Absinth

solice

Or however it is that you spell it. Going to Prague next week, just wondering what the story is with bringing it back. I know its illegal here, is it illegal to have it or is it illegal to sell it. I just want to to bring back a bottle to have in the house

Blub2k4

Dont worry about it, you wont be stopped from bringing it into the country, send it through with your check-in cases if you are worried.

Johnny Storm

I tried in once in Portugal. Be careful with it. That was the only time I ever woke up literally IN a pool of my own vomit.....

Endurance Man

My m8 got back from turkey a few days ago and bought a good few little bottles of it back. Dont think there is any problem .

lazygit

i had no trouble bringing back a large bottle in my carry on luggage

solice

Johnny Storm wrote:

I tried in once in Portugal. Be careful with it. That was the only time I ever woke up literally IN a pool of my own vomit.....

Wont be going crazy with it. Just going to have it for decoration mainly. I had it once before and it was not very nice, only had a sip and it made me sick.

Nimrod's Son

solice wrote:

Just going to have it for decoration mainly.

Lol. You probably could paint your walls with it if you're looking for decoration. I've always wondered what it's actual purpose is. Now I know.

Chad ghostal

i very much doubt you'll have any problem bringing it back, i brought back a bottle of 70% absinth with woodworm etc a few weeks ago and had no problem..(brought it back in hand luggage)

and by the by in case you thought otherwise you're not supposed to drink it straight, drink it with sugar and cold water..

although if you drink it while in prague, it's fairly likely you'll get it straight, with the flaming spoon treatment..be careful with that one..

tea

I'm not sure its illegal here any more - lots of off-licenses in Dublin sell Hills and a few french brands (Malloy's and Celtic Whiskey to name two). I've not seen any of the ones containing wormwood here though, so maybe they're still 'restricted' although I think anything up to 10mg/l is allowed in the EU. In fairness, teh wormwood ones are pretty hard to come by in Prague too though..

jimmidy_cricket

Thats mad stuff altogether. I had one shot of it with diluted sugar and no joke 5 minutes later I was on the floor on my hands and knees, holding onto the ground cause the room was spinning so fast...and don't remember much after that. I was told I was too scared to be in a room alone but the party was freaking me out??? Alegedley Van Gough used to drink it. Its hallucenigenic with laudenem (a rat poisnon) and he is said to have been "on it" when he chopped his ear off.....

Rb

Go easy on the stuff anyway, in crete last year I drank nearly three quarters of a litre one night....lets just say it was a messy night!
Shouldn't have a problem bringing it back though.

Berns

Mate was over in prague around, amm, easter think was. Brought me some of it back from there. So no problems that know of. Girl was goin with at time drunk most of it though, was ragin. But then i was apparently drinkin it straight one night too which woulda loved to remember
Can get it up north here now in some places, but its not the best here. 55% got in Sainsburys in Derry & heard some1 say can get some in Tesco in centre of Belfast. Can't get it here in Newcastle though :-( Only Shots in Club but want a bottle :rolleyes:

Skud

brought back 2 bottles from malta in a plastic bag no troubles

Pighead

I'm leaving this post in because it's vaguely interesting, but Pighead banned for one week for not reading the charter about alcohol and violence.

Absinthe does not i repeat does not make the heart grow fonder and to the above poster who said he drank nearly three quarters of a litre of it all i can say is " :eek: "
By the way Jean Lanfray, a Swiss peasant of French stock, having drunk two glasses of absinthe, shot his pregnant wife and two daughters, before
attempting to kill himself. He failed, and was found the next morning collapsed across their dead bodies. Public reaction to the case was
extraordinary, and it focused on just one detail – the two glasses of absinthe he had drunk beforehand. Forgotten was the fact that Lanfray
was a thoroughgoing alcoholic who habitually drank up to 5 litres of wine a day.

jimi_t

If it's not the 75%+ stuff with wormwood then you're better off just drinking Green Aftershock, same disgusting aftertaste, burn and colour but cheaper and readily available in Ireland.

