NationStates Jolt Archive

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?

Drink enough of it and you see pixies......

....damn little elves... :mad:

I had it once...I was already drunk, but I noticed it was a little different, somehow. Hard to describe.

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?

I think most bars and clubs here only sell 2 shots of absinthe to each person. Its seriously strong stuff. You can almost feel your toes burning

Can't get it LEGALLY. There are plenty of bars that'll serve you on the sly. My brother was a big fan of absinthe (though I never tried). He said it was like how you feel drinking too much codeine cough syrup, and then getting drunk. Kind of like a hallucinatory, high drunk.

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?

im'e not opressed...or at least not to my knowledge..and if you are in the land of the free you would be able to buy such a substance....anyway6 i am sure that there isnt much of a diference it may not take so long though

I had a shot of the 85% stuff when I was basically sober.


My stomach rejected it.

Kind of like a hallucinatory, high drunk.

Sortof. It was more of a "fuzzy" drunk for me.

Two Americans came into my bar once, spotted a bottle of Czech Absinthe on the shelf- and proceeded to do shot after shot after shot.......after......shot..... until they drainied the bottle.... unbelievable..

Get a teaspoon of sugar, heat it with a flame (kinda like, em, herion...) until the sugar liqufies and then drop into the shot glass and stir.

Down it and try to hold onto the barstool :D

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe.

i thought you could get it legally in new orleans..... maybe i'm wrong....

im'e not opressed...or at least not to my knowledge..and if you are in the land of the free you would be able to buy such a substance....anyway6 i am sure that there isnt much of a diference it may not take so long though
I was being, uh, ironic I guess.

It can be bought in the States really easily.

Shipping charges are a bitch if you want the bottle intact.

i thought you could get it legally in new orleans..... maybe i'm wrong....
I've never been to New Orleans.

It's dangerous shit. Only had it once, brought it right back up. The hallucinogenic stuff is illegal in the UK, but can be obtained illegally without too much trouble. Otherwise it's possible to get hold legally of absinthe without whatever ingredient it is that makes the other stuff mind-altering in ways other than those of ordinary drunkenness.

i thought you could get it legally in new orleans..... maybe i'm wrong....

you can get anything in new orleans...i bought a t-shirt with an alligator on it :)

Two Americans came into my bar once, spotted a bottle of Czech Absinthe on the shelf- and proceeded to do shot after shot after shot.......after......shot..... until they drainied the bottle.... unbelievable..

Get a teaspoon of sugar, heat it with a flame (kinda like, em, herion...) until the sugar liqufies and then drop into the shot glass and stir.

Down it and try to hold onto the barstool :D

i think fairy liquid is added sometimes.... or is that another drink i'm thinking about....

you can get anything in new orleans...i bought a t-shirt with an alligator on it :)

a live one? :eek:

Get a teaspoon of sugar, heat it with a flame (kinda like, em, herion...) until the sugar liqufies and then drop into the shot glass and stir.

Down it and try to hold onto the barstool :D

We did that with the 89.9% stuff we got in Majorca. On its own it's like drinking paint thinner - put the sugar in it and, for some reason, it's a whole different ball game. It's more like being on a trip than like being drunk, and I recommend everybody tries it at least once. But with the real stuff, not the 40% might-as-well-drink-Vodka stuff you get in the supermarket.

a live one? :eek:

unfortunatly not :( only a picture..although i saw you could by these foam alligators that grew in water :)

The extra ingredient which causes the hallucinogenic efects is 'Oil of Wormwood'.


"Absinthe makes the mind go wander." ;)

Awww, man, you're missing a treat! I know the 'lord of my local pub on a personal level, and he has been known to allow certain 'after hours facilities', which seem to take place a few days after he finished brewing up Absinthe. Strange co-incidence that.
Hmmm, you know sometimes cheap vodka makes your head go warm and your ears warm up? Imagine that over your whole body for about a minute for every couple of shots you do. Strong stuff I can tell you. Best thing is, the last time I was there we also had a healthy rationing of Mescal to pass the time, neither of which make me violently ill (in the morning that is) like lager does.
3 cheers for alchohol and tobacco!

i think fairy liquid is added sometimes.... or is that another drink i'm thinking about....

...don't do that. REALLY, don't do that. Just erase the idea from your mind, and replace it with the idea of this website (http://www.kittenbreak.com).

When I took my shot, we didn't bother with the sugar and things. I just took it and threw it back. Sadly it caught in my mouth for a second. Long enough for my mouth to feel like it had caught fire.

