Simple Pontarlier Absinthe

[kaseijin]

This is a very broad, general Pontarlier-style absinthe recipe that can be used as a starting point for experimenting/development. It's simple, clean, and is a good enough absinthe on its own. Quantity as written is for a 20L alembic (not a full charge -- leave some headroom).




MACERATION

6 L base spirit at 80%
8 oz dried Artemisia absinthium: flowering stalks.
16 oz fennel doux
14 oz green anise seed

Macerate this in the pot for at least 12 hours, up to two days. Important to use dried herbs so that they don't affect your proof during maceration.




DISTILLATION

After maceration, add blanquette/tails from previous batch, and add water to the pot. The exact amount of water is one of those closely guarded things for a lot of folks. I've played with different amounts of water, listened to advice on forums, conferred with a very sage mentor, and I have my own personal preferences. I don't really feel right divulging that detail (in part given that my philosophy in this area is influenced by others who expressly do not share this detail. One doesn't betray trust.), but I can say that I would not go *below* 3 liters of water when considering a maceration of 6 liters base spirit - 50% is minimum. Don't want the pot to run dry!

Tails are fairly key, as well. Your first batch may not louche as well as you might hope, but subsequent batches will. Anethol, which is responsible in large part for the louche, tends to come over in its largest quantities late in tails. That's why you save this and use it from batch to batch.

Using steam or water, slowly bring your kettle up to temp. If you're using pre-cleaned neutral spirit, your foreshots should be fairly negligible.

You'll collect around 6 L, all told, plus some tails. First couple of runs, you might want to collect in fractions. Tails should start presenting sometime during the 6th liter -- ideally toward the middle/end, cut where you feel good about it. Takes some practice to get right, and personal preference factors in a good deal. Keep distilling and collecting tails until your charge will no longer accept heat from the steam. If not using steam...collect down to say 20%? Set the tails aside for your next batch.




COLORATION

Reserve one liter of your distillate and gently warm (covered) on the stove. Once warm, but before simmering, remove from the heat. To this add between 2-6 grams each of Artimisia pontica, hyssop, and lemon balm (Melissa). I give a range here because this is pretty much personal preference; some folks like a strong color and taste of these herbs, and some like it dialed back. Play with it and see what works for you.

Once the colored fraction is clarified according to your method of choice, add it back to the remainder of your distillate. Let all of this sit for around 3 months or so to settle, then cut down to 72% using filtered water.

You should be good to go!

[kaseijin]

A quick detail as well -- for coloration, if a starting point is needed...

My ratio of coloring herbs per liter of distillate is:

6 grams lemon balm
5 grams pontica
2 grams hyssop


I left it open, though, because it really is personal. I've gone 6 grams on all, boosted hyssop, etc., and it always comes out good. Slightly different, but good. These are kinda like your salt and pepper, in a manner of speaking.

[Jimbo]

Nice writeup, thanks.

Almost 5 'pounds' of herbs in 6 liters? Is the maceration a paste? I did roughly half a pound in 6 liters and there was a healthy pile soaking in the jug, and the spirit came out really nice, and louches just fine. ? http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... &mode=view

[Bushman]

Thanks kaseijin, we now have several (at least 4) absinthe recipes! Might be nice to start a spreadsheet with the different recipes for a comparison.

[kaseijin]

Oh snap. That's what I get for posting at work. Those amounts are actually from my notes for a double maceration. It should be a total of around 2.5, which is probably still eye-popping. Lemme edit that. Embarrassing

Yeah, it's heavy on herbs for sure. Not really a paste, per se, as I don't grind anything -- but it's definitely full of twigs and seeds. Makes a very fragrant product. Give it a shot

You've kinda got me thinking, though, how low I could get those quantities and still achieve the same effect.

[Black Eye]

I've been Lurking around these Absinthe Posts for quite sometime.

Thanks for giving us your .02 I've been reading so much on the absinthe topic, I was torn as to which recipe was really going to get me where I wanted to go. I saw a couple manuals up on the Absinthe Museum that had some Herb Bills that were far and above what I've been seeing in the recipes on HD. The weights in your recipe seem to match " giving rough calculations and some rounding"

Question? Jimbo had good results with a smaller bill but a longer maceration time. Any thoughts on that. Smaller Herb bill, longer Maceration time.... comparable/inferior product?

My neutral stock is pretty sad, so it's been more of a day dream, than a solid plan at this point.... but it keeps me busy at work.

[Jimbo]

I've been Lurking around these Absinthe Posts for quite sometime.

