The NOT SO CRAZY TRUTH About ABSINTHE | Master Your Glass

welcome back to master glass i'm your host levio and today we are going to dive right into the world of absinthe look at these beautiful bottles different colors different countries of production different rituals and different tools this could be a little bit of a confusing category but if you watch this video i will take you to greener pastures get it it's green anybody let's get into this [Music] the history of absinthe is rather unclear we do know that the egyptians were using wormwood for medicinal purposes and also that absinthe is mentioned a few times in the bible just very briefly but enough to know that it was in existence now really the absinthe as we know it today stemmed from a doctor by the name of pierre ordinaire a french doctor who invented it while he was living in switzerland in 1550s the beverage became not only important for its medicinal qualities but also became a favorite amongst the elite and basically in the roaring 20s anybody that was cool was drinking absinthe a lot of artists were drinking it such as toulouse-lautrec and baudelaire and picasso and ernest hemingway and so it became a very popular beverage it was known as la feviarte which means the green fairy and um because of course of its green color and it just became so so popular now i feel like absinthe is a must at a bar and maybe even more than one so in this video i'm looking forward to diving much more into it absinthe is a grape or grain-based spirit that is typically distilled with fennel anise and wormwood and this last ingredient the wormwood really gives it this bitter flavor to it once it is distilled it will come out clear in color and then some producers will add either more herbs in it to give it a really natural green color some producers instead will maybe add some artificial coloring to it some producers will not add anything so those are called blanche which are clear absence and believe it or not in the czech republic there are even red absinthes so basically once those three magical grains are distilled you can also add other ingredients to it things like hyssop or coriander that will give absinthe also a little bit of a lemon zest flavor to it so in these bottles you could always expect some licorice flavors you can always expect some bitter flavors from the wormwood you could always expect some citrus flavors and you can always expect a little bit of an alcohol bite now believe it or not i'm not interested in much in the rituals i'm actually interested mostly in what can the absinthe do for what i am trying to do from it and obviously now i should also mention that some absence when water is added to it they will start becoming opalescent which is called louch or laosh and that basically is because the essential oils of the anise do not really mix well with water and so when we're adding water into the absinthe you're getting that that chemical reaction that is opalizing your absinthe now it's probably important to mention that absence come in really high alcohol content 50 to 70 percent which is why we add water to it anywhere between three to five parts now actually the best way to drink absinthe is to add a lot of water and make it this refreshing afternoon minty bitter eucalyptic aperitif or just a thirst quencher absinthe was banned in the 1920s and one would say why was it banned if it was so popular well the answer to that was because the wine industry used absinthe as a scapegoat to promote its agenda and so did the temperance movement uh prior to the in the 18 a late 1800s there was a beetle called phylloxera and phylloxera basically destroyed the vineyards of france and all over europe and so wine could no longer be made prior to that wine was the base from which the alcohol of absinthe was made from but the absinthe producers were quick enough to just move on to a grain-based alcohol and continue to make their products well their product got popular their product became more and more powerful and when the phylloxera pandemic was finally resolved and the wine industry was ready to get back into business it partnered up with the temperance movement and came out with this really fake narrative about thujone now absinthe has wormwood in it and wormwood contains thujone now thujone is a mind altering ingredient but there simply isn't now nor was there at that time enough dijon to actually make you go crazy and so all the videos and all those pictures you see of crazy faces and people going nuts drinking absinthe those are fake because in essence the amount of dujon that is in a bottle in order for it to actually make you go psycho you would die from the amount of alcohol you were drinking before that even happens now let's talk a little bit about the various accessories that are used in the various absinthe rituals the first one to talk about is the absinthe glass also known as the reservoir glass and the reason why it takes this name is it has this little reservoir right here where the squiggle lines will stop and the more glossy surface begins that is your portion of absinthe to put inside of the glass so i'm going to go ahead and do that right now there it is set that aside and then the next tool that comes into play is the absinthe spoon quick shout out to my buddy tony abuganum from the modern mixologist tony thank you for letting me borrow your vintage glass and your vintage absinthe spoon so this spoon here is most always flat might be just slightly concave always has holes in it so that the water can make its way through and always has this little groove right here so that when you put the spoon in the glass right it won't move around because the groove latches on to that rim of the glass what is this ritual for well because french absence are not sweet so you put a little bit of a little sugar cube right on top and next comes in the next tool which is called the absinthe fountain so this absent fountain here is going to just drip and by the way sometimes they drip even when they're not open you're going to just open the right amount that you want and you're going to let that fountain drip right over the sugar cube and let that sugar cube dissolve right inside of your glass thanks to the water let that drip as slowly as you can now the great thing about these fountains is they have typically six spigots so you can six people can do this at the same time i've also seen these fountains used several times for a shared cocktail service of some sorts now what i'm going to do here is i'm just going to move the glass a little bit so that i can get the water to touch the spoon to touch the sugar a little bit more and you can go about as much as you want on the water now these glasses here are typically the portion that will give you one part of absinthe to all the way to five parts of water to the very top i'm more of a one to four person and one to four is also common but that is a thing okay so it looks like the sugar cube is dissolved i'm gonna keep on dripping i'm gonna just let any last part of that sugar to fall inside while dripping some more water in spoon goes away let me just add a little more a little faster flow here just like so okay and now thanks to your spoon your fountain and your reservoir glass you can enjoy some absinthe the next service ritual of absent i wanted to show you is the bohemian style this style here started about in the 1980s and it's really frowned upon by a lot of absent experts having said that if something has been going on since the 1980s to today now there's about 40 50 years of history going on i feel like this ritual is a thing you might not like it and i'm not particularly a fan of it either but it is a thing so i'm going to show it to you and the way this works is you're going to take your spoon put it again on top of your glass i'm not using tony's this time i don't want to burn his vintage spoon but you take your little sugar cube and you put it right on top of the spoon just like that and then when you pour inside of the reservoir this time you're basically going to pour on top of your sugar cube you want the sugar cube to be soaked with absinthe just like that okay think i'm right at the reservoir almost there we go now at this point here things can be very dangerous because you have high alcohol and you have something that will of course uh uh you know ignite a flame that can really hit you in the eye so a lot of people use a lighter but whether you're using a lighter or not i always recommend to pull this up and light your sugar okay now you'll see that this sugar is burning right and so i'm going to take a step back and um let's let let's see that fire happen i'm not sure if you can see it but i can and now as that sugar cube is burning it's also melting and falling right inside of the glass okay i feel like this flame is done now a lot of times what you can do too is you can actually put this in the glass as it's still flaming or you can just pour it directly in i'm going to go ahead and do this right there right now and i'm going to just take this dissolved sugar put it in there as you can see from the heat the glass is getting a little bit foggy set that over there now there's also the ritual that they do it's it's quite a bit childish of having the absent flame putting your hand on it and when your hand is on it it actually uh the the the fire actually starts sucking in your hand and so you can actually pick up this glass with your hand we won't get that far we are honoring this new ritual and so now you just add water to your uh absinthe and you're good to go the way i'm going to go about this is half an ounce of absinthe is in my glass i'm going to start with france and now french absence you can expect a big powerful eucalyptic mental uh licorice component to it they're bottled at 68 high alcohol so i have a half an ounce which is 15 mils of absinthe and to each one of these i'm going to add three parts of water so i'm going to go ahead and pour and the first one that i'm drinking here is perno absinthe now perno absinthe claims to be the original formula that was used prior to being banned a little bit of confusion can come when you see this brand perno also makes a pastice that was what they made when absinthe was banned they originally made perno once the band was removed or absent was reapproved um perno came back into the picture so the color of this one was just a light green just a very very hint of green to it i'm gonna go ahead and put it on the nose oh