Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

i'm a big fan of the anise flavor, being a regular Ricard drinker myself. but someone offered me a bottle of absinthe for my birthday last summer, and my husband took pictures of my friend and i after we took our first initial sips. far, far too licoric-ey for my taste. in fact, i found the whole thing quite vile.

I prefer pastis. It's much tastier and less heavy handed. The best brand by far is HB. And the whole sugar and spoon thing is for tourists, no one does that. Just pour a good healthy splash over some ice and then some water over that till you get a pale yellow, almost white, cloudy mix. It's way to early to be talking about this anyway, I can only enjoy pastis in the summer.

For some reason the link I made is not showing up blue, so here it is again:

http://www.distilleries-provence.com/index.php

i'm right there with you, but sans Gauloise :)

Not to quibble, but the sugar-spoon thing isn't complete nonsense; unlike pastis, which typically comes pre-sweetened, most absinthes are bottled without sugar, and adding sugar to the spirit is not only traditional but completely appropriate.

Dripping the water through the sugar is an easy way to get the sugar to dissolve (sugar doesn't dissolve in alcohol nearly as easy as it does in water, though you can skip the step and just add simple syrup if you like your absinthe sweetened), and the water is a vital part of the equation: again unlike pastis, which is typically 40-45 percent alcohol, absinthe usually ranges closer to 60 or even 70 percent alcohol, so adding water is a must to make it palatable; it was never intended to be consumed straight.

While a number of improvised antics have been added to the preparation of absinthe to help drive sales, the sugar/spoon element is not only traditional, but actually serves a function.

Everybody has different tastes; I don't use sugar in my absinthe, others do. And except for brands such as Pastis 51 or Henri Bardouin, I find many pastis way too sweet, and much prefer a good absinthe. Different tastes, as I said.

@callmenaomi - sure, an absinthe rinse is used when making a Sazerac, and when absinthe or any other highly aromatic, potently flavored spirit (Chartreuse, Islay single malt, etc.) is used as a rinse, it can lend a nice touch to many drinks.

By coating the sides of the glass rather than simply adding the absinthe to the drink, you're making the ingredient perform more as an aromatic, so you get a nice whiff of the botanicals as you're taking a sip of the drink. Only use a little bit (a teaspoon should do), as you don't want the rinse to take over the flavor of the cocktail, but a light rinse can really flesh out a drink's character.

Another good rinse is to use a really smoky Islay single malt like Laphroaig to give a rinse to a cocktail glass before pouring a Manhattan. That smell of smoke and peat adds a nice touch.

Speaking of Jaggermeister (shudder..indeed!) My Jaggermeister swilling BF thought it would be a great idea to have an absinthe party. He hooked me up with the whole ritual- fancy absinthe spoon, sugarcube, loache, etc.
After wrinkling my nose & sipping cautiously, I retched and compared it to (what I imagined) the taste of homeless guy underwear rinsed in scope and fennel. He concurred. We never did have that party.

I love black licorice and have yet to see any Absinthe in my neck of the woods (San Joaquin Valley, CA) I have always wanted to try it. Thanks for the comments...any online suggestions of where I could order a bottle?

@lamora: in the SJV you're not terribly far from the Bay Area, where St. George is located. They produce one of the best available domestic absinthes, and their distillery tour and tasting is way fun and pretty affordable (tour is free, normal tasting is $10, absinthe tasting is an additional $10). The next time you're in the Bay Area, head to Alameda and taste their stuff for yourself (and if you like it, buy a bottle).

*The author is totally not affiliated with St. George, he just happens to like their stuff. A lot.

I have to say that I'm not an anise fan... how does absinthe compare to Ouzo in that regard? I find ouzo to be unpalatable, even a more expensive variety, due to the strong licorice flavor.

Seems like the New York Times article you referred to sparked a lot of conversation. We went down to Apotheke that week to visit with Albert Trummer, the owner/mixologist to get his POV on the piece. He reinforced the Donald Trump theory of PR...any is good, but he did acknowledge the negative bias of the author. Herr Trummers serves his own absinthe, and the category certainly fits the theme of the place since it does look like what you'd imagine an apothecary shop from the 1890's would look like.
Fad or trend? That's the question. I have noted this before in a comment, but from the feedback we're getting from retailers around the country both real and virtual (a lot of Absinthe is sold via e-comm) it's growing but from a small base. So it's sort of like the proverbial blind men feeling an elephant...everyone's POV determines their response.
So from our perspective as brand marketers (in the interest of transparency, we market Absinthe Mata Hari) the numbers show the category continues to grow rapidly in toto. As with any new category, there will be a flurry of brand entries, then a settling out period, and we'll emerge with a few brands that have demonstrated staying power (capital and time) and traction at retail.

In the above post, I wrote "2008 saw the release of several decent brands, along with a number of high-profile, incredibly crappy ones (likely the brands you’ll see spamming up the comments section, as is their habit)".

I noted this based on a number of sock-puppet comments I'd received on my own blog, remarking on an absinthe-related post and gratuitously name-dropping a particular brand of absinthe-style beverage. I doubt it was sheer coincidence that all of these comments originated with the same ISP, just as I doubt the coincidence that it's the same brand that's being touted in the comment directly above this one. Took them a while, but the marketers who employ deception in their bag of tricks finally got around to commenting here. I would have been disappointed with anything less.

its hard to know what absinthe is the best since it such a new thing in the states. Only way i know to find out is trial and error.

I second that!

Unbelievable! Finally an article with a list of absinthe that is actually good brands. Nouvelle Orleans, Pacifique, La Clandestine and Mansinthe are some of my favorites! If anyone is interested, there is also a nice list of reviews at Absinthe-Review.com