DOSE:

2 - 4 shots

oral

Absinthe

BODY WEIGHT:

250 lb

A Strong Absinthe Recipe With Extra Kick

I have tried making absinthe before, with mixed results. The flavor has always been an issue, and something seemed amiss as I felt very little effect from the thujone, seperate from the alcohol, unless I put so much wormwood in the mix that the resultant drink seemed virtually unpalatable. As well, San Pedro mescaline trips have always been characterized, for me, by that nervous stomach feeling, because of the copious amount of cactus I have had to ingest in order to achieve a decent effect. My thought was to see if a synergy could be achieved between the two, which might have a more worthwhile result. I believe I found the proper mix, now, and the effect, while not a bombing high, seems entirely pleasant.

The recipe I have used goes as follows:

1 oz dried Wormwood leaves
3 oz dried chips of San Pedro cactus
1 tsp Anise seed
6 full stars of Star Anise, moderately crushed
10-15 whole Cloves
1 tsp Peppercorns (I use white pepper)
1 tsp Rosemary leaves (needles)
1 stick of Cinnamon (cassia)
10 Juniper berries, broken
and
750 ml (a fifth) of 190 proof grain spirits

I soak all of the herbs and spices in a mason jar (anything closed would work, I'm sure), with just enough of the alcohol to cover the mix, about a third of the fifth, and let that sit over night or until the following night. I drain that off, through a screen strainer, into another mason jar. Then I top the herbal mixture off again with more alcohol, stirring it, and this time let it sit for another day or two, straining that off afterward, also collecting it into the second jar. And I repeat that a third time, letting the mix sit another couple of days, and straining again.

By the last wash, the liquid remains pretty pale, but the total collected in the second jar seems a very bright, pleasant shade of clear green. I find the clarity helped tremendously by leaving the herbs only slightly broken or moderately crushed, rather than powdered, so that my screen filter can easily catch the pieces. I have tried filtering through coffee filters and this always seems needlessly messy and wasteful.

The decoction is definitely bitter, but I find it works well with traditional absinthe recipes, especially simple table sugar and water (I like to add a slice of orange, too). The bitterness seems a rapidly acquirable taste, and it seems to actually have a settling effect on my stomach, rather than a disturbance as the flavor might suggest. The effect for me is a sharpened awareness of texture and color, a gentle driftiness of spirit; I feel calm, talkative, insightful and creative. The mood lingers well for me, nicely proportioned with the alcohol, although I do find an actively dreamy quality of thought that makes falling asleep somewhat more difficult at the end of an evening, as I hover on the edge of sleep for quite awhile.

1 oz dried leaf 3 oz dried chips 750 ml 190 proof taken in doses of 2 to 4 shots in an evening

Exp Year: 2014	ExpID: 105412
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 48
Published: Feb 4, 2020	Views: 1,800
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Absinthe (4), Cacti - T. pachanoi (64) : Combinations (3), Preparation / Recipes (30), Unknown Context (20)