yeah there's a lot going on here there's a big blast of just you know licorice eucalyptic mental a touch of citrus as well and i'm almost getting a little bit of almond marzipan aroma to it but it's nice and funky and it's got a nice intense aroma with quite a few things going on okay so this happens absent is dry which is why we add sugar to the french versions also if you're making drinks understand that um the french ones when you're adding simple syrup if you're trying to offset a sour the french ones are probably the best way to go because you can choose your sugar combination in this drink it's got a really nice warm wood flavor to it i'm getting a little nice touch of like a lemon balm citrus as well a little bit of rootiness and a nice and long flavor and i feel like i could have diluted this one a little bit more but nonetheless really good absinthe really delicious now it's time for the next one which is lucid absinthe this is also made in france i'm going to go ahead and pour water in just to see if it does launch now again i am interested in the louching more so just to see if the ingredients are natural of course the more there's a nice and and anathol in here the more the louching will occur but at the end of the day if it tastes good or if it's going to work for my cocktail i'm not going to be like one of those that looks at the lounging as if it's the best thing that ever has happened on the planet so as i mentioned uh lucid also is made in france and the aroma oh it's not so nice i'm getting more of a sweeter anathal or licorice aroma this time the licorice is is a little bit more powerful than the fennel in this case here and it smells like it has a little bit of sweetness to it but it's also very floral and it's got a little lemon balm aroma to it very very nice yeah the taste has got just a very nice balance of anise fennel coming in with that wormwood bitterness uh but it also has a nice sweetness to it and so no sugar needs to be added in the case of this one here as far as my opinion goes just a nice citrus zest to it but then it ends with a really nice dry bitterness that's really good i really enjoyed that one next one i'm going to taste is lafaye now when you see this type of color here chances are we are looking at an artificial green this color here is really a bright green color to it let's go ahead and add some water now it does give a really interesting lounge so there is a little bit of cloudiness going on if i did not mention this already it is made in france and again when i'm tasting really what i'm looking for is warm wood bitterness sweetness from the anise and from the fennel and is there any citrusy note and how is the alcohol push and what is the balance of that basically is what i'm looking for here now i'm getting a nice herbal again a nice floral sweet flowers aroma to it oh wow this is definitely lemon balm citrusy a lot of little woodsy notes to it there's a little bit less licorice in this one than the other two and i'm not disliking it at all and just pointing out that lots of licorice just a hint of licorice on this one and whereas the previous one ended dry this one here ends with a long lingering licorice note which i really enjoy especially if you're going to be pairing food with these types of beverages you really want that long flavor right now i my mouth is coated with this minty eucalyptic flavor so a nice piece of chocolate with chocolate would be really good things like that would be amazing maybe even a bruschetta right a brisket typically has a little bit of basil on top what does basil taste like it's a close relative of the mint family so that mint eucalyptic of the tomato and the garlic and the bread would be a home run but before i get too much carried away it's time for the next one and now we're ready for grand absentee this one here also has a bright green color but definitely with a note of more lime or even a little bit of olive far more natural than what we were looking at in the faye let us add some water oops i got a cube in there oh i got two so we do have some cloudiness from the lounging and uh let's see what this is all about oh wow this is far more wind minty a nice little warm wood bitterness to it again lemon balm almost pine salt but in a good way aroma all really in nice balance and backed up by some really good sweetness hmm the sweetness is still there in the flavor and very nicely done but less prominent than i was smelling it and i'm just getting mint a nice and lemon balm it's just really really incredible i'm getting a little bit of like gentian bitterness as well right on the top of the tongue and my mouth is watering so that nice puckery citrus note is really really good for this one as well sour cocktails things like that because you have that lemon component to it and you also have that really nice mint flavor to it as well this would be an amazing choice before we leave france and we move on to spain i would love it if you can comment below have you ever had any french absinthe what brand was it did you enjoy it let me know comments below i would love to read it so let's move on to spain and particularly in this case we are going to the island of ibiza where we're going to taste mary mayans mary mans comes