What alcohol is use in Absinthe?
Henri-Louis Pernod, who first distilled industrial Absinthe in early 19th century in Pontarlier, France, used a wine alcohol base. He distilled the alcohol with herbs like wormwood, fennel, aniseed, hyssop, angelica, lemon balm, star anise, juniper, veronica, dittany and nutmeg. Wine is the traditional base for Absinthe but a majority of distillers use other types of alcohol.
If you search for Absinthe recipes online, you will find that many of them include steeping blends of herbs in liquor like Everclear, white rum or vodka.
How Do You Create Absinthe from home?
However some recipes online are for distilling Absinthe, distillation of liquor without a license is against the law in many countries and you simply have to have the right equipment and you also need to find out what you are doing. So, are there any other strategies to making Absinthe?
– Steeping and Filtering – This typically involves steeping herbs like wormwood, fennel, aniseed, calamus root, star anise, mint, coriander seeds, cloves etc. for several days or even a couple of weeks within the neutral alcohol base and then filtering. Only distillation can provide a true Absinthe, this will just give you an Absinthe flavored vodka.
– Using an Absinthe Kit – Many of the kits available on the internet, just like the ones from Green Devil, are only steeping kits. They may be easier than discovering and preparing your own personal herbs but you are merely steeping the herbs in vodka again and making a flavored vodka.
– Using an Absinthe kit form AbsintheKit.com is a less difficult and much better approach to make Absinthe in your own home. AbsintheKit.com create essences for the Absinthe industry and also the essences are made by distilling classic Absinthe herbs in alcohol. The distillation is completed for you and all you have to do is mix the essence with vodka or Everclear and you’ve got a true Absinthe drink.
The essences can be found in four distinct varieties:-
– Classic Green Essence to produce a classic “verte” Absinthe which has a thujone content of 35mg per bottle.
– Clear Absinthe Essence to create a clandestine La Bleue style Absinthe. This also includes a thujone content of 35mg.
– Orange Essence to create Absinthe with a twist. This essence could make a yellow-orange colored Absinthe with a natural orange flavor and also a thujone content of 35mg.
– Strong 55 Essence will make an Absinthe which has a higher thujone content (55mg) and also a more bitter wormwood flavor.
You can either get a 20ml bottle of essence for $3.95 to create one 750ml bottle of Absinthe or get a kit for $29 to make 14 bottles of Absinthe. A kit also includes a handy plastic gauge and 14 artistic bottle labels. All you need to supply is the neutral alcohol base. Remember that the alcohol content of your Absinthe will depend on your alcohol base. Be cautious, drink Absinthe moderately because it’s a substantially tougher beverage than other spirits and also fermented drinks.
What alcohol is use in Absinthe? A wine alcohol base or perhaps a neutral alcohol which lacks a substantial taste of its own – Everclear, vodka or 151 rum.