The Sweeper

Pighead, the charter for this board specifically states: "QED macho stories of alcohol-related violence, or threads about alcohol leading to violence, will result in immediate banning from this board. If you want to harp on about the home-wrecking abilities of a bottle of gin, go to the humanities forum."

One week ban.

Blub2k4

jimmidy_cricket wrote:

Its hallucenigenic with laudenem (a rat poisnon) and he is said to have been "on it" when he chopped his ear off.....

This is rubbish, laudunum is tincture of opium and is most definitely not in absinth. Absinth contains wormwood which has the hallucinogenic thuyon ( thujon) in it and this is what causes the "fee verte" (green fairy) effect of the drink.

Did you just make this up?

rubadub

solice wrote:

I know its illegal here, is it illegal to have it or is it illegal to sell it.

Where did you hear this crap?
It is legal here and always has been. It tastes like crap, get yourself some decent booze that you wont be retching trying to drink. Rotten overhyped crap

Chong

rubadub wrote:

Where did you hear this crap?
It is legal here and always has been. It tastes like crap, get yourself some decent booze that you wont be retching trying to drink. Rotten overhyped crap

Spot on had it in a nightclub one time tastes like P1ss tbh, get a nice single whiskey and enjoy.

amp

I've tried it but got no effect, probably due to the fact that things were pretty surreal at the time anyway.

solice

Was told it was illegal, i stand to be corrected

Blub2k4

Here is a link on the legality of absinthe in different jurisdictions mostly based around the USA but listing others.

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/absinthe/absinthe_law.shtml

rubadub

amp wrote:

I've tried it but got no effect, probably due to the fact that things were pretty surreal at the time anyway.

No due to the fact that commercially available stuff has minimal amounts of active compounds in them. It would be best to grow the wormwood yourself if you are after a thujone kick.
A place in stephens green centre used to sell it.

CombatCow

Have a bottle of "philippe lasala" 50%...and to take the taste away "Jose Cuervo Especial" tequila....oh yeah!

No problems bringing it back from spain at all...

CC

Civilian_Target

No - you can go anywhere in the EU and bring back a few bottles of anything no problem.
I was in Macedonia and they never stopped me carting a couple of bottles of Serbian Rakija back into the EU, it was pure moonshine too...

Blisterman

Absinthe is the most disgusting drink I've ever tasted. The off licence in Clonskeagh sells it if you want to try it. Its about €70 a bottle. I got a bottle for €15 in spain. Horrible stuff. But you do get quite a buzz off it.

Kingp35

CombatCow wrote:

Have a bottle of "philippe lasala" 50%

This isnt proper absinth. The real absinth is 75%+ and contains woodworm. To get the full effects of the drink you have to do the whole spoon and sugar trick. I have two bottles of it at home that I got from Prague after much searching as its very hard to find over there too. Its wicked stuff if you have the real thing.

ferdi

we went to an absinth bar in hamburg in the basement of this gaf down a dark alley-way. a good night it was, got completely cained/

rubadub

Kingp35 wrote:

To get the full effects of the drink you have to do the whole spoon and sugar trick.

no you dont.

joker77

Absynth is freely available in Prague, and yes there's no problem bringing it back into the country.

As a previous poster said, only go for the real stuff, 70% with "thujon", for the green fairy effect. But be careful - don't drink too much of it, and don't mix it with loads of other drinks or substances!

Speaking from experience, drank it one night and got the most horrible nightmares that night, then the next day was in work and had what can only be described as a "panic attack" - all the background noise in the room just got louder and louder until I literally had to get up and leg it from the room!!! (and no I don't usually "freak out", only time in my life I've experienced such a sensation)

jimmidy_cricket

Blub2k4 wrote:

This is rubbish, laudunum is tincture of opium and is most definitely not in absinth. Absinth contains wormwood which has the hallucinogenic thuyon ( thujon) in it and this is what causes the "fee verte" (green fairy) effect of the drink.