at 70 alcohol by volume and that is good to know because i should add a little bit more water to it now the color to it does have this does have this artificial bright green let me add quite a bit of water to it because i do wish to finish this episode but i am getting a really nice launching look at that that is definitely an opalescent almost turned white glass of absinthe right there there is definitely an a nice note to it it's a little monotone on the aroma meaning that i'm just getting a smell of licorice maybe maybe maybe if i really dig in deep i'm getting a little bit of orange zest in here as well yes i do so the herbaceousness here is really gentle really low so if mint or eucalyptic or anise or fennel or licorice are not your thing you're in good hands with this one right here because it's really really subdued i'm almost getting more lemon and a little bit more a hint of wormwood bitterness and a hint more of lemon balm than i am anything else now the alcohol bite is there i diluted it a lot so i've subdued it a little bit but this is a the alcohol component of this absinthe is is high and probably not integrated perfectly however if you add more water you basically dilute that part out and it does become a very drinkable absent so now it takes me right about to the halfway mark i think it's the halfway mark well give me a like it's the halfway mark are you enjoying this episode let me know please we are now at absenta tunnel which is also a spanish absinthe bottled at 70 so once again let's add some water to it but before we do let's observe this olive green color which i really like and let's add quite a bit of water to the picture here and there we go a little bit more clear than its predecessor but also still coming along with that white uh louching effect it's a gentle anese aroma very gentle licorice nose not much alcohol either believe it or not even though it's a high highly alcoholic absinthe so this one here has something interesting it's mostly licorice not a lot of a nice so i'm getting a lot of licorice component to it still very subdued in comparison to some of the other ones i had but definitely a high licorice note and i'm getting something funky that i'm trying to detect yeah an interesting bitterness to this one whether it's a high amount of gentian or wormwood but there's a there's a tug of war going on between its sweetness because it does have some sweetness and this licorice flavor and a hint of bit or a bitterness component that's really trying to make its way in also getting a little bit of orange peel as well this is a dry absinthe if you ask me definitely needs the sugar cube if you want it to bloom especially if you dilute it uh quite a bit like i did in this case i hope you're enjoying this video we are now going to go to switzerland i am really excited about that uh swiss absence typically are lower in alcohol they range between 50 to 55 that does not mean they're a lesser product they just like to bottle their product a little bit less and i'm going to go ahead and start with kubler this is a blanche absent meaning there is no flavor or color infusion whether natural or artificial done after bottling blanche means of course clear or white now i am going to because it's 55 i'm going to add a little bit less water in here and i'm really going to enjoy this incredible lashing that's happening once again this absinthe became totally white in color it went from clear to white white really cool effect oh this has a like a heavy absinthe and fennel aroma to it and it's kind of intertwined with some coriander and cement aromas it's really nice there's actually a ton going on on the aroma here maybe a little bit of a lemon balm as well and there it is a touch of almondy um marzipan on the nose as well oh wow this is rich big a nice flavor big boom right in your mouth really really nice it has like a firm alcohol even though the alcohol content is lower it's there and you can feel its presence it's integrated really well but it all part of the flavor experience here is you're tasting i have alcohol there's a little bit of coriander flavor i'm getting as well a nice little lemon aroma it kind of ends a little bit more citrusy lemony in flavor and a good option here of course is if you like all these flavors i've tasted it i've just explained they would be great in your cocktail if you don't want your cocktail to go green also a great option to use kubler but just remember that once you add water or ice to your cocktail it's also going to take it a little bit on this opalescent white journey which actually isn't that bad so the next one i'm going to taste is duple also made in switzerland oops i should have looked at the color first but the absinthe is starting to play its role here a little bit of a green olive color not as much louching as we found in its predecessor but nonetheless a good louch going on this too has a nice anise aroma to it but i'm getting more more candied orange aroma on it as well so keep in mind candied orange or candied orange flavors are really good in cocktails as well or nice to drink meat [Music] oh this is dry so it definitely needs sugar another option if you're making cocktails where you're adding simple or some sort of a sweetener