Absinthe Homebrew

[Rien]

After making and bottling Limoncello, Vin de Noix, Nocello, and a Provencal orange and coffee bean liqueur, a friend put the notion in my head that if I could procure wormwood, I could make Absinthe. I've since found a handful of vendors online for wormwood and a couple of recipes and I'm about to embark. However, I have a few questions.

1. Have any of you ever done this before?

2. What quantity of wormwood to liquour is appropriate? I've seen an ounce to 750 ml recommended.

3. What other ingredients would you recommend? Are the steeping times variable?

4. Some of the vendors I've found online seem ... less than reputable, shall we say? Phone numbers in Kansas, fax in California. Suspect. Bouncing Bear dot com? A little bit of the Grateful Dead imagery and Terrence McKenna mythos goes a long way. Can anyone recommend a "dealer"?

Basically, any input is very welcome.

If it doesn't kill me, I'll post an update.

Thanks,

rien

[trillium]

After making and bottling Limoncello, Vin de Noix, Nocello, and a Provencal orange and coffee bean liqueur, a friend put the notion in my head that if I could procure wormwood, I could make Absinthe. I've since found a handful of vendors online for wormwood and a couple of recipes and I'm about to embark. However, I have a few questions.

←

Not true at all, unless you plan on setting up to distill. What you've previously done are infusions. Absinthe was never an infusion with wormwood and recipes that infuse wormwood and various things into alcohol and then call it absinthe are completely wrong and misguided. Absinthe is not an infusion, it is a product flavored by co-distillation of alcohol with various herbs, wormwood being one of them, Deadhead or Burning boy/girl campers claims to the contrary.

I think La Fee Vert has one of the nicest and most informative sites devoted to absinthe. Check it out.

regards,

trillium

[Carolyn Tillie]

Completely agree with Trillium -- it has to be distilled.

However, you can get a home still through the Wine Enthusiast.

I bought one for Shawn and he never got around to using it, so although we own one, I can't tell you anything about it...

Also, when I get home tonight, I'll add a reference to a book I was reading just last night on the Green Fairy (but name is not coming up in Amazon at the moment).

[beans]

I'd so not recommend embarking on a homemade Absinthe.

[petite tête de chou]

I third the distillation process.

Interesting, I had three links to absinthe related pages and one has had all the distillation directions removed, one had his paypal account canceled and the other isn't online anymore. Hmmmm.

I have doubts that distilling wormwood is legal. At least in the states.

On the other hand, wormword is very easy to grow, home-made stills abound and the amount of wormwood to liquid? Think in terms of pounds! I'm not at all comfortable repeating any directions that might be deemed illegal.

This might informative on the legal status.

[Mayhaw Man]

Those little tiny stills are pretty entertaining, but a lot of patience is involved in getting that one shot, and considering that in virtually any distailation you will want to throw away the front (heavy in fusels and other undesirable/unhealthy elements) and the end (lots of water, not so much alcohol) the chances of getting anything that is worth drinking in that one little shot are pretty slim. I have one and it is kind of fun to use for entertainment, but I would not invest in it if you are going to try to make bottles of anything.

Stills are pretty easy to build. A great place to start and an interesting read is the still lore in the original edition of the Foxfire Book. While I have a library of distilling lit., I still tell people to reference this one book before they go any further.

[bbqer]

Production talk aside, I wonder what its effects are. Has anyone drunk it recently (and lived to tell about it)? Does absinthe make the heart grow fonder?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Production talk aside, I wonder what its effects are. Has anyone drunk it recently (and lived to tell about it)? Does absinthe make the heart grow fonder? 

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It REALLY depends on where it has come from. Oddly, Absinthe is no longer illegal in most Europeal countries and can be obtained from Spain, the Czech Republic, etc. (almost everywhere but Switzerland -- and I think THEY invented it!) It is really getting to be quite big business.

The effects it has are one of heigtened senses (dare I say like X? I can't 'cuz I've never tried X....) You don't get that "drunk" feeling with most alcoholic beverages, just an awareness that is unparalleled.

[Rien]

Not true at all, unless you plan on setting up to distill.  What you've previously done are infusions.  Absinthe was never an infusion with wormwood and recipes that infuse wormwood and various things into alcohol and then call it absinthe are completely wrong and misguided. 

Ok, my loose typing and loose thinking are exposed. I didn't mean to imply that I had previously distilled any beverages; I was well aware that what I had previously made were infusions. However, I was thinking that Absinthe was similar Gin, where the flavors are incorporated into a rectified (that is the word, right?) spirit ... essentially "infusing" during distillation. Different Gins have different processes here: dipping botanicals in the simmering vat, letting steam rise through them, etc. What you're talking about - distilling the wormwood along WITH the grains and what not - sounds more like a eau de vie kind of process, where the flavor is from the ingredients distilled. I don't really understand the process of making different spirits, so my distinction could sound naive or completely wrongheaded to one in the know. Please correct and inform me.

All that - and legality - aside, could one make an infusion of wormwood?

On legality, I haven't read the links people have posted - I will - but I was under the impression that only retail sale of absinthe was illegal. Posession, consumption, and creation - be it infusion or distillation - is, I believe, acceptable.

Can those strongly opposed to the idea offer reasons? Is the warning legal or medical?

Many thanks,

rien

[Carolyn Tillie]

Gads, I love the internet....

Tabu's site on the legality of absinthe

A site that discusses the Federal Law

Absinthe Buyer's Guide

The Straight Dope

Absinthe Explained

[His Nibs]

Don't know if it's illegal or not but you can set up your own mini-scale still just by buying certain pieces of chemistry lab equipment. Had a prof once start off a lab by remarking making moonshine is as easy as perfoming fractional distillation. Methinks that a fractional column (the ones with filled glass beads and not steel wool) and a jacketed condenser (you can either water cool or air cool) would be the basic setup. Not suggesting anything but such gear can be easily procured on the web or any scientific equipment store Also, I did not spent o-chem lab trying to distill any drinkable product (though i steam distilled cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon and cassia as well as carvone from caraway seeds once though)

edit: to get a better distillation, either include more layers in your column or have a taller column (industrial columns span over 5 meters if you take a look at the whisky plants)

Edited September 17, 2004 by His Nibs (log)

[trillium]

You should check out the site I listed, they have a whole page presenting thujone toxicity in a very thoughtful manner. Drinking a bottle of wormwood tincture will end you up in the emergency room, I think it was in the news a while ago, I just can't remember what the dude blew out, I think his liver? But usually in infusions or distillations the ethanol will kill you before anything else gets a chance.

regards,

trillium