...don't do that. REALLY, don't do that. Just erase the idea from your mind, and replace it with the idea of this website (http://www.kittenbreak.com).

kittens!!!

I so want to try that.

However, I heard that the stuff they sell at the LCBO isn't real absinthe, that is it's missing the nice hallucinogenic ingredient and I don't want to blow $80 on a bottle of booze.

Aslong as it has Wormwood oil in it your in for a good ol' night...Just check the back of the bottle?

Aslong as it has Wormwood oil in it your in for a good ol' night...Just check the back of the bottle?
Okies.

It's still $80 that I don't have. Perhaps I'll wait until my birthday and put the money I get then towards that.

We can buy it here in New Zealand but since it contains no wormwood it's really just absinthe-flavoured spirirts. Strong but unlikely to make you cut off your ear and mail it to someone.

We can buy it here in New Zealand but since it contains no wormwood it's really just absinthe-flavoured spirirts. Strong but unlikely to make you cut off your ear and mail it to someone.
The thing then becomes, what's the point then?

Half the point of absinthe is the hallucination. In my opinion, at least.

I used to use everclear, 95%pure grain alcohol, to extract the THC from cheap weed, evaporate away all the alcohol and water, and either smoke it or drop some into a bottle of vodka. That stuff used to be pretty potent. I wonder if Absinth would be simialr?

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?
from my experiences with it, i got drunk in discrete steps, not a smooth passage to drunkenness as usual. it was wierd - every few minutes i'd jump up to another step of drunkenness until i was absolutley fucking hammered.
a friend of mine drank most of a bottle (that was mine damnit :mad: ) and he couldn't walk... and he was something of a drinker, too


I used to use everclear, 95%pure grain alcohol, to extract the THC from cheap weed, evaporate away all the alcohol and water, and either smoke it or drop some into a bottle of vodka. That stuff used to be pretty potent. I wonder if Absinth would be simialr?
ooh i gotta come to a party round yours! :eek:

edit: i don't think it'd be much like absinthe, but it'd sure be good! some friends of mine made weed vodka once and it was indeed... good :P

Two Americans came into my bar once, spotted a bottle of Czech Absinthe on the shelf- and proceeded to do shot after shot after shot.......after......shot..... until they drainied the bottle.... unbelievable..

Get a teaspoon of sugar, heat it with a flame (kinda like, em, herion...) until the sugar liqufies and then drop into the shot glass and stir.

Down it and try to hold onto the barstool :D

First remember to dip the spoon in the absinthe, THEN in the sugar.
BTW, try to use a silver spoon. Preferably a decorative one with holes in it. :)

BTW: Absinthe was banned in the USA in 1905.

Its just strong alcohol laced with a neurotoxin. Reports about it's hallucinogenic properties are little more than half truths and urban legends. Do a little research and you'll find this out quickly (or try it out yourself and you'll see). It is banned in many countries because it contains chemicals unsafe for human consumption (neurotoxins). Interestingly enough, the US has a drink that is more powerful than absinthe and does not contain neurotoxins. The Europeans have nothing special in absinthe. Let them drink their absinthe and cause themselves serious nerve damage. If you wanna get just as drunk as them on stuff that's even stronger, just drink Everclear.

Its just strong alcohol laced with a neurotoxin. Reports about it's hallucinogenic properties are little more than half truths and urban legends. Do a little research and you'll find this out quickly (or try it out yourself and you'll see). It is banned in many countries because it contains chemicals unsafe for human consumption (neurotoxins). Interestingly enough, the US has a drink that is more powerful than absinthe and does not contain neurotoxins. The Europeans have nothing special in absinthe. Let them drink their absinthe and cause themselves serious nerve damage. If you wanna get just as drunk as them on stuff that's even stronger, just drink Everclear.
Everclear's not for drinkin'. It's a solvent for extracting chemicals from plants and cleaning weed resin off of smoking devices.

Once some friends of mine tried to make everclear jello shots. They didn't gel.

I bought a bottle in Prague back in 2001. Right on the label (in Czech, of course), they tell you not to drink too much of it. It was only available in 500ml and 750ml bottles.

It's a light blue color, kind of like Bombay Saphire Gin.

I would NEVER to shots of it. That's not the way you're supposed to... it's like doing shots of brandy: just wrong.

In case you're wondering, absinthe is essence of wormwood, which IMHO makes it similar to turpentine. Really.

As for the effects:
I started from stone sober. We dipped the spoons (silver, had holes in it) into the rocks glass (three fingers of absinthe, no ice), then into the sugar (Sugar in the Raw, a kind of natural sugar similar to the Cuban sugar that can sometimes be found in Europe).
Then we lit the sugar on fire, under a zippo lighter to crystalize and dropped the spoons into the glasses. The absinthe changed from blue to a white-ish hue. Almost pearly.

