There is no real absinthe available stateside ( so I have been told ). I have never tasted absinthe in my life.
I started not to ask this question because it sounds really shallow but here it is. How in the heck am I going to tweak out a method to make a genuine product if I have no idea of what the real deal taste like? There is not a doubt in my mind that I can master this. How do you get from point A to point B if you have no clue what point B is? I know you are thinking just tweak it out until your bride likes it. Thats my likely avenue. The thing is I like to do things right, it has been many years since my bride drank the stuff so I do not think she would be a good critique to judge the finished product. When and if I ever share it with friends I must be confident that it is the real deal. How in the hell am I supposed to figure that out, short of flying overseas and hitting a pub? Thanx

[Jimbo]

Absinthe is no longer banned in the states. There's a few distillers around the country that make it. Do some searches to find availability of one or more of them in your area and pick up a bottle or 2. The taste is very similar to Pastis. Ricard and Pernod are the 2 top brands. They are also available, maybe try one of them, or have yoru wife try to see if she likes. Im partial to Ricard of the 2. Pastis is licorice tasting and louches with water just like absinthe, altho its Star Anise based, while Absinthe is Green Anise based.

Lets us know how your investigations and taste tests go. Im really happy with the recipe I posted here, and the botanical bill isint huge, all except the green mint was ordered from starwest online. You could whip it up without any reference, as done below, and see what she thinks too, another option

[gumbl]

Thanks bushman. Looks like he never came back and gave us his recipe. I'll keep my eye peeled. And another beautiful absinthe dispenser artwork thing there, wow. I must get me one of them.

Devotus' recipe: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=28658 - must say it worked great for me

[RandyMarshCT]

I can't believe how absent the flavor of mint was in this! Also, big difference in the color from when you first made it to now. Your original looks very much like the Jade N.O., more-so than any other absinthe I have. In my experiments this coming fall I'm going straight off your recipe, but subbing the fresh aniseed increase for the star anise.

[Jimbo]

wasnt much mint at all, didnt use it for flavor, only for color. Next time Ill add a little lemon juice to the color jar to help make it more colorfast, before adding it back to the main batch. The natural green goes away pretty quick, more so in a sunlit room, but even in my dark storage shelf it dissipated over a couple years.

The mint is not a traditional way to color absinthe, I think hyssop is traditional. Not sure if hyssop green is more colorfast or not.

RandyMarsh make sure you check out Bluto's fine recipe too... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... e&start=30

[skow69]

Traditional coloring herbs are Roman Wormwood (Artimesia Pontica), hyssup, and Melissa (lemon balm) in equal amount.

[skow69]

Sorry. Just FYI.

There may be a better description for some creations. By all means, make what you like to drink, but maybe it's a pastis, maybe it's besk, maybe absinth, wormwood schnaaps, absente, aromartemis, anisette, etc. Everything green doesn't have to be absinthe. Even though there is no legal definition, the form has been recognized for a long time. As one deviates farther and farther from traditional ingredients and processes, at some point you're making bourbon without corn. It's still whiskey, it's just not bourbon. If you really want to make bourbon, wouldn't it be worthwhile to get some corn?

[Fidel Naidoo]

Good day to all !!

I'm sorry that I have not made intro yet ( which I will do just now ), but this discussion has fired me up to ask questions.
Jimbo, first, beautifully done.
I got into distilling only to make absinthe. I have made some bad ones ( straight back into the still with them ), and I've made some not so bad ones. The recipes I followed were all from original pre-ban times, and for commercial distillers. ( put 4 dozenweight fennel into 48 gallons, etc, etc ..... ) so I had to scale them down.
Truth is, I have not made an absinthe to rival my favourite commercial one. ( The only absinthe commercially made in the southern hemisphere - 'Field of Dreams' - the owner gave me tour of his farm and distillery, but gave no secrets away ).

OK, coloring is a thing - by 'coloring jar' I assume you mean that you have a jar that you pour absinthe into, add the mint, leave, then filter the absinthe back into a bottle? Does that lemon juice work?
Reading the recipes here, I see that I've grossly under-used anise and fennel - trouble is, it's the only herb I have to buy, because I grow everything else. (AA, Lemon Balm, veronica, sweet flag, angelica, hyssop, mint, and one or 2 local herbs that are really good .. ). So I buy online, and get very expensive tiny < gram ziplock packets of seeds..... I have written to one supplier about buying in bulk, and he has written back in the affirmative, with a good price, so that's in the mail, as we speak.

Anyway, to all absinthe makers - keep up the good work to always make one better than the last!!!

My 2 latest products, strictly for domestic use ....

I go now to intros ........

[Fidel Naidoo]

OK, my finishers .......

That's Lemon Balm, Mint, and one you guys won't know.....Confetti Bush. ( Coleonema album ). This is what the distiller whose absinthe I want to emulate pointed out me as one of his ingredients. It's local to Southern Africa, flowers throughout the year ( winter here still ), and if you crush it's leaves in your fingers you get the smell of mint, lemon, and almost liquorice, all in one, an almost exciting smell.

