Kubler 53 Absinthe

[jkorp]

I had been wanting to try Absinthe for a while, but did not want to pay the crazy prices to get it shipped here from EU and where ever else. So when I found out you could now get authentic 19th century absinthe in the US, I was on it. I found a vendor that would ship to MD (not suppose to happed I believe).

Uncorking the bottle you get a very nice fresh scent, like licorice obviously but more than that, like wintergreen. I'll have to admit, the first couple of louches that I made weren't great, but eventually you get the hang of it. I think it is an acquired taste, and I believe I am acquiring it. It really is a refreshing and flavorful drink. I have heard some people say it tasted of garbage or rotten licorice, I don't get any of that with the Kubler. Those people might want to try another brand.

Kubler is 53% abv, it is a Blanche Absinthe meaning it doesn't get the secondary coloring step, so it is crystal clear. The louche is a very bright almost luminescent milky white. It is amazing the smells that are released when those first few drops of water hit the the Absinthe, really nice.

So I have been aiming to see what pairs well with this Absinthe. So far I have only paired it with a PL Panatela and it went well.

So I would recommend this to anyone just starting out, as I am, with Absinthe.

[M1903A1]

What was the whole deal with absinthe anyway? I've heard that it could make you insane, then today I read in an article that a component of the wormwood supposedly could make you hallucinate. So what's the story???

[paperairplane]

Falls basically under urban legend. Absinthe is typically near-grain alcohol strength. (Think 150+ proof) and if made poorly, like any alcohol or moonshine, might contain methanol. This is poisonous. You can also have fusel oils, which taste bad and give you monster hangovers. (This is why distilleries throw out their firsts and thirds...)

To take in enough wormwood to kill you while drinking absinthe, you would have died many times over from alcohol poisoning. The intoxicating / hallucinagenic properties of wormwood are vastly overrated and not established as fact.

For a similair drink get a bottle of green chartreuse - it will be 110 proof and has a very bitter flavor.

If you don't like Ouzo, Sambuca, Pernod, etc - you won't like this either.

[bobarian]

Nice review, you should slowly start to see true Absinthe becoming available in more areas. It was approved for sale in the US after being banned since the early 1900's. It was thought that the wormwood used in its production caused insanity. You can find some great stories about late 19th century artists and writers binging on absinthe and creating some wonderful masterpieces! Among its users were Van Gogh, Degas, Beadelaire and Ernest Hemingway.
Here is a cool link:http://absinthe.msjekyll.com/

[jkorp]

Originally Posted by bobarian

Nice review, you should slowly start to see true Absinthe becoming available in more areas. It was approved for sale in the US after being banned since the early 1900's. It was thought that the wormwood used in its production caused insanity. You can find some great stories about late 19th century artists and writers binging on absinthe and creating some wonderful masterpieces! Among its users were Van Gogh, Degas, Beadelaire and Ernest Hemingway.
Here is a cool link:http://absinthe.msjekyll.com/

You now what is interesting is that according to an article over at Wormwood Society, authentic Absinthe has been legal since the 70's. It had more to do with interpretation and inforcment of the regulations by the ATF.I think the US reg say it has to be under 10 ppm Thujone (active compound in wormwood). Analysis of pre-ban absinthe show most recipes were around 6 ppm. So you can have authentic 19th century in the US.

I can't wait for more brands to be available. I read over at WS that there is a US distiller that is on the verge of launching the first domestic. That will be nice. I tell you what, if this Kubler is on the mid side for absinthes I can't wait to see what an even better quality absinthe is like.

[jkorp]

Originally Posted by M1903A1

What was the whole deal with absinthe anyway? I've heard that it could make you insane, then today I read in an article that a component of the wormwood supposedly could make you hallucinate. So what's the story???

Thujone is not an hallucinagen. Modern science has shown that this compound has little to so with the "Absinthe Effect".
What made people crazy back then, probably the same thing that makes the wino on the corner spout all kinds of nonsense today... Chronic alcoholism. Whether you are drinking Absinthe or Whisky by the bottle, you will loose your $hit eventually. I think it had more to do with a drinking problem than the drink itself. Plus the fact that in the 19th century you had no concept of toxic levels of anything. People were using toxic metals in daily use items, like lead and mercury (the mad hatter). If the stories of crazed and hallucinating people are true, it is due to something other than the green fairy.

If you really want to know more check out wormwoodsociety, those people know their stuff.

[MCSmarties]

The controversy around Absinthe has always fascinated me.
I am from Switzerland and lived for a few years close to the Val-de-Travers region (the birthplace of the "modern" Absinthe).