Did you just make this up?

No I didn't just 'Make it up', I know Laudunum isn't in Absinth but it used to be added to the drink, don't know why, presumeably because of its opium base and the high you get from it. Anyway I heard that Van Gough drank it this way and was under its influence when he chopped his ear off, I don't know if this is true, I've never asked him but I didn't just pluck it out of no where and I thought it was a tit bit suitable for this thread! So now

Larianne

My friend brought me back a little bottle of the stuff from Budapest and we were wondering how you drink it?

I've seen sugar and water being mentioned?? And what's the deal with the spoon?

A_J

I was told before there were some wierd laws restricting its sale in mos EU countries originating the the early 1900s but it was never specifically illegal (maybe illegal to import or something silly like that).

There are plent yof essentially 'Tesco brand' Absinthe products I've seen, they've begun leaking into a few pubs over the last 2 years as whatever old law there was has been removed.

The original original stuff is from Prague, and doesn't have any nasty chemicals in it like wormwood. This was a French addition of that stuff was from the Pernod family in late 1700s. (1779 I fink?)

Anyway, you'll not find this kind in Ireland, just strong, green, aniseed tasting booze. (the 'Tesco brand stuff'...which in absolute terms _IS_ original, more like the prague kind from the 1650's) you'd have to go abroad for something a little more authentic.

If you want to can make some yourself with wormwood in it. For a reasonably toxic herb, its readily available in helth food store or pet shops! (its used as a laxative for dogs...I **** you not, heh...). If you steep a strong bland booze (like vodka, or else freeze it and extract more pure alchohol for higher strength) in wormwood for 2 days, sieve the herb out, add some corriander, hyssop, cardomam pods, angelica, a few star anise and let steep for another 7 days, sift out gunk, and presto, absinthe. (yes it works...)

Theres 3 methods I know of for serving. Parisian manner is in a tall chilled glass with equal parts water (should turn it cloudy). The little spoon-goblet-sugar method is a bit of a fad that came from the re-popularisation of the czech brand when it was one of the few remaining european coutnries where it absinthe was readily available. It involves a drop of absinthe on a sugar cube, which is then set alight atop a specially made spoon with grovves (kind of a cross between a soup spoon and tea strainer). The caremelised sugar swirlds and drips into the drink, shouldn't be hot enough to ignite the rest of the alchohol. When all the sugar ahs melted and dissolved, its drink up time. Knock it back.

Last method originates in Zagreb (though may just be made up by a barman there, this story given to me by a friend whow as on a recent trip there).

A brandy glass is given 2 measures of the drink and swirled to coat the inside. Remained poured into a tall tumbler. The coating on the brandy glass is then lit (best to do in the dark for impressiveness I'm told and then placed over the tumbled..the mouth of the brandy glass should be big enough for this. The flame will eventually be oxygen starved and burn out, but a lot of absinthe vapour should still be in the glass. Lift off the brandy snifter and inhale fumes (they burn the nose a bit...) then knock back the absinthe in the tumbler.

...potentially useless ifno form AJ

The Sweeper

The way you describe as 'the Parisian manner' is how the French drink Pastis generally, not just Absinthe. If you like the taste, this is a good way to make your drink last longer. If you don't like the taste...



...if you don't like the taste of something they why in God's name would you be drinking it?

Blub2k4

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

The way you describe as 'the Parisian manner' is how the French drink Pastis generally, not just Absinthe. If you like the taste, this is a good way to make your drink last longer. If you don't like the taste...



...if you don't like the taste of something they why in God's name would you be drinking it?

Pernod Ricard was originally absinthe, it has evolved into wormwood free pernod.

To Kingp3n: It's bloody wormwood, not woodworm.