Thanks for giving us your .02 I've been reading so much on the absinthe topic, I was torn as to which recipe was really going to get me where I wanted to go. I saw a couple manuals up on the Absinthe Museum that had some Herb Bills that were far and above what I've been seeing in the recipes on HD. The weights in your recipe seem to match " giving rough calculations and some rounding"

Question? Jimbo had good results with a smaller bill but a longer maceration time. Any thoughts on that. Smaller Herb bill, longer Maceration time.... comparable/inferior product?

My neutral stock is pretty sad, so it's been more of a day dream, than a solid plan at this point.... but it keeps me busy at work.

I also put all the herbs and seeds through the coffee mill to chop them up. Personally, I think its not at all an inferior product, been enjoying the hell out of it. I have no reference point to Absinthe tho, but I have drank many bottles of Pastis over the years. And this is tastier than Ricard or Pernod, IMO. Lots more going on with the diverse herb bill.

[kaseijin]

I've heard/read a fair bit of discussion about the merits of grinding vs. not grinding vs. everything between, and I basically agree with jimdo64: I've personally seen no huge discernable difference. Neither method seems to make a superior or inferior product.

That's led me to just not bother.

[kaseijin]

Oh, and particular to the maceration time vs. amount of herbs...

I've thought about that before, but never formally tried it. In the beginning, I did double macerations to use up all the herbs I bought, so half would sit for an extra day. Once, I got busy, stashed a jug of macerate aside, and promptly forgot about it for a month.

Didn't seem to me to be affected. But it also had a lot of herbs in it, and could have saturated fairly quickly. My general feeling (again, untested) is that you could probably even get away without even macerating at all. You're distilling with the herbs in the pot, anyway -- I kind of doubt that if somebody put both a macerated and distilled absinthe, and one that was just distilled with digestion in front of me, I would be able to tell the difference.

Would be an interesting experiment.

[Jimbo]

Im very curious on the ideal quantity of herbs to use. Im very happy with my drink at 7 oz. Would love to try yours at 2.5 lbs to compare, but alas, the web brings us much closer than practical reality.

[Black Eye]

All this absinthe talk has me gearing up to make some neutral runs so I can start to play around.
I'm always looking for something to do with the mint and lemon balm growing in the yard now I'll be out there watching it grow with anticipation. Typically I run corn/grain runs. I might have to give that birds watchers recipe a go.

Do you find you have problems with the herbs burning in your boiler? I run a keg with an easy flange on it so its real hard to see what's going on in there. I've never run a boil with grain or herbs in it

Jimbo, maybe that journal bottle will be floating your way someday... Maybe your absinthe should make a voyage in the bottle

[kaseijin]

Do you find you have problems with the herbs burning in your boiler?

Used to use a bain marie, but now use a simple steam jacket -- never had problems with scorched herbs with that setup. Never tried direct heat; I'd be really careful about that.

[Jimbo]

Do you find you have problems with the herbs burning in your boiler?

Used to use a bain marie, but now use a simple steam jacket -- never had problems with scorched herbs with that setup. Never tried direct heat; I'd be really careful about that.

I left the head off my still while it was heating up, and stirred every few seconds with a long stick that reached the bottom. Then I threw the head on, once its boiling things stay stirred up.

[nabtastic]

Oh, and particular to the maceration time vs. amount of herbs...

I've thought about that before, but never formally tried it. In the beginning, I did double macerations to use up all the herbs I bought, so half would sit for an extra day. Once, I got busy, stashed a jug of macerate aside, and promptly forgot about it for a month.

Didn't seem to me to be affected. But it also had a lot of herbs in it, and could have saturated fairly quickly. My general feeling (again, untested) is that you could probably even get away without even macerating at all. You're distilling with the herbs in the pot, anyway -- I kind of doubt that if somebody put both a macerated and distilled absinthe, and one that was just distilled with digestion in front of me, I would be able to tell the difference.

Would be an interesting experiment.

Not all of the essential oils and various chemicals are volatile. e.g. Thujone only survives the distillation process in very minute amounts. Further, in many traditional absinthe recipes you would have 2 sets of herbs - one for distillation (producing a given flavour) and one for maceration (again, different flavour for different styles). Also, many large distilleries will macerate the herbs separately and then blend them to taste. Most herbs have different optimal maceration periods. wormwood is potent and only takes a few days. Honeysuckle typically takes a few weeks with multiple "refresher" maceration.

thats my .02.

[Alchemist]

For the fennel doux, is that fresh herb?

The coloring herbs, are all those dry herb?

I've searched around those are my educated guesses but....

Thanks

[PLAYMP]

For the fennel doux, is that fresh herb?

The coloring herbs, are all those dry herb?

I've searched around those are my educated guesses but....

Thanks

Typically we’re talking fennel seed

All the herbs in those 19th century recipes were usually dry. If you are using fresh herbs a general rule of thumb is to use 3x more than you would dry.