Absinthe-"madness in a bottle"

[KiwiCoromandel]

Swiss face sober future after legalising absinthe

25 March 2005

MOTIER: Absinthe, the drink banned almost a century ago as "madness in a bottle" is making a comeback.

The Swiss, who invented absinthe, legalised it this month, hoping to boost a sluggish regional economy and drag a generation of bootleg distillers into the 21st century.

Known in France as the "Green Fairy" because of its colour, absinthe was banned in much of Europe in the early 20th century, when heavy consumption of the bitter aniseed-flavoured tipple was linked to hallucinations, violence and depression.

The Dutch painter Van Gogh is reputed to have sliced off his ear while under the influence. Fellow artists Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec were also devotees, as were the writers Ernest Hemingway and Oscar Wilde.

But the Swiss, who outlawed it in 1910, laud the high-alcohol drink as a folk remedy and aperitif, and boast that they have never stopped drinking it despite the ban.

On March 1, the day the ban was lifted, local distillers gathered in the village of Motier in the Val-de-Travers where absinthe is distilled for a festival celebrating the local brew.

One of the valley's notorious bootleggers, Claude-Alain Bugnon, who markets an absinthe called "La Clandestine" for 40 Swiss francs ($NZ49) a bottle, stood chatting with his former tormenter, Dominique Schmid, head of the criminal division of the Swiss Federal Alcohol Administration.

"Now that you're not producing in secret and are doing it legally, we are good friends," Schmid told Bugnon.

Bootleg distillers enjoy a status as living legends having evaded the authorities to produce home-made absinthe for local consumption. Some even did mail-orders on the side.

Read more.......

http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3227848a7773,00.html

[slum_goddess]

i love absinthe; always wanted to try it since i read about van gogh and lautrec when a little kid. my friend brought me some last year and it was great--a very lucid high, very light (but you get truly fucked up). we got more from here. if you scroll down and click 'absinthe' on the lower left, check the second one down, the gold is the best AFAIC (100 mg/kg of thujone) but too bloody expensive.

[Ken]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&saf...define:Absinthe

140-160 proof?!?! (about 68% alcohol by volume)

Hallucinating effects!?!?!

Normally I'd go on and on about how stupid or insane you'd have to be to ingest that shit, but when I look at the big picture, I can see that I wouldn't give two shits about anyone capable of consuming it voluntarily.

Have at it!

:drunk:

[Ken]

always wanted to try it since i read about van gogh and lautrec when a little kid

I don't know, I read about a lot of things (and I still do). One of the things I read about is............................well..................this is the Internet so I'll go with HITLER!

I read about Hitler, however, I never wanted to try being Hitler, nor did I plan to run any concentration camps.

Van Gogh and Lautrec may be considered "genius" in certain rights, but what's the purpose of emulating some of the stupid shit they did with their lives?

What if they ate paint chips? Would you be dying to eat that beautiful off-white they have in your local hardware store?

[slum_goddess]

you really don't get it do you? but i'm SO pleased i have your approval to 'have at it'

ps--make sure you stay away from anything you don't understand or that's illegal (or both!) and you'll live a very safe life--if that's what you want. *yawn*

YAY ABSINTHE! (another bottle's on its way over here)

[KiwiCoromandel]

you really don't get it do you? but i'm SO pleased i have your approval to 'have at it'

ps--make sure you stay away from anything you don't understand or that's illegal (or both!) and you'll live a very safe life--if that's what you want. *yawn*

YAY ABSINTHE! (another bottle's on its way over here)

hiccup......burn baby burn.... :bigsmile: :Here's to you:

[rainbowdemon]

-a very lucid high, very light (but you get truly fucked up).

I've been drug and alcohol free since September 16, 1994. So, the concept of "fucked up" is kind of lost on me. Even though I spent many years doing it, the idea of deliberatly ingesting any substance that makes one incapacitated at any level, just seems kind of pointless to me.