A_J

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

The way you describe as 'the Parisian manner' is how the French drink Pastis generally, not just Absinthe. If you like the taste, this is a good way to make your drink last longer. If you don't like the taste...



...if you don't like the taste of something they why in God's name would you be drinking it?

I stand corrected then...

I guess a lot of people add mixers ot make drink last longer as opposed to taste. And naturally, all alchohol tastes bad really (Well, on its own) and almost always evolve into an acquired taste. I guess a lot of people drink it for the stigma that was behind it, or just to be cool or something equally sad.

Blub2k4

jimmidy_cricket wrote:

No I didn't just 'Make it up', I know Laudunum isn't in Absinth but it used to be added to the drink, don't know why, presumeably because of its opium base and the high you get from it. Anyway I heard that Van Gough drank it this way and was under its influence when he chopped his ear off, I don't know if this is true, I've never asked him but I didn't just pluck it out of no where and I thought it was a tit bit suitable for this thread! So now

Have a look at your original post it does seem like you are saying that absinthe contains laudunum. Wormwood which is in absinthe is hallucinogenic without laudunum, and laudunum is not a hallucinogen it is an opiate and hence a narcotic. Mixing the two would mess you up but not necessarily make you hallucinate, I suggest the laudunum would overcome the thujon and knock you out.
The rat poison that you would be referring to is generally strychnine which is hallucinogenic in small quantities.

You have all your drugs mixed up with a strong dash of urban myth, in any case everything you said is pretty inaccurate.

kev01

No problem getting absinthe here. They sell it Deleanys off licence on Aungier St.60% stuff, not as good as the black 85% stuff. As for the person saying they drank 3/4 of a litre 'of course you did'. Maybe if you found the 40% one

AARRRGH

If you're really worried just pour it into a coloured whiskey bottle or something like that.

Read this for an interesting take on absinthe


http://moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/08-04/08-04-van-gogh.htm

scojones

Drank 8 shots of it, chased my mate around with a corkscrew trying to kill him, woke up in my own vomit. I still have a bottle but I'll never touch the stuff again.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

sjones wrote:

Drank 8 shots of it, chased my mate around with a corkscrew trying to kill him, woke up in my own vomit. I still have a bottle but I'll never touch the stuff again.

A wise move

Ron DMC

sjones wrote:

I still have a bottle but I'll never touch the stuff again.

Can i have it?

The Sweeper

Beh. I think Absinth is vastly overrated. I think that the stories of wild and crazy shenanigans come from having drunk an excess of alcohol generally, not just Absinth. It's like tequila or Sambuca - you never drink it on its own, it's usually downed in shots on the back of a gutful of something else.

Unless anyone can come up with anything more interesting about absinth, I'm strongly considering locking this thread.

Zulu

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Beh. I think Absinth is vastly overrated. I think that the stories of wild and crazy shenanigans come from having drunk an excess of alcohol generally, not just Absinth. It's like tequila or Sambuca - you never drink it on its own, it's usually downed in shots on the back of a gutful of something else.

Ahh I dunno. Had a party in my house once. A lot of absinth was drank, and while most people taught they were sober, the window was used as the front door the whole night, and people reported talking to ducks on the way home. It just seems to get you drunk in a different way...

rubadub

Zulu wrote:

Ahh I dunno. Had a party in my house once. A lot of absinth was drank, and while most people taught they were sober, the window was used as the front door the whole night, and people reported talking to ducks on the way home. It just seems to get you drunk in a different way...

depends how you drink any spirits. Had these people drank vodka of the same % in the same way I bet they would have been talking to ducks just the same.

Lashing down straight spirits over 50% can have strange effects, goes straight into the bloodstream a lot faster, especially if you are already dehydrated.

Most commercial brands have minimal amounts of active components.

The Sweeper

And on that note I've had enough of the alcoholic merits of Absinth.

Suffice to say it's reputation precedes it.