I had three sips. I was beginning to lose my sense of touch.
At five sips (about half the absinthe), objects were starting to move around the room. The book on my coffee table varied as much as a meter, getting closer and further from me at variable rates of time.
At the end of the glass, I could barely speak English.

...I'd probably never drink absinthe again, if only because it really isn't good for you. It was a worthwhile experiment, but you've got to ask yourself if you REALLY want to try something that made Van Gogh cut off his ear...

I love the 'do not drink neat' warning on the side :D

I bought a bottle in Prague back in 2001. Right on the label (in Czech, of course), they tell you not to drink too much of it. It was only available in 500ml and 750ml bottles.

It's a light blue color, kind of like Bombay Saphire Gin.

I would NEVER to shots of it. That's not the way you're supposed to... it's like doing shots of brandy: just wrong.

In case you're wondering, absinthe is essence of wormwood, which IMHO makes it similar to turpentine. Really.

As for the effects:
I started from stone sober. We dipped the spoons (silver, had holes in it) into the rocks glass (three fingers of absinthe, no ice), then into the sugar (Sugar in the Raw, a kind of natural sugar similar to the Cuban sugar that can sometimes be found in Europe).
Then we lit the sugar on fire, under a zippo lighter to crystalize and dropped the spoons into the glasses. The absinthe changed from blue to a white-ish hue. Almost pearly.

I had three sips. I was beginning to lose my sense of touch.
At five sips (about half the absinthe), objects were starting to move around the room. The book on my coffee table varied as much as a meter, getting closer and further from me at variable rates of time.
At the end of the glass, I could barely speak English.

...I'd probably never drink absinthe again, if only because it really isn't good for you. It was a worthwhile experiment, but you've got to ask yourself if you REALLY want to try something that made Van Gogh cut off his ear...
ah the proper way to drink it... gotta try that!

most of the absinthe you find in the UK is a nasty green colour and tastes horribly of aniseed :S

Everclear's not for drinkin'. It's a solvent for extracting chemicals from plants and cleaning weed resin off of smoking devices.

Once some friends of mine tried to make everclear jello shots. They didn't gel.

Funny, it's sold in liquor stores and is an ingredient in many drinks. Your friends are idiots, it wasnt made for drinking straight.

http://www.webtender.com/db/ingred/71

Funny, it's sold in liquor stores and is an ingredient in many drinks. Your friends are idiots, it wasnt made for drinking straight.

http://www.webtender.com/db/ingred/71
I know it's drinkable. I was just fooling around. Lighten up.

BTW, they didn't try to drink it straight, they tried to make jello shots.

ah the proper way to drink it... gotta try that!

most of the absinthe you find in the UK is a nasty green colour and tastes horribly of aniseed :S

Yeah, that's like what I drank.

I so want to try that.

However, I heard that the stuff they sell at the LCBO isn't real absinthe, that is it's missing the nice hallucinogenic ingredient and I don't want to blow $80 on a bottle of booze.I didn't know that they sold it at the LCBO... But $80 is too much for my commie soul to take. Solution? make your own (http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink692.html)!
I've never tried it, so I can't recommend it... Wormwood is surprisingly easy to find. Cosmic Energies on Dundas in London, ON stocks it and all the other ingredients needed.

Absinthe Faq (http://www.lafeeabsinthe.com/faq/absinthefaq.php)

Actually, most of the European Absinthe is crap. It doesn't have the Wormwood content of the original recipes. It has some hallucinogens, but a very small amount compared to the good bootleg Absinthe I've sampled here in Canada and down in the States.

The Euro-Trash Absinthe gave me a sensation that could best be described as a very fuzzy and liquid view of the world around me and made be black out after declaring "Stop the world, I want to get off."

On the other hand, I was able to get a wide sampling of bootleg Absinthe while I was at Burning Man (http://www.burningman.com/), managing to take in a few Absinthe Parties there over the years I've attended.

I can't even begin to decribe the effects of this stuff on large groups of Freaks partying in the desert. For myself, the psychoactive effects were much more pronounced and clear, usually invovlving the physical world around me to appear to be rather liquid like, with objects like a chair melting into puddles and other shapes in my peripheral vision. It also got me really drunk, but nearly as ripped as I'd become on the Hills, because I'd had to drink so much more to feel any psychoactive effects at all. My mind stae was pretty weird, and I occasionally spotted pixie-like knights mounted on King Penguins while wearing tuxedos over their armour. They were usually pretty fleeting glimpses, but they were crsytal clear.