I put a touch of lemon juice in, as per Jimbo, to try and keep the green color. Here's hoping this one is what I'm trying to get ........

[Jimbo]

Sorry. Just FYI.

There may be a better description for some creations. By all means, make what you like to drink, but maybe it's a pastis, maybe it's besk, maybe absinth, wormwood schnaaps, absente, aromartemis, anisette, etc. Everything green doesn't have to be absinthe. Even though there is no legal definition, the form has been recognized for a long time. As one deviates farther and farther from traditional ingredients and processes, at some point you're making bourbon without corn. It's still whiskey, it's just not bourbon. If you really want to make bourbon, wouldn't it be worthwhile to get some corn?

There's some historical recipes here with mint used for coloring. Apparently historical absinthes werent true to historical form either. Or maybe form is looser than some want to believe, The Holy Trinity of herbs in Absinthe is always grande wormwood, green anise, and florence fennel. Aside from that it's clearly pretty loose. http://www.feeverte.net/recipes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Just like in Bourbon, As long as you have 51% corn and age it in a new American white oak charred barrel, the rest of the recipe can be pretty much whatever you want it to be, barley malt, wheat, rye, millet (Koval), you name it. Its still very much a bourbon.

[skow69]

You are correct in that anything alcoholic with anise flavor and a sprig of wormwood in it has some claim to the name absinthe. And I should not concern myself with labels. If there is a point to be made, it will surely be expressed in the quality of the spirit.

Regarding the historical recipes at La Fee Verte: 9 out of 9 use the lesser wormwood, 8 out of 9 use hyssup, 8 out of 9 use Melissa. 2 out of 9 use mint, and then it is in addition to the other three. These herbs round out the flavor and add complexity. That is why they are sometimes called the finishing herbs. Green food coloring would be easier, but it wouldn't complete the flavor profile. In fact, the treatises tell us that many absinthes in the Belle Epoche were colored with salts of copper or even antimony. This was considered an unscrupulous practice used by ripoff artists who made the cheapest and poorest quality product.

I think most of us verify this with every batch. I, for one, always prepare a dose of the perfumed spirit, right out of the still, to sample while I do the coloring. I usually finish it just in time to try the finished verte. The difference between them is striking.

We should also note that a blanche style absinthe is not just a verte that skipped the coloring step. Le Bleue recipes always include substantial amounts of A. pontica and hyssup in the maceration, as much or more than what is used for coloring, because some flavor is lost to distillation.

I'm just saying that I think an HG needs these three herbs to be the best it can be.

Skol,
skow

[Jimbo]

My only point Skow is I put the herb bill together carefully after lots of reading. Not only only the holy Trinity but others too. Sounded like you were quick to say its not absinthe cause I used mint for the clorophyl green. Others did too back when. No worries nothing wrong with being a purist sometimes. I'm often guilty too. Next batch I'll make sure I bump the bill and have appropriate green stuff. It's all a learning experience

[skow69]

As much as I love to talk about absinthe, I hate this position I always get myself into: trying to walk the line between being the helpful guy with good information and the obnoxious absinthe snob. I hope I don't come off like a complete asshole.

[skow69]

Before I leave asshole town, I've been wondering, where did you get the idea that cloves and black pepper were a good idea? Maybe you hit a bunch of the internet-nutso sites in your research. Absinthe has way more than its share of fucked up information floating around.

[skow69]

Just to be clear. I've got nothing against mint. I use it myself. It's the absence of pontica, hyssup, and Melissa that will prevent you from making great absinthe.

In My not so Humble Opinion.

Skol

[MichiganCornhusker]

You aren't in asshole town, Skow, you are the town crier for absinthe town, and we're grateful for it!

[skow69]

Let's clear the air. The thing is, Jimbo, that you're Jimbo, and nobody on this board is going to criticize anything you do, because you do such a damn good job of everything you do. But that also means that anything you say will be taken as God's Own Truth, and spread like wildfire. Look at the guys who are convinced, sight unseen, that your absinthe is better than anything ever made commercially. And how many guys are ready to copy your recipe without doing even another minute's worth of research?

Now I believe that you did your research with all due diligence, but I think you got a bum steer along the way. It's hard not to with absinthe. I wish I had all the money back that I spent on crapsinthe in the beginning. At least you just got a bogus recipe, you didn't get suckered in to buying a bottle of King of Spirits.

That's my point and I won't mention it again.

[Jimbo]

I'll write an edit/addendum for the recipe and have a mod paste it in.

[skow69]

I got nothin' but love for ya, brother.

[Lowjack]

I thought I read that you had several people's opinions along with your own opinion that the batch turned out favorable, if not extremely favorably. I'm new to this place and have just been dissecting all these absinthe threads for recipe herb reports and opinions on what worked for you. So I'm not familiar with Jimbo or any of his past works. But I did see that he gave it a thumbs up (didn't he), and aside from it being a non-traditional recipe it's not anything unsafe and the weights to the herbs are within the correct perameters to grab his curiosity. The whole fresh mint substitute for pontica, hyssop, Melissa sounds good to me. Good discussion in this thread.