Jump to content

Is it absinthe


Recommended Posts

If I just do a maceration of absinthe botanicals and don’t redistill, what is it. It has the flavor of absinthe but most recipes call for a redistillation over botanicals, is that required?  I has a dark brown color after filtering out the botanicals.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't believe the TTB has a legal definition for absinthe. You can read through "Class and Type Designation" and see. I wouldn't consider it absinthe without redistillation, but that doesn't mean you couldn't get it approved as an absinthe. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's definitely not absinthe; absinthe must be distilled.  It doesn't taste anything at all like absinthe, which isn't that bitter. Absinthe's primary flavor should be anise, not bitter wormwood. What you have there are wormwood bitters.  Pelinkovac, malört, and bäsk are examples of wormwood bitters from Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.  

Absinthe may still be obscure to the general populace, but there is a lot of accurate information available to those care enough to look.  I suggest doing a bit of research before trying to bring a product to market as absinthe.  You'll find literally everything you need to know over at the Wormwood Society, especially in the historic articles section.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Gwydion Stone said:

It's definitely not absinthe; absinthe must be distilled.  It doesn't taste anything at all like absinthe, which isn't that bitter. Absinthe's primary flavor should be anise, not bitter wormwood. What you have there are wormwood bitters.  Pelinkovac, malört, and bäsk are examples of wormwood bitters from Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.  

Absinthe may still be obscure to the general populace, but there is a lot of accurate information available to those care enough to look.  I suggest doing a bit of research before trying to bring a product to market as absinthe.  You'll find literally everything you need to know over at the Wormwood Society, especially in the historic articles section.

 

I appreciate the info. I does taste like absinthe though. I have compared it to two  us brands and the flavor is similar. I am using wormword, anise and fennel alongside 5 other herbs with anise being the main flavor. Not bringing it to market soon, just starting to experiment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good luck! Another good resource for some very old classic recipes is in Duplias' "A Treatise on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors". Lots has changed since those recipes were created but they offer a good starting point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/23/2018 at 11:24 AM, B-rad said:

I appreciate the info. I does taste like absinthe though. I have compared it to two  us brands and the flavor is similar. I am using wormword, anise and fennel alongside 5 other herbs with anise being the main flavor. Not bringing it to market soon, just starting to experiment. 

5

If you're using A. absinthium wormwood in a maceration without distilling it, it's going to be too bitter to be considered absinthe.  When undistilled, wormwood is so bitter that it will easily overpower the other flavors.  I'm curious which US brands you compared it to?  

 

On 2/23/2018 at 12:42 PM, kleclerc77 said:

Good luck! Another good resource for some very old classic recipes is in Duplias' "A Treatise on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors". Lots has changed since those recipes were created but they offer a good starting point.

That's why I pointed him to the historical section over at the Wormwood Society. ;) We have the full Duplais and De Brevans manuals posted there (but now I see the link is bad, so I'll need to fix that today).   

Those recipes and processes are essentially definitive of the nature and characteristics of absinthe, along with the many surviving bottles that were made in the pre-ban (pre-1915) era.  You can't go wrong using those recipes as a starting point. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Why not just redistill it - I have had excellent results after redistiallation. My only issue I have had is how to proof it down. As once you start to add water the oils drop out of suspension and it gets cloudy. My guess is It wont do that until it has a certain percentage of water - but I have not spent enough time trying that out at this point and have just left it as is.

I would love to see how people have overcome that - there must be a simple way.

As far as the browning - same issue here though it takes some time to happen. What your looking at, I believe, is oxidation. Just like a leaf on a tree that turns brown. Again I have not spent much time trying to fix that issue. I can tell you my ABV is 90 so you cant cure it with higher percentages of alcohol. Perhaps no air in the bottle and use it up rather quickly once opened?

I havent made this in a couple of years but i believe I steeped my intitial herbs using water and NGS. Then distilled. Then added coloring herbