"Absinthe".

Newsgroup: alt.abuse.transcendence, alt.alcohol, alt.bacchus, alt.consciousness.mysticism, alt.bitterness, alt.drugs.culture, alt.drunken.bastards, alt.folklore.herbs
From: heidrick.well.sf.ca.us (Bill Heidrick)
Date: 10 Jan 1996 02:58:23 GMT
Subject: Re: Absinthe makes the heart grow ...

Making Absinthe is extremely easy, as long as you don't require the full alcoholic content. Just take Pernot, pour off about an ounce and cram wormwood herb in the top. Let it set for a week or two. That's it. Pernot is Absinthe without the wormwood and about half the alcohol.

Note that this is illegal in the USA. The above instruction is for educational purposes only. I'm sure nobody here would want absinthe anyway. It's only good for bringing back the high from pot, LSD and some other psychoactive drugs, perhaps three to ten times -- less if taken after 48 hours. Should be mixed with a little water until cloudy, else it stings the inside of the mouth a bit.

From: ix.io.com (Lupo LeBoucher)

> Making Absinthe is extremely easy, as long as you don't require the

This is unlikely to absorb much thujone; for a really horrible and ridiculously potent absinthe, buy a fifth of 100proof vodka, pour it over an ounce of wormwood, and a quarter ounce of anise seeds, and let it steep for a month or two. After straining the liquid, the resulting decoction will be a horrible looking liquid with approximately the color and psychoactivity of 1970s gasoline, though gasoline tastes better (long story).

To ingest (one cannot drink it), pour over a lump of sugar into a strong mixture of water & lemon juice, hold nose, and swallow before you taste the bitter horror. Be sure to do this in the vicinity of a sink with running water; one may need to wash the awful stuff down or provide your absinthe with a convenient place to rest should it decide to come up for a breather.

Effects reportedly include, audio-visual hallucinations similar to the opiates, with a bit o nitrous; numb mucus membranes; dizziness, nausea, picking up the ugliest member of the opposite sex one has ever encountered and vomiting green bile over oneself while asleep (experts disagree whether or not the latter was an effect of the previous, rather than an effect of the thujone -ask Heysoos, I didn't do it).

The above recipe was taken from a book called "The Magical and Ritual Uses of Herbs" (by Richard Allen Miller) which described Absinthe as "an excellent after-dinner liqueur" which makes one wonder what types of dinners Mr Miller has at his place.

The following is a small file from the ftp://ftp.hyperreal.com/drugs/misc URL; there is an extensive FAQ on the subject in that directory.

-Lupo

#include<absinthe.doc>

From: ata <hefas.etno.uib.no>

I don't think the psychoactive ingredients in wormwood will work this way, Bill. For them (i.e. the absinthinol?) to do that, you need to use other provesses, like extracting the resin by ether distillation. This, too, is a fairly easy process, though higly risky due to the dangers of setting fire to your immediate environment. In a Canadian journal (Arachny's Web) some years ago, a recipe was published that basically used your modus for making absinthe on a Pernod basis, but they also included some "alchemical" stuff etc. and it was a process that took very much longer than the one described by you for extracting the psychoactive ingredients.

From: ata <hefas.etno.uib.no>

Oh - and by the way, according to an old Norwegian recipe for absinthe, you need to have a cigar to go with it. Cigarettes wont do - other smoking mixtures neither!; )

From: ix.io.com (Lupo LeBoucher)

>> ridiculously potent absinthe, buy a fifth of 100proof vodka, pour it over
>> an ounce of wormwood, and a quarter ounce of anise seeds, and let it steep
>Anise has no effect; the active ingredients in absinthe are just wormwood and alcohol.

I agree, the anise went in the mix in a misguided attempt to kill some of the bitter flavor (since it was what the standard recipes used). All I suceeded in doing was killing some of the wormwood "flavor" *retch* upon burping.

>The plain wormwood probably could be swallowed as a tea followed by the booze as a chaser. The plain infusion used to be prescribed as a "tonic".

I don't know if it would have the same effect; the essential oils in the wormwood, which contain the active ingreedients, are not likely to be water soluble.
Same principle as marijuana brownies; the "resin" in MJ is also not water soluble, so eating MJ by itself will not be as potent as eating MJ when it is suspended in the various digestable oils in the brownie mix.

>> Effects reportedly include, audio-visual hallucinations similar to the
>Sounds cool, did this happen to you?

Fortunately not; Heysoos was cursed with the thing that should not be, and the green vomit, which to this day, adorns the back of his mattress. It was quite the evening, I must admit.

>From reading that book or other, somehow I got the idea to make absinthe by mixing a whole ounce of wormwood in a half fifth of whiskey and forgetting about it for a few months. That shit is impossibly bitter. It's one of the most bitter herbal substances you know.

Agreed; absolutely revolting stuff. Glad I tried it, but I'm not likely to do it again.

From: stygianv.shadow.net (Coyote Osborne)

>Anise has no effect; the active ingredients in absinthe are just wormwood and alcohol.

Ah, but anise does have an important effect here. It keeps the wormwood/absinthe from irritating your stomach so much. I would recommend fennel and perhaps peppermint or basil for this also.

There is a certain desire for bitter things that many people seem to possess without realizing it. Coffee, cocoa, and kola are all bitter. Usually something sweet is added (sugar mostly) to things containing these ingredients.

I once prepared some tea for a friend with a cold, but somehow accidentally grabbed the bag of wormwood, instead of the comfrey root (which was similar in appearance. Now wormwood decoction has no appreciable odor of it's own, so all he was able to smell was the peppermint that also was in the tea. he almost choked when he took a swig. I didn't believe that it was so horrible, so I tasted some. Bleh. : b

The chinese, by the way, prepare some dishes with "bitter melon" which has an almost identical taste to wormwood. That is an aquired taste, to say the least. I would recommend making absinthe with something hard, like vodka or good jamaican rum, and adding something sweet, like sugar or honey, and something aromatic, like anise, fennel, and mint. You may actually end up with something that is rather sensually appealing.

I hasten to point out that wormwood is mildly toxic, and can cause hallucinations and some other ill effects. It is used, after all, to kill worms in the digestive tract. Something that can kill or drive out worms in disgust may not be something you want to add to your system in too high an amount. : )

>The plain wormwood probably could be swallowed as a tea followed by the booze as a chaser. The plain infusion used to be prescribed as a "tonic".

Actually, most of the things in wormwood are damaged or destroyed if added to hot water. Warming it gently (like brandy) works, but not making an infusion with water that is boiling. I suspect that a good rul of thumb is taht if it is hot enough to destroy alcohol, it is also hot enough to make the wormwood lose it's efficacy.

>From reading that book or other, somehow I got the idea to make absinthe by mixing a whole ounce of wormwood in a half fifth of whiskey and forgetting about it for a few months. That shit is impossibly bitter. It's one of the most bitter herbal substances you know.

Yes. Not even the worms like it. : )

It does have some interesting properties, though, and prepared properly can even taste... well I won't say nice... but it will taste such a way that it is desirable.

Aquired taste perhaps? Good for the sensually indulgent? Weird?