Absinthe Formula by Allison Wright
This is my puke-free formula for Absinthe. It took several revisions to the formula over a
few years, but I have perfected a formula that I am happy with.
Herbs you need:
- Wormwood - cut the flowering tops only from the plant.
- Anise Seed (aka Fennel)
- Caraway Seed
- Parsley (flat leaf)
- Sage (green)
- Licorice Root
You also need:
- Good quality 80 proof vodka (do not use grain alcohol because you need a certain amount
of water with the alcohol to extract the plant essences properly and 80 proof vodka is the right ratio of alcohol to water
to do this.)
Method:
Into a 1.75 litre glass bottle, put
- 90 grammes of wormwood
- 50 grammes anise seed, slightly crushed
- 30 grammes caraway seed, slightly crushed
- 20 grammes licorice root, cut coarsely
- 20 grammes sage
- 30 grammes parsley
- 174 grammes sugar
Add vodka to cover, but leave enough space at the top to allow for shaking. 3cm is adequate.
Put this in a cool dark place and shake the bottle twice a day for 2 weeks. By this time the
mixture should be a dark yellow-green colour.
You will need 2 pitchers. Strain into a pitcher first through a sieve that is lined with either
muslin or gauze. Squeeze the marc to get the last of the concentrated essences and then discard.
Line the sieve with a coffee filter and pour the absinthe through it into the second pitcher.
Depending on how much sediment there is, you may need to change the filter a couple of times in the process.
You should be left with a clear, sediment-free yellow-green liquid. If it's not totally clarified,
passit through the coffee filters again. Pour this into glass bottles and cap them tightly. Store in a dark place.
Treat this like a drug because that is exactly what it is. The thujone level in this is about
10x that of commercial absinthe simply because there IS real wormwood in this (unlike commercial absinthe where they use a
1:6 dilution of wormwood oil) and also the sage contains thujone. Your central nervous system will shut down if you drink
more than 1 shot glass of this stuff – per diem.
Put 20ml of absinthe in a glass with 5ml sugar and ice cold water and mix. This is what was
known in Victorian times as an Absinthe Cocktail. Two is the limit in a 24-hour period.