So just go find (or make) some good bootleg Absinthe and expereince it for yourself right there in the USA. Better yet, go to Burning Man and find an Absinthe Party while your there.

ah the proper way to drink it... gotta try that!

most of the absinthe you find in the UK is a nasty green colour and tastes horribly of aniseed :S


It was the same color in MontPellier as well.

Didn't see the fascination with it. I only tried it because I like to drink whatever the locals drink when I am traveling.....

You know what they say, Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

Wikipedia has a pretty good write up on it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinth) They explain why some of it is potentially dangerous if not made right and such.

As for the drink itself... Weeeeeeee!

I like it and so does my favorite artist (Marilyn Manson)

I didn't know that they sold it at the LCBO... But $80 is too much for my commie soul to take. Solution? make your own (http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink692.html)!
I've never tried it, so I can't recommend it... Wormwood is surprisingly easy to find. Cosmic Energies on Dundas in London, ON stocks it and all the other ingredients needed.
I would like to know if that actually works, I'm a poor student who doesn't have the cash to blow on that sort of thing if it won't work.

But yeah, that does seem a better idea than chancing the lbco absinthe which is totally overpriced. So long as it doesn't kill me, all will be well. I'm sure my roommates wouldn't mind if I had some vodka and wormwood sitting about in the kitchen for a week either.

I would like to know if that actually works, I'm a poor student who doesn't have the cash to blow on that sort of thing if it won't work.

But yeah, that does seem a better idea than chancing the lbco absinthe which is totally overpriced. So long as it doesn't kill me, all will be well. I'm sure my roommates wouldn't mind if I had some vodka and wormwood sitting about in the kitchen for a week either.

There is no distilling involved in that do it yourself recipe, so whatever you end up making with that recipe, it will not be absinthe.

For any gardener types - both wormwood and angelica, the ingedients of absinthe, are easy to grow. I haven't made it, but it should be easy to do with vodka (or Everclear) and those ingredients.

Interesting side note - thujone, the chemical in wormwood that gives it the hallucinatory effect, is also strongly present in Black Walnut leaves and hulls. Both wormwood and walnut have been used for centuries as an anthelmintic. Drink absinthe and rid yourself of intestinal parasites!

We did that with the 89.9% stuff we got in Majorca. On its own it's like drinking paint thinner - put the sugar in it and, for some reason, it's a whole different ball game. It's more like being on a trip than like being drunk, and I recommend everybody tries it at least once. But with the real stuff, not the 40% might-as-well-drink-Vodka stuff you get in the supermarket.

That is absith-liquer. Still got a bottle of it in my room. Damn, I was betrayed back then, but whatever.

For any gardener types - both wormwood and angelica, the ingedients of absinthe, are easy to grow. I haven't made it, but it should be easy to do with vodka (or Everclear) and those ingredients.

Interesting side note - thujone, the chemical in wormwood that gives it the hallucinatory effect, is also strongly present in Black Walnut leaves and hulls. Both wormwood and walnut have been used for centuries as an anthelmintic. Drink absinthe and rid yourself of intestinal parasites!
Yeah, but aren't walnut leaves a powerfull laxative?

Yeah, but aren't walnut leaves a powerfull laxative?

Try some and give us a report! Yeah, they are said to be. Really gets rid of those pesky worms.

Another interesting thing - Black Walnuts never have good grass or any other vegetation growing beneath their canopy. Thujone is a powerful phytotoxin, kills other plants - it's present in the walnut leaves which fall to the ground and poison other plants.

There is no distilling involved in that do it yourself recipe, so whatever you end up making with that recipe, it will not be absinthe.
Yeah, I didn't think so.

I should look into aquiring a real distilling dealy and finding a recipe for absinthe from scratch.

ah the proper way to drink it... gotta try that!

most of the absinthe you find in the UK is a nasty green colour and tastes horribly of aniseed :Sthay is not real absinthe.

http://homedistiller.org/ <--second entry on google. :)

Can someone find me a recipe for real absinthe, that involves distillation?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

I should look into aquiring a real distilling dealy and finding a recipe for absinthe from scratch.
You can probably build yourself a nice little still for cheap. Laboratory glassware can be used, or you can just use an old car radiator and some copper tubing like the rednecks do for their moonshine.

You can probably build yourself a nice little still for cheap. Laboratory glassware can be used, or you can just use an old car radiator and some copper tubing like the rednecks do for their moonshine.
You dont' happen to know how illegal this is to do in Canada, do you?

