I am preparing the very famous “Green Fairy”: my experience of getting absinthe at home

I have tried a lot of alcohol. Do not think what, not the one you thought about – just a connoisseur. I like ambiguous drinks with an interesting taste, unusual presentation and a rich history. Trendy cocktails go by, but brandy, bourbon, Metaxa (metaksa), rakia or calvados are what you need.

The story was sent by a subscriber Sergey Igorevich from Vorkuta, hoping for the help of readers.

Why I decided to make alcohol myself

Of course, I could not pass up absinthe. However, the evening of tasting this drink was one big disappointment. The strong liquid with a chemical taste did not in any way resemble the legendary “green fairy”. The bottle went to the far shelf of the bar, but I went to the Internet.

A few hours later, I realized the following:

1. In shops and bars they sell the usual tincture “under absinthe”.
2. Similarity of real absinthe can be tasted in the Czech Republic and Switzerland. For a quarter of my monthly salary
3. There is no real absinthe.

If there is no real absinthe, then the only way out is to make it yourself!

What ingredients are required

There are many options, and they are all one version or another of an old French recipe. Having highlighted the main ones, I made the following list:

Herbs are bought at the pharmacy. You can’t buy alcohol anywhere, I had to ask friends for a liter of strong 80% moonshine on loan. Vodka is not suitable for the recipe.

The distiller took the simplest one without nozzles and dry steamers for 2000 rubles. I bought it on the classifieds site, because the new one did not fit into the budget. The device did not look very good, but it coped with its task more than adequately.

The cooking process

With everything I needed on hand, I got to work. Wormwood, anise and fennel fell asleep in a glass jar, filled with alcohol and mixed well. About a teaspoon of wormwood I left for coloring the drink in the future.

I put the jar in a bowl under running hot water for 15 minutes. Then he closed the water and left the jar to bathe until it cools. The process was repeated during the day about 12 times, and even left it in the water at night.

By morning, the alcohol had turned into a brown goo with a swampy smell. It’s time for the race. I assembled the apparatus and poured a grass swamp into the alembic. I poured half a liter of cold water into the jar, shook it well to collect the remnants of herbs from the bottom and walls, and poured it into the main liquid.

Distillation led slowly, at medium power. The first drops of distillate collected in a glass (there is just 50 grams) and poured. These “heads” give absinthe a sharp aftertaste. Then he collected the main fraction up to a liter, as indicated in the original recipe.

In general, it is better to focus not on volume, but on taste, periodically tasting the distillate. As soon as I felt an unpleasant oily aftertaste, I stopped distillation. I did not collect the tails, I just poured out the entire contents of the cube.

Now the fun part – coloring. I poured half of the distillate into a liter jar, added a teaspoon of wormwood, one tablespoon of lemon balm and two mints. He closed the jar and repeated the trick with a basin and hot water. After about 40 minutes, the liquid acquired a rich green color.

I filtered the colored distillate twice through cheesecloth, lightly squeezing the herbs, and once through a paper filter. I mixed it with the colorless part and got a little less than a liter of emerald drink. Yes, some of the alcohol remained in the herbs, but I did not dare to squeeze harder: the absinthe could turn out to be cloudy.

What result did I get

Absinthe turned out completely different from the store! I drank it in the classical way, diluting it with water through a sugar cube. Burning – cool taste with the aroma of anise and subtle wormwood bitterness.

I did not believe that without any experience I would get such a good result the first time. In the near future I am going to repeat my success using alcohol of my own production. I’m sure the quality will get even better.

The only thing that confused me: when diluted with water, the drink does not become cloudy. Have any of the absinthes encountered a similar problem?

Perhaps it was worth sticking to the original recipe strictly or heating the jar of herbs longer? Or even try infusion in a cold way? Gentlemen, what are your thoughts?

*Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health!