Absinth Minded

The Absinthe Ritual

By Ian ConklinBoagrius. Monday, March 12, 2007 3:55:05 AM

All the info you need to perform the traditional French Ritual, the Bohemian Fire ritual, and the Sebor Absinth Pipe Ritual.

There are many critics of the Absinthe Ritual. Many say that the use of fire should never be implamented with the absinthe ritual and this is the voice of the "Absinthe Purists." The other voice is not as pretensious and have embraced other ways to enjoy absinthe and the absinthe ritual. Sebor Absinth has led the way of this unpretensious view of enjoying absinthe and the many ways in-which to enjoy this drink. Here is what Sebor has on the ritual and its origin.

Sebor Absinth: There are a number of variations of this ritual (see below) but the main aim is to create a 'louche', pronounced 'loosh'. This is where water is added to absinthe (usually poured over sugar), causing the transparent green liquid to become an opaque, murky whitish colour.
Historically, absintheurs performed this process very slowly, watching each individual drip cut a milky pattern into the emerald green absinthe below. Perhaps their vivid hallucinations were partly due to the hypnotic effect of these drips - drip. drip. drip. drip. zzzzzzzz.

French Version of the ritual.

Place spoon and 1 or 2 sugar cubes onto the absinthe glass as before.
Drip water, very slowly, onto the sugar cube.
Add water until there are about 3 parts water to 1 part absinthe.
This version of the ritual focuses on the louche process - you can watch the absinthe turn very slowly from deep green to milky white. The louche occurs because the components of absinthe that are not soluble in water come out of solution and make the drink turn cloudy. The milkiness you can see is the anise, fennel and star anise suspended in the liquid. It makes sense, then, that these flavours are enhanced by adding water to absinthe.

The Bohemian Ritual

Pour ¾ of a shot of Sebor Absinth TM into a classic absinthe glass.
Rest an absinthe spoon on the glass.
Place a sugar cube onto the spoon.
Pour remaining Sebor Absinth TMe over sugar.
Set the sugar alight.
Let the sugar burn for a while until it bubbles and begins to caramelize.
As the flame dies down, drop the remaining sugar into the absinth and stir it in.
Pour in water: about 3 parts water to 1 part absinthe.

The Pipe Ritual

This ritual's not a traditional one, but great fun all the same! You can get absinthe sipping pipes here on the Sebor Absinth TM website.

Fill the main bulb of the pipe with crushed ice.
Pour absinthe onto the ice - you can use one or two shots.
Suck! You'll get a mouthful of icy smooth absinthe, and the added aeration can help the alcohol take effect faster.

http://seborabsinth.com/chronicles/the-ritual/default.asp

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Comments

Sarahconrahsarahteena # Friday, June 29, 2007 6:21:25 PM

I'm too far from being a purist to bother with the ritual. I've been known to pour the green stuff into a glass of nice fizzy Sprite. i know soda such as Sprite isn't the gree norm, but it tases better in my opinion.

Sarah