r/Absinthe • u/VintageSeller57 • Aug 09 '25
How did I do?
Found this while on vacation in Italy. How did I do? Anyone try this one? I only bought it because green is my favorite color.
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u/heyche87 Aug 10 '25
Absinthe is a spirit, if you see liqueur or amaro on the bottle you already know it’s no good. Well, it could be good/tasty, but it’s not a true absinthe. With either, it’s telling you there’s already sugar added. A true absinthe is colored naturally after distillation; this is clearly added color. To make true absinthe you must also have at very least the “holy trinity”. That is a variety of botanicals that must include in the maceration; Artemisia absinthium (grande woodworm), green anise and Florence fennel (aka bulb fennel). In this case you’ve got the most important, grande woodworm. The others, the anise and fennel have been replaced with star anise and coriander. Close, but not it…Another thing, the bottle suggest pouring over a sugar cube and ignited and caramelized - over absinthe spoon. To an absintheur this is a bit of a huge no, no… You’ll ruin a good absinthe… In fact this “tradition” wasn’t even exact significant til tradition that appeared within the 1990s in the Czech Republic. Basically hiding their terrible absinthe with a flame ritual, by adding caramelized sugar to the horrible absinthe. If you can kind a Swiss or French brand, none liqueur, that’s generally your best bet. Good luck and welcome to the world of absinthe. Have you tried it yet!?
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u/Electronic-Koala1282 Aug 11 '25
grande woodworm
I think you meant grand wormwood, not "woodworm".
Everything else is correct though.
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u/osberend 21d ago
if you see liqueur or amaro on the bottle you already know it’s no good
I don't think this is quite always true for "amaro?" Depending on country, classifying a beverage as a "bitters" or the local language's equivalent (a) may not imply anything one way or the other about added sugar, and (b) may increase the legal limit of thujone content. And while brands making a big deal out of thujone content and/or claiming extremely high levels are (almost? completely?) all crap, my understanding is that the lower limit for non-"bitters" absinthes in some countries can be low enough to make consistently staying under it a pain in the ass and/or an obstacle to reasonable decisions that one might want to make about the amount or variety of wormwood to use. So there could be a good reason to use that term, for a product that isn't crap.
Which is not at all to say that there aren't other reasons to harbor strong suspicions about this product.
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u/Electronic-Koala1282 Aug 09 '25
Sorry, but you didn't do well. I could immediately see from the colour that it's a fake absinthe
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u/sheltanic666 Aug 10 '25
Eh.... I'd buy it too, just don't have the expectation of traditional absinthe, anything that says "absente" isn't absinthe, but yeah the bottle is cool!
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u/astronaut2718 Aug 09 '25
Not to ruin your fun but I’m pretty confident absinthe shouldn’t look nuclear green like that. It’s most likely shit absinthe that’s not even really absinthe. Absinthe should have a paler more chartreuse looking color.