:wha':

[KiwiCoromandel]

i haven`t touched alcohol since the beginning of 1999...i did use to like this particular absinthe -type drink at one stage......it was called " green chartreuse "......very drunk people would line up a whole lot of shot glasses of " green chartreuse " : and set alight to them (purely in the interests of science of course)and then drink them while they were still aflame.....a line of burning glasses of alcohol in a pub full of drunks is quite a sight.... :bigsmile:

...Chartreuse is an herbal liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks near Grenoble, France. According to the tale, the formula for chartruese was invented by a 16th century alchemist as an attempt to create aqua vitae (the waters of life.) Aqua vitae was believed to restore youth to the aged, endow animation to the dead, and be a key ingredient in the creation of the philosophers stone. Though this attempt at its creation seems to fall somewhat short of the legendary effects, it was promoted as a heal-all tonic by the descendant of the alchemist, and was bequeathed to the Carthusian Order upon his death. This formula of 130 herbs has been secret for nearly 400 years. Today, only three brothers of that monestary know how to make chartreuse.

Charteuse is made in three varieties; yellow chartreuse, green chartreuse, and VEP elixir chartreuse. Yellow chartreuse is a pale golden color, extremely sweet, and tastes roughly like plum wine with a touch of honey, or perhaps a delicate version of Benedictine (which is probably related.) Green chartreuse is fiery; the shade of green actually named for this liquor denotes an intense herbal taste vaguely reminiscent of absinthe. Also like absinthe, it has an extremely high alcohol content. VEP elixir chartreuse, the rarest and most expensive kind, sacrifices a small amount of green's intensity for all of the sweetness of the yellow. Only 100 bottles of VEP elixir are produced each year, and it is the variant closest to the original alchemical formula. It is also, supposedly, the most difficult to create.

Though the precise herbs in chartreuse are not publically known, there is a small quantity of thujone, the active chemical in wormwood (and consequently, absinthe.) This considered, it is no surprise that the intoxication caused by chartruese is both stronger than it's alcohol content (110 proof) would otherwise indicate, and slightly different because of thujone's psychoactive qualities.

Green chartreuse is particularly loved in the goth scene because of it's efficiency; a very small quantity can maintain a buzz for most of an evening, and a larger quantity can take the sharp edges off of everything. For many, it is the poor man's absinthe; it has a smidgen of its psychotropic effects because of the thujone, and it has an herbal taste and a sharp kick reminiscent of absinthe experience. A few shots of green chartreuse, and you're completely wasted.

http://www.chartreuse.fr/pa_history_uk.htm

[Umma]

Never tried Absinthe as far as I can remember though I like those aniseed based drinks like Pastis, Ouzo, Raki etc etc

I'd prefer to stay sane though and likewise don't see the point in becoming rat arsed as a goal in life.

[method77]

Never tried either but as I understand it, it is nothing like ouzo or raki. Perhaps Umma knows better. If it is then I'd like some too

cheers

[Potato]

One of my best friends talks about it every time the subject of alcohol comes up. He won't drink beer, but he wants to try absinthe.

[slum_goddess]

burn baby burn.... :bigsmile: :Here's to you:

i also love the ritual, the spoon, the sugar, the flame. :) then again, i dig drug-related rituals and paraphernalia.

ps, my IQ hasn't dropped one point since i was first tested at age 11. *cue 'it takes all kinds*

[Guest .::BeatFactory::.]

I don't really think it's more of the alcohol than it is the wormwood and herbs used in making it that give its effect.

At 140-160 proof, it's nothing for some college fun, especially seeing as how there are people who will drink Everclear straight at 190 proof (95% alcohol) for fun. The few bottles that practically say, 'you may die from drinking this' --

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/vfm/picture...u/everclear.jpg

[treveinta]

OMFG THIS is kinda weird, being a drinking thread, btut i'm drunk as shit and on the net , haha, so anyways, ooodnight p eople !!!!!!!!!!! i lovfe you!

[KiwiCoromandel]

ooodnight mate....we lovfe you too!.... :) :bigsmile: :Here's to you:

[method77]

OMFG THIS is kinda weird, being a drinking thread, btut i'm drunk as shit and on the net , haha, so anyways, ooodnight p eople !!!!!!!!!!! i lovfe you!

1/3 of my posts were made while drunk ;)

[slum_goddess]

whatever posts are unfortunately made while not ripped, i make drunk like right now. hic!

i lovfe you too, treveinta.

[slum_goddess]

I don't really think it's more of the alcohol than it is the wormwood and herbs used in making it that give its effect.

exactly. and for the unfortunately slow learners among us, it wasn't things like van gogh's cutting off his ear that attracted me to absinthe.

[Kooperman]

1/3 of my posts were made while drunk ;)

...and they made more sense and were more entertaining than your sober ones...