How To Drink Absinth

To learn how to drink absinth you must first have all the necessary equipment, because to drink absinth the preceding ritual is an essential part of the process.

Because absinth has a very high alcoholic graduation (its origins are that of a tonic), some presentations are as high as 85 proof. Drinking without diluting is a bad idea, not only will you not enjoy its taste (taking it straight will certainly leave you a bitter taste and you are gonna have a hard time to swallow it), but you will miss out all the ritual behind the drinking of absinth.

There are many ways on how to drink absinth, here is the classical one: Get out the special absinth spoon which has holes in it. The glass is usually tall, slender and opens widely at the pouring end.

Place the spoon on top of the glass and a lump of sugar on top of that. The absinth spoon will filter the sugar through its holes. Pour cold water and see how the dissolved sugar blends with the absinth. Dissolve 5 parts of water for one of absinth. The resulting liquid will be an opaque greenish liquid. This cloud is called the 'louche', pronounced loosh in English. This drink is lighter than taking it straight and has a sweet taste to it.

Another variation on how to drink absinth uses a common spoon and some undiluted absinth in it. Place the sugar lump and light it up until it turns to caramel and blend with the rest absinth. After this pour in the cold water and drink.

If you are willing to try something different, you can light up the pure absinth in a small grass, pour it into some lemon juice and take a shot. This of course is not a practice many connoisseurs approve of, or how I would recommend to drink absinth regularly, but it's good for kicks and will certainly give you a quick buzz.

There are lots of cocktails made with absinth and here are just a couple to give you some examples.

Take a tequila glass for measurements. Fill one with gin, one quart of it with dry vermouth and 20 drops of absinth all into the same glass. Stir gently and pour shaved ice. After you have mixed it well you can add an olive.

One classic cocktail is "Swiss Girl" cocktail. 2oz absinth, half a tequila glass filled with anisette, 1 oz of white crème de menthe, one egg and mix it with ice in a cocktail mixer.