(03-02-2024, 09:40 PM)homebiscuit Wrote:

(03-01-2024, 05:02 PM)Jaguarmeister Wrote: So, I've been into bourbon for the past 10 years.  I currently have about 110 bottles (probably more) of booze, mostly whiskey, in my collection which I've built over that time.  I realize that's a kind of ridiculous amount of bottles to own and I'm not enthusiastic about expanding that number too much.  I drink less now and in recent years, not that I was ever a lush, yet I still buy interesting bottles when presented with the opportunity to do so so it's not difficult to envision that number growing further. Most bottles in my collection are open.  I'm in a local facebook group and my collection, as ridiculous as it is, is still peanuts compared to many others I've seen post who enjoy this spirit.  I also really dig a good absinthe served traditionally with a cold water drip, sugar cube and absinthe spoon.  Anyone here interested in either spirit to a similar degree?

I went on a brief bourbon excursion a few years ago. I didn’t get to try any of the high end stuff but the working man brands were interesting. I have an affinity for Knob Creek. The sweetness and the heat appeal to me. 

I’ve never had a genuine absinthe and always wanted to try one. They sound really tasty. 

Now off to AA, you lush.

Lucid and Pernod absinthes are relatively easily obtainable locally and of very good quality in my opinion.  I don't know of any bar locally that serves absinthes in the traditional manner with a proper absinthe glass, spoon and cold water drip.  I have a couple of absinthe glasses and a couple of spoons and just manually drip cold bottled water as slowly as I can over the sugar cube until the cube is gone and you get a good louche in the absinthe.

My wife and I went to Europe for our honeymoon in 2015 and had brief stays in several cities.  I was able to convince her to pack light because often times the checked luggage is more expensive than the seat on the plane on intercontinental flights within Europe.  So we each had a backpack and a carry on and did laundry while we were over there for the couple of weeks we were. One of the cities we stayed in was Amsterdam.  Neither of us partake and that's not why we went there.  It just happened to be a connecting city for our multi-city trip.  I went into a liquor store in Amsterdam just to see what was what and if I could find anything whiskey wise or otherwise.  I asked the clerk/owner what he would recommend in his store that was "interesting" to a tourist who would likely not be back again any time soon.  He showed us some wines and pointed me to a particular absinthe called La Pontissalienne.  I took his recommendation and bought 2 bottles of it and some of the wine he recommended.  We did not carry it with us because we intended to stay packed light, but he shipped it to our home address and it was waiting for us when we arrived home.  I have not yet killed the first of those two bottles.  I drink from it sparingly because it wasn't available in the states the last I checked and it is quite good.  It was my first (and best) experience with drinking absinthe on its own and not as part of an ingredient in another cocktail.

I did not grow up a black licorice fan, but I really enjoyed absinthe from the get go which very much has a black licorice flavor.  I did get into the salty black licorice that's prevalent over in Scandinavia when I've been over there the couple times that I've been (once being part of the honeymoon), but that's distinctly different than the standard black licorice flavor that's common in jelly beans and other candies here..  I now actually don't mind black licorice jelly beans whenever I scoop one in a handful of jelly belly's or something similar.  If black licorice does anything for you, you should definitely give traditionally served absinthe a shot.  Even if if it doesn't, maybe you're like me and will like it anyway.

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