Absinthe - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

phreshjive · 07-23-2004, 12:49 PM

Does anyone know what the score is regarding absinthe? Can you bring back in your pack to the states? Can you ship it home? I've had it before, but not enough to get loco and I'd like to have a bottle when I get back from Europe, any ideas?

**omisan** · 07-23-2004, 01:36 PM

You can bring one bottle back with you - essentially, it's considered a bottle of spirits. If you do bring some back, get the real deal. Not the pre-flavored 100- or 120-proof stuff they have in stores and behind some bars, but the actual wormwood stuff that you have to dillute with water and sugar.

I saw a couple of girls doing Absinthe "shots" at Travelbar in Barça, but that's not quite the real stuff. Ask around about where you can get the wormwood stuff. (If you are in BCN, you can get a bottle of the real stuff at Marsella, distilled by the owners...)

I forgot to bring some back. d'OH!

**skidrage** · 07-23-2004, 07:37 PM

I have brought back a bottle of Absinthe before. As mentioned in the previous post, you can bring back a bottle of spirits. Absinthe is supposed to be illegal to sell here, but just bringing back a bottle should not be a problem. Most of the people that check your baggage probably would not be aware of what it is (hopefully

).

I would not suggest shipping it home though. The best way would be to put it in your carry on bag and or pack it tightly in your checked luggage.

**Ozpacka** · 09-05-2004, 01:04 PM

I heard that you cannot due to the fact that its highly flamable...

Could be wrong but...

I only gots me a little bottle of 70% stuff, just as a souvenier from prage.

Lee.

**MolsonGirl** · 09-06-2004, 07:47 AM

I just brought a bottle back to Canada no worries... it's just alcohal to customs.

**Somnambulation** · 09-12-2004, 08:45 PM

I bought a few bottles of "Hills Absinth" in Prague as gifts and souvenirs. Its the 70% stuff and what the bars there serve and I figured it was the real deal. But then in the duty free shop at Heathrow when I was coming home there was a guy giving out free samples of "La Fey" Absinthe. So I drank his samples as he explained all about how La Fey is the only brand endorsed by the Official Absinthe Museum and that it uses the traditional wormwood formula from early 1900s France, while Hills uses only a small amount of wormwood and other brands use none at all. Apparently the 'e' on the end of absinthe is one way to discern the real stuff from the fakes also. He said Hills was a good drink, but for mixed drinks rather than the traditional way of drinking absinthe by way of dissolving sugar into it with water. I drank quite a few samples, but they only allow the 48% stuff to be sold in airports and he was pouring it from a glass mixed with water, plus he said it takes about four glasses of the stuff to start feeling the effects of the wormwood, so sadly I boarded the plane fully sober. But from what Ive read on eAbsinthe.com, the guy seems to have been telling the truth. The La Fey Absinthe was 20 pounds for the 48% stuff and all I had on me at that point was my carry on bag, which did get searched on re entry into the US, so I didnt buy any but he said you can legally order up to two bottles of the stuff if you live in the US. Might be something to look into, the effects which make you more creative and expressive sound cool.

Magnifico · 10-03-2004, 03:56 PM

That's not to say that Hill's is half-bad, either. Even if it tastes a little like cologne, it's a great liquor that eases into your system without that *bleh* feeling you get when you're on your way to a good time.

**beergal** · 10-05-2004, 02:14 AM

ah absinthe i remember the days in ibiza at private workers parties (i cheekily got in with mates!) where they make you drink at least 2 shots of absinthe before they even let you in man those were crazzeee days

wong name · 01-14-2005, 06:59 PM

anybody ever try this overseas, if so what are your stories

el_filtro_loco · 01-14-2005, 08:13 PM

No stories, persay, but...

Had some in Bolton and Frankfurt.

Didn't go insane or blind.

Tasted absolutely delicious.

Heathrow was selling quarts of it at the Duty Free.

**U2fan** · 01-14-2005, 08:23 PM

Man....

I have a pretty funny story about the night I tried it...I was in Portugal and had already drank a ton that night, then finished out the night with a shot of that stuff.....within 30 seconds I threw up everywhere (in a bar! on my guy friend's leg and the bar!) but then I felt better and started drinking again. Things were pretty hazy and crazy after that; I know we were swimming in a fountain, then skinny dipping in the ocean and I jumped over this cement barrier and gashed my knee which still has scars to this day....then we ending up making out on some cop car until the cop kicked us off....then other nonsense

Damn that was a crazy night.....