this could be a great option because of that really dry effect to it the anise is gentle it's just a little bit there it wants you to know that it's there but it's not overwhelming so if you're looking for gentle anise also this is a really really good idea um and then lastly on the tip of my tech i'm getting some gentle uh bitterness probably from the angelica root that's what it's reminding me of any touch of citrus this too is a really great absinthe and once again if you're not looking for the green and you're not looking for sweetness this is a really really good option that way you can balance those however you prefer moving on to the united states of america the first one i am going to drink is saint george absinthe i'll be honest with you this the the color of the bottle is throwing me off a little bit so if you have st george at home and if it's a different color do let me know otherwise the color of this is this uh it's rather than olive green it's olive brine in color of course made in the united states let's go ahead and add some water to this an interesting louching going on as well making it almost like a lemony uh uh color to it oh wow the aroma's amazing here mint and some warm wood bitterness lemon balm but all in a nice really nice balance really really nice balance picture this lemon bitter mintiness going on really really nicely all right so the mintiness or the eucalyptic uh of this is really interesting i'm getting some tarragon which gives these licorice-like flavors in addition to a little bit of that aniseed aroma as well there's a little bit more fla more interesting herbaceous notes going on here that i haven't tasted in any of the other ones that i'm really enjoying all really integrated well again that lemon balm always present in here yeah some really nice wormwood bitterness but you do not need to add any sweetness to this the sugar level is right where i feel it should be quite an interesting absinthe coming out of the united states here so now we will move on to my hometown state of nevada where we're going to try frey ranch absinthe beautiful little olive green color as well a little bit more pronounced than in its predecessor but nonetheless along the same hue uh by the way i don't think i mentioned 60 alcohol by volume as was the st george also 60 alcohol by volume so let me go ahead and add some water here nice little lashing going on here as well not as much as in the saint george but still present there oh and this is just like a rich rich rich rich anise aroma balanced with some nice sweetness and a firm alcohol on the nose as well just a balanced easy going aroma oh wow um definitely this one needs sugar so if you're gonna make it in cocktails make sure you do add your sweetener to it or if you're gonna drink it alone sweetened to it as well but really nice firm wormwood anise nice and balanced alcohol is in there not getting a lot of lemon balm not getting a lot of of orangey or almondy but i'm just getting some really cool warm wood licorice and alcohol balance in a very dry absence that's actually making my mouth water coming back to it now i am getting that lemon component to it or that citrusy component as well it's right there on the top of my tongue this one here is making my mouth water so right before a meal would be a really good choice so the next one i'm going to try is also from the united states it's called vucare and again i'm seeing that common theme of our absence in the united states almost going towards that olive brine slightly brownish color to it so that is i guess just our theme here this also comes at 60 abv let's add some water to it and let's see what's all about a little bit just a gentle louch going on and let's smell and see what this is all about oh wow oh wow warm wood and fennel and coriander and cardamom like there's a lot going on in this aroma a nice balanced citrus lemon balm component to it so complex but so balanced there's a lot going on but everything going on is playing a really good role so far definitely the most complex absence that i've had up until this point the flavor is a little less complex but interesting enough i'll jump to it even though it's not the first thing i tasted on the top of my tongue i have a little bit of like a slight little chili pepper spice which i'm really enjoying but i'm getting a lot of warm wood so it's definitely a more bitter spicy with a undertone of herbaceousness going on there now listen to this part here right again spicy herbaceous spicy and bitter with just a little voraciousness so if that's what you're looking for vucare is a really nice option one more sip just to see yeah i think i've said about everything what i really like about it is this really dry finish that it has it leaves basically no flavor other than maybe a tad of bitterness to it at this part of the journey i'm taking you to the czech republic hey let's go to the czech republic we're going to start with the first one here stadoplachenki is what it's called i believe it comes in at 70 it does i this is made in two different versions this one here is 70 alcohol by volume and when you start looking at czech absence you could always almost always count on a more bright green less natural color to it because it's 