This isn’t as much of a cocktail as it is the proper way to enjoy Absinthe. First and foremost, depending on how sweet the Absinthe you’re using is you’ll want to decide whether you really need the sugar. Historically, sugar was part of the preparation because there was so much bad Absinthe being made that the sweetener was necessary to make the final product palatable. Most of the Absinthe available in the United States is of a high quality (that doesn’t mean it all tastes great) and you’ll find that it is just fine with plain iced water. However, if you are adding sugar, never ever light it on fire. We’ve all seen it done in movies and it makes no sense to do it, it’ll just ruin the taste of the Absinthe that the distillers have worked pretty hard on getting just so.
Buying an Absinthe glass is highly recommended as most Absinthe glasses have a dosing line which lets you know how much straight Absinthe to be poured into the glass (it’s usually about an ounce or ounce and a half.) If you are an indeed using sugar, a sugar cube should be placed on top of an Absinthe spoon laying across the rim of the glass (some brands of Absinthe offer a spoon with the bottle and bar supply stores both online and retail usually carry them) and drops of iced water should slowly be poured over the sugar cube until it dissolves and the Absinthe has turned to a milky white color. The process of Absinthe changing from it’s original color to “milky white” is called louching. If sugar is not being used you’ll want to drip iced water into the glass at about a 2:1 ratio (water to Absinthe) to achieve a nice louche.
Some of the better and more common brands that I recommend are Lucid (French made), Kubler (Swiss made), Mansinthe (Swiss made) and Obsello (Spanish made). Unfortunately, even though the Absinthe market is now flooded, the prices remain high and you’ll be hard pressed to spend less than $60 to $70 for a 750 ml bottle of quality Absinthe.
Filed under: Booze Tagged: | Absinthe, Absinthe Drip, Absinthe Glass, Absinthe Spoon, Cocktail of the week, Kubler Absinthe, Louche, louching, Lucid Absinthe, Mansinthe Asbinthe, Obsello Absinthe, Sugar cubes