**TimmyJames1976** · 01-14-2005, 08:24 PM

I hear it's not the thujone that makes you get annoyingly wacky, but the high alcohol proof and people just getting drunk and dumb. I do hear though that the high thujone content stuff is a mild halucinagenic...nothing trippy, just intense color, um intensity, and a sort of stoned feeling. i have never tried being that i live in puritanical pennsylvania and im surprised they let coffee be imported.

wong name · 01-15-2005, 05:54 AM

sounds like a WILD night u2fan -----doesnt throwing up always help, as gross as it is.

el they were really selling absinth at heathrow

**Joker** · 01-15-2005, 08:09 AM

The sous chef from a restaurant I worked in was from Prague, and often brought the real stuff back when he'd visit home...

He says the beauty of absinthe is that you are incredibly shitfaced, yet can think extremely clear. The chemical in the wormwood apparently isnt hallucinigenic or anything, but you need to drink about 5-6 shots of that euphoric feeling to take over.

I told Petr I'd be shipping a few bottles back for him :D

**bellelass** · 01-15-2005, 10:47 AM

I had a double shot a few weeks ago here in my hostel. I was sitting around minding my own business when it hit me like a runaway truck. I was shocked how quickly it went to my head... Then of course, I was very very happy, felt like I could fly or something. Then it wore off. Thank God, because half an hour later I was taking some drunk idiot eastern european guy to the hospital cause he'd had half a bottle and cut his hand wide open. woohoo!

**ChasinJason1313** · 01-15-2005, 03:52 PM

Ok, here's the deal about Absinth from what I've learned. First of all, it is not a hallucinagen by itself. The whole myth about absinth is sort of true but you have to cook it and add some other stuff to it and then take it, it's quite a process and I didn't bother because it was a big deal. I did, however, buy a bottle of it while I was in Spain and it is like any other alcohol. It is, I think, 110 or 120 proof, which is 55 or 60% alcohol. Less than Bacardi 151 but more than normal scotch or vodka. It tastes OK if you mix it with sprite. It tastes like cough syrup, or black licorice, I'm not quite sure.

I never got really trashed on it but it will definitely get you drunk if you have enough of it.

**TimmyJames1976** · 01-15-2005, 04:41 PM

well, the black licorice flvor comes from the anise that is used in it, which is fairly common in many liquors such as anisette and blackhaus. halucinagenic was not the word i really wanted to use, and someone mention euphoria which is a much better word. the key ingredient however comes from the wormwood and is called thujone. there are a few decent websites on it but i cant remember for the lif of me what they are. i was going to try and import some, but pennsylvania has a maniacal liquor control board and im not sure if it would get through to PA let alone customs. il lhave to wait til my trip to try some.

Deadguy · 01-15-2005, 08:13 PM

http://www.absintheonline.com/

I know people who have gotten it from here.
I've never tried any.. but i plan on hitting it hard when im in france next month

**beergal** · 01-16-2005, 02:57 AM

palenka is amazing too, you should try that!

ThunderCuba · 01-16-2005, 03:06 AM

Got to agree that you don't see any green fairys, though the high alcohol proof makes it a "clean" drunk. You get the euphoria, but none of the stumbling or slurred speech. And I've never had a hangover, either (unless I mix with other alcohol -- baaaaaad ju-ju.)

I first tried this stuff in Bath, UK, but found out later that the UK stuff is false. Doesn't have the wormwood and less alcohol content. (don't know if that has changed in the past few years.)

Apparently, the really good absinthe is from France or Spain. You can buy it online at www.feeverte.net but beware that it ain't cheap (site also has a lot of information). They will deliver to the US, where it is technically "regulated" by the FDA, but not illegal, per se.

The laws in the UK are similar, I believe.

Anyway, the "correct" way to drink it is to mix a shot with about 1 cup of water. Dilutes that licorice taste and gives it that milky green color. You don't have to burn the sugar, and its a bad idea unless you have an absinthe spoon, but you can put a spoonful of sugar in to sweeten the taste.

I've had this stuff from France called Le Fee Verite' a couple of times, and it is excellent. About $100US a bottle, but a good conversational piece (and better than champagne on new years.) There is also Pernod, which is a yellow type of absinthe, which is OK, but I just don't have the palate for it.

So what does it do for me? Two shots (mixed with water) gives me a good buzz

, three gets me to the edge

, four puts me in the zone

. Like I said, clean drunk so that you just want to talk your ass off. To put it in perspective, I'm a scotch an water guy... about the same amount of a liberal glass of scotch puts me to sorts for the evening.

Guess that makes me a Middleweight (for an American).