70 percent quite a bit of water needs to be added very little lounging going on the color becomes this really light green i do however see a little bit of floating floatiness going on so there is a slight reaction happening from the anathol getting into contact with the water the aroma here is minty and i'm also getting a little pine sol now in the past when i used the word pine salt with the uh with any of the other ones i meant it in a good way and this one here i'm not necessarily meaning it in a good way this basically smells like pine sol i'm afraid to drink it okay well give me a like for drinking oh wow wow bursting mint boom and quite a lot of bitterness as a campari drinker i almost think the bitterness is cool i don't think it's balanced so mint and bitterness if that's your thing this is a great option um and i always like to find a purpose for something the reason why on master glass you really never hear a whole lot of i don't like this i don't like that is because when i drink something and if i don't like it i just don't make a show about it we don't talk about what we don't like we talk about what we like we have a can-do attitude and so when we find something we always try to find a purpose for it believe it or not the bitterness from this one is actually has a story to tell so maybe if you're in that negroni family type of drinker maybe you can use this just remember it's 70 so don't just swap it for campari that won't work but you can play with that component too to to use this ingredient the right way and the next one here is also from the czech republic called fruco schultz uh it would have thrown me off i would have thought it was listerine from this really bright uh artificial green color but again that is almost to be expected uh from the czech republic because it is 70 percent i shouldn't say from the czech republic it's to be expected from the czech republic styles of absent also known as bohemian style a few cubes fell in but it still kept that really bright green to it oh wow there's just a a monotone mintiness to this almost like a um when i grew up i used to drink a lot of of mint syrup it was like the shirley temple of italy was either orga and soda water or mint syrup and soda water and i'm getting that mint syrup aroma to it could that mean that this is artificially minted a little bit very likely and that's it just that's there's really nothing else it's a it's a minty syrup aroma to it oh yeah the reason why i like it is because it's taking me down to my childhood memories which was this minty somewhat sweet beverage that i would drink that's what i'm getting i'm getting mint in a very monotone way i'm getting sugar balanced at the right way i'm getting no alcohol even though it's 70 percent so it's not very complex and definitely if you're looking for simple that is exactly what simple absent would look like this brings us to the very last absence that we're going to have today from the czech republic by the way i must have forgotten to mention earlier that in czech republic they spell absinthe without the e everybody everywhere else it's spelled with the e at the end this one here is called the green fairy also slightly bright green but definitely one of the most uh natural greens i've seen out of the czech republic let's go ahead and add some water very minimal launching going on as well in this case here i get just a touch of mint out of this similar to the previous version where i was just getting that mint syrup that's all i'm getting very monotone and i'm getting a little bit of alcohol now this is 60 alcohol by volume yes it is so i'm getting just a little bit of alcohol and mint very monochromatic very simple on the nose oh wow so this has a slight herbaceousness very simple it's almost more lemony than it is herbaceous and but both the lemon and the herbal component are very low this tastes like alcohol if i were to say i had a mint flavored vodka this might be what it would taste like to give it put into perspective not very abundant flavors just very low with an alcohol backbone to it yeah i touch a little citrus component very very very mild and then a very short finish so it ends pretty quickly and it's out the door again one of those options that if you just need that mint component to come in get the job done and go that is a good option so i hope you enjoyed this episode of master glass i know i enjoyed a lot filming it and exploring the world of absinthe if you did please remember to give us a like and subscribe and come back to master glass with me libya laro where you get expert instruction for everyday consumption [Music]

Channel: Master Your Glass

Views: 16,488

Keywords: Bartending, Bartender, Livio Lauro, Master your glass, steve the bartender, how to drink, bar drinks, bar recipe, usbg, cocktails, mixology, mixologist, easy cocktails, easy drinks, the educated barfly, Absinthe, absinth, absinthe cocktail, absinthe history, absinthe banned, green fairy, green fairy absinthe, green fairy eurotrip, green fairy alcohol, absinthe drink, what is absinthe, why is absinthe illegal, absinthe fountain, absinthe how to drink, absinthe effects

Id: JU4rPzwuR0o

Length: 40min 33sec (2433 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 05 2022