What is the best way to serve Absinthe?!
Must I use a sugar cube and water before I ingest it ?
Answers: I just bought a bottle and want to make sure I serve it correctly
Must I use a sugar cube and water before I ingest it ?
It's not all that complicated, but it's worth the extra couple minutes to do it right. Because absinthe has such a high alcohol content, it's not a good idea to drink it straight. Sure, you can shoot it if you want, but what's the point if you spent so much on your liquor...you may as well save a ton of money and just shoot 151 yanno?
It's as simple as this:
Pour about a shot into a glass (traditional absinthe glasses had a convenient built in measure). Then, just pour ice cold water very SLOWLY into the glass. You'll start to see the absinthe cloud up, or "louche" (pronounced "loosh"). As you continue slowly pouring the water, you'll see the clear liquor sitting on top of the cloudy, louched absinthe. The more water you pour, the more louched absinthe you have, and the less of the clear on top. When the top layer of clear finally goes away, that's the ideal ratio of water to absinthe.
If you rush the water, you don't get quite as clear of a line, and it not only doesn't louche as well, but you run the risk of over-diluting it.
Where you see the sugar/spoon method, it's pretty much the same thing, except you're pouring the water over a sugar cube (just as slowly) and that's simply to sweeten it to taste. It's not at all necessary, but some people like it sweeter.
NO FIRE
It's just a stupid frat trick that's a waste of alcohol and just foolishly dangerous. Again, the price you paid for the drink is not worth lighting on fire and burning away.
Here are some GOOD examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tWyDxiOz...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wqW1IgSK...
...and here are some BAD examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xabq4dVa5...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mu0LnK_L...
If you are in the States, you could start by not incriminating yourself or you will be ingesting bologna sandwiches with no sugar inside a cage.
whatever you do, don't drink it straight because it's gonna burn yoiu like anything else... that's 60-90% alcohol!
to my knowledge, this is one of the most complicated drinks precisely because people follow a certain ritual to drinking it. try this
http://www.absinth-guide.de/en/how-to-dr...
I've recently tried Lucid and Kubler brands. I've tried a sip of both straight - lucid is very harsh and kubler isn't bad. I'm drinking kubler with just water right now. I find it sweet enough on its own. I would drink lucid with sugar or some other mixer - I tried a few to see what it was like. I found a bit of lemonade and lucid to be a very interesting drink. It's just licquor, have fun with it - but make sure there are designated drivers because it is quite strong.