Or whether there are real dangers in making your own booze or if it's one of those bs things like "pot causes brain damage" or something...

http://homedistiller.org/ <--second entry on google. :)

Can someone find me a recipe for real absinthe, that involves distillation?

Do you know for certain that that is how 'real' absinthe is made? I was thinking that the essence of wormwood, etc., is extracted by steeping in alcohol.

Alcohol is very effective at removing essential oils and flavor compounds. I have made many gallons of fruit liqueur by crushing fruit and adding it to alcohol.

Do you know for certain that that is how 'real' absinthe is made? I was thinking that the essence of wormwood, etc., is extracted by steeping in alcohol.

Alcohol is very effective at removing essential oils and flavor compounds. I have made many gallons of fruit liqueur by crushing fruit and adding it to alcohol.
I know that it's not just take vodka, steep wormwood in it and add other things.

I'm not entirely sure how to make it, or for that matter, how to make a still. My 8th grade science teacher made alcohol for us once, he had this nice, compact thing for distilling the alcohol, if I could find one of those, I'd be in business.

I would like to know if that actually works, I'm a poor student who doesn't have the cash to blow on that sort of thing if it won't work.

But yeah, that does seem a better idea than chancing the lbco absinthe which is totally overpriced. So long as it doesn't kill me, all will be well. I'm sure my roommates wouldn't mind if I had some vodka and wormwood sitting about in the kitchen for a week either.It would not be absinthe, true, but it would have the same effect and be 100% sure not to kill you (as home-made Absinthe might just). It would be Wormwood Vodka. Wormwood is the hallucinagenic in Absinthe, and it, combined with the alcohol is what produces Absinthe's intoxicating qualities.

I know that it's not just take vodka, steep wormwood in it and add other things.

I'm not entirely sure how to make it, or for that matter, how to make a still. My 8th grade science teacher made alcohol for us once, he had this nice, compact thing for distilling the alcohol, if I could find one of those, I'd be in business.

The principle is simple, essentially that alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. Add alcoholic liquid to the still and heat (below the boiling point of water) - could be beer, wine, anything containing alcohol. The alcohol vapor is directed through a tube, the tube is run through cold water, and the alcohol is condensed into liquid. Pictures of old stills often show the tube configured into a circular or worm-like configuration, that is just to increase surface area for heat exchange.

I was just given a small still - for decorative purposes only - from San Marino, where home stills are legal and commonplace. It only holds about 6 ounces of liquid, so it can't make much. I'm thinking a Sterno can would be a good heat source, but temperature control may be tricky.

There's quite a bit on the internet on the subject. The making shouldn't be too hard with common tools.

Here in the USA, land of the free, we can't buy absinthe. I hear you Europeans suffering under the oppressive yoke of socialism are allowed to buy it. So is getting drunk on absinthe really any different than getting drunk on normal liquor?
I noticed it made me kinda hyperactive. I was up at 8 the next morning turning flips on a jungle gym the first time I drank it.

I've got a buddy who used to make a decent absinthe. (yeah I'm in the states yeah it's illegal. We Yanks pass laws almost as fast as we break them) But he switched to a tincture of wormwood. Much better. Who's bright idea was it to use Pernod as a cutter? Like it needs to be more bitter? But anyway it's a mild dissasociative. Not unpleasant but some folks react poorly to it. Oh wow and ladies should avoid it on their time. Seen two major bad reactions.

Oh wow and ladies should avoid it on their time. Seen two major bad reactions.Do tell.

I'd say a significant contributor to the 'woah, I'm conversing with multilingual lesbian tree fairies' effect is psychological. Absinthe you get commercially in the UK has no wormwood, so it's simply really strong booze. You can get a similar kick off of Chartreuse. That said, I have a bottle of lurid green Czech Staroplzenecky 70% in front of me that is whispering sweetly, enticingly, beautifully. Such a subtle, seductive, insidious voice, luring me to a place I know I should not go, yet I feel compelled and I can't control myself, can't say no even though I know I shou...

You know, you can just order some from Europe. I've ordered 4 bottles and customs never stops me.

Do tell.
Crampus Maajorus. Madde my GF at the time sick as a dog.

Crampus Maajorus. Madde my GF at the time sick as a dog.Ah.
Good to know. Thanks for the heads up.

I've had a bottle before; great stuff. ONe or two shots and your under. Wormwood is fun...
Gotta love active ingredients

So..Ive had the drug-free variety, with the sugar and everything..

It tasted like Licorace flavored assholes.

Or, anise-anus, of you prefer.

Does the real kind taste like the imitation?

Never heard of it.