Absinth anyone? other than Picasso, Van Gogh, Hemingway,Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde I'm dying to taste this now illegal spirit. As far as I know it's only legal in its homeland, the Czech Republic. They say you need to drink 2 or 3 shots with sugar cubes (i think it tastes bitter) and in about an hour it makes one see strong hallucinations, and one would be quite vibrant and in great zest. Rev, 8:10, 11: "And the third angel sounded, and a great star, burning like a lamp, fell from Heaven, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and fountains of water; and the name of the star is called Absinthe: and the third part of the waters were turned into absinthe; and many of the people died from the waters, because they were bitter" "Absinthe and the Drink Demon" Maybe that's why Hemingway is believed to have said something like "Here she comes again; my green angel" at "Cafe de Flore" in Paris.
i did have some (note: some = too much) while in the czech rep., and while i got enormously drunk, i can't say i had any hallucinations. this was, of course, the 'real' stuff. then again, i could have just been too bloody drunk to notice anything going on around me or in my head. it's really really strong; we poured it over sugar cubes into glasses and lit it to burn a little of the alcohol off... after awhile, your throat just goes numb to it.
They say you dont see hallucinations And burn neither the sugar nor the alcohol: So What Is The "Secondary" Absinthe Effect? The actual Absinthe Effect is not a drug-induced mind-bending trip. When indulged in moderation, the effect is one of pleasant intoxication accompanied by an unusually lively mental clarity and uplifted mood. It is now commonly thought to be the result of the mixture of the herbs in question, not merely the wormwood. It is this liveliness and clarity which allowed the artists and writers of the time to capture their visions rather than simply falling into a stupor. The Wormwood Society founder is fond of saying that "Absinthe inspires brilliance, it does not provide it." excerpt from : http://www.wormwoodsociety.org/ABSfaq.html#what A very useful site with step by step preparation photos and many links
you have to get the right brand - the ones that are green colored are generally not real absinthe, but the clear one with the actual wormwood floating around in it is the good stuff. i felt a bit trippy at the beginning everytime i drank it, but it has such a high alcohol content you just get drunk pretty soon it could have just been induced by the fact that i was expecting to feel trippy, as well. but we all reported similar feelings (i've drunk it with various people). oh and they have it in some bars in germany for sure, several kinds. i didn't really seek it out any where else other than in prague, but in general it's not that hard to come by in many european countries from what i know of it. everyone does look at you like a crazy american for drinking it though
