Absinthe?

[AggieDave 6]

Any of yall have any experience with this stuff? During the past couple of days I've researched a bit about this banned drink and found it sort of intreging, albight illegal to buy in most of the western world. Though, I have found quite a few different recipes for creating this drink and am toying with the idea of home-brewing some up.
Interestingly enough is looking at the culture that surrounded this drink along with the people that it influenced. All of this taken together with the general world situation during the turn of the century (1900) is very interesting (remember, I'm a History major and dig this sort of thingThoughts, experiences, etc?
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."

[QuickDraw 0]

Mmmmm.....homebrew....You gotta make make some Dave,
for research purposes of course.... it may be worth coming to Texas just to help you with that research.
..Billions of people living out their lives..Oblivious..

[Haeloth 0]

I think it is legal in the UK, nobody used it, so they didn't bother banning it. A friend tried it in Prauge, it was like 80% alcohol, I don't think he got any funny hallucinations from it.
Didn't a lot of of the drinkers die from mercury poisoning or something?
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[jtval 0]

isnt it EASY to kill yourself wqhile drinking that stuff?! hmmm only heard about it in movies!
getting high is fun, but coming down is the best part
JT

[Haeloth 0]

I don't think it was that unusual for late 19th century artists and bohemes to kill themselves. Some of them where also heavy absinthe users.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

your supposed to have a tea spoon of suger and heat it up, then have that with the absinthe. It is legal again in the UK. In some clubs I've been to, they put a stamp on your hand to stop you having more than one, as a lot of people can't handle it.
When you participate in sporting events, its not whether you win or loose, its how drunk you get.

[steve1 5]

I've been experimenting with some home brew myself. I've got nothing better to do since I can't jump due to cold weather. I mix a bottle of beer with about 12 viagra tablets. With this mixture you can literally poor yourself a stiff one. "Annonimous" (is that spelled right?)

[BenW 0]

Try not to lose your ears when you drink the stuff - Van Gogh chopped one of his ears off when under the influence of Absinthe...
I've tried the stuff a few times - mixed with Vodka and flaming - It does indeed do strange things to your perception...
The bohemes used to use it to enhance their creative talents - seemed to work. It is mildly toxic and promotes hallucination/flights of fancy!
Great stuff!
B.

[indyz 1]

Check out the Straight Dope web site. Run a search for absinthe in the archives. From what I gathered, it's psychoactive and can cause grand mal seizures. I personally wouldn't screw around with it.
--
Brian

[AggieDave 6]

  Quote

can cause grand mal seizures

That sounds exciting...*doh*
Yeah, I was just curious if anyone had personal experience with it. Some of the stuff that they are saling in the UK right now isn't true Absinthe, it's close, but the makers cut corners with ingredients and such so it isn't the same as the stuff they served around the turn of the century.
As for serving it (as someone mentioned), you're supposed to drink it by putting a shot of it in a glass (an Absinthe glass looks sort of like an old timey ice cream glass), put a perferated spoon over the top that has a tablespoon of sugar and pour a cup of chilled water over it, into the shot. You're not supposed to drink it straight.
Yeah, a lot of the famous artists from that time period (just about every one of them actually) drank this stuff religiously, so like everything else, too much=bad...
*shrug* Who knows.
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."

[jtval 0]

whew. I would stay away from it Personally but uh, whatever you decide. use it conservatively
getting high is fun, but coming down is the best part
JT