For the last century, it had been illegal to produce Absinthe, which of course never stopped people from doing it anyway in the region.
I well remember how friends in high school would bring homebrewed Absinthe in an unlabeled bottle to parties and such!

In the late 90s the law was amended so that absinthe could be legally sold, as long as the thujone and alcohol contents remained below a certain limit.

Around 2002ish something funny happened.
Every year the Swiss Federal Council visits a region (it's jokingliy referred to as our government's "school excursion")
and this time they went to the Val de Travers region and had lunch there.
They were served an excellent dessert, a unique homemade ice cream with a peculiar aniseed taste (you can see where this is headed!).
The President of the Council referred to it and repeatedly stated how much he enjoyed it during the press conference later in the day.
A few weeks later, a federal inspection team turned up at that restaurant, looking for the illegal Absinthe distillery...

Anyway, since 2005 Absinthe is legally available in Switzerland again.

[M1903A1]

Originally Posted by paperairplane

For a similair drink get a bottle of green chartreuse - it will be 110 proof and has a very bitter flavor.

Oh jeez, I remember that stuff!

[sspolv]

Originally Posted by jkorp

Thujone is not an hallucinagen. Modern science has shown that this compound has little to so with the "Absinthe Effect".
What made people crazy back then, probably the same thing that makes the wino on the corner spout all kinds of nonsense today... Chronic alcoholism. Whether you are drinking Absinthe or Whisky by the bottle, you will loose your $hit eventually. I think it had more to do with a drinking problem than the drink itself. Plus the fact that in the 19th century you had no concept of toxic levels of anything. People were using toxic metals in daily use items, like lead and mercury (the mad hatter). If the stories of crazed and hallucinating people are true, it is due to something other than the green fairy.

If you really want to know more check out wormwoodsociety, those people know their stuff.

Also, the insanity associated with absinthe was also, I believe, mostly due to cheap absinthe. A lot of times "distillers" wishing to enter the absinthe market would buy large amounts of neutral grain spirits, flavor them with oils and then add chemicals such as copper sulfate and various antimony compounds in order to obtain the characteristic properties of old absinthe: a vibrant green color and a cloudy, pale white louche. Believe me, that stuff is -nasty- on the body.

[jkorp]

That is an interesting point. So you had lots of alcoholics drinking bath tub absinthe. That makes a lot of sense as well. So instead of saying we have a drinking problem and or a bootleg / rot gut problem we'll just use Absinthe as a scapegoat. No more Absinthe for anyone!

[mosesbotbol]

The major producer of Absinthe was Jewish in France and a Parisian paper used Absinthe as a scapegoat for their own anti-Semitism views towards this company and owner.

I'll post the link if I can find it, but it was on an Absinthe site, not a Jewish type of site.

[weetone]

I read an article about it today actually...interesting.

From what I gathered, absinthe is around, just with low thujone levels...as for the hallucinations, you could conceivably get them if you drank a ton of it, becuase I'm pretty sure thujone and THC act similarly on the brain.

[hova45]

I only drink the Jade absinthe

[jkorp]

Originally Posted by weetone

I read an article about it today actually...interesting.

From what I gathered, absinthe is around, just with low thujone levels...as for the hallucinations, you could conceivably get them if you drank a ton of it, becuase I'm pretty sure thujone and THC act similarly on the brain.

Thats actually not true. Apparently that is based off of some old study from the 70's that stoners and Absinthophones like to cling to, that suggested they appeared similar. Large doses of Thujone however is known to be a neurotoxin. And as is said time and again, you would suffer from alcohol poisoning before you felt the chemical effects of Thujone.

It is also not true that low level Absinthe is all that is around. Up until a few months ago that was true, but due to a change in the iterpretation of the US regulations, true Asinthe is perfectly legal. Anaylsis of pre-ban Absinthe showed levels of 6ppm Thujone I think it was, the US regs allow for less than 10ppm. So as you can see this would allow for authentic, pre-ban Absinthe to be legal in the US. Now up until the change it is true you could find a product called Absinte, that did not use Grand Wormwoodm and had neglegable levels of Thujone. But now you can by Kubler and Lucid in the US that are as authentic as stuff you could get 100 year ago.

[jkorp]

Originally Posted by hova45

I only drink the Jade absinthe

Now that is something I look forward to trying someday.

I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, Jade is based on the True Vintage Pernod recipes of old (has nothing to do with modern Pernod which is on par with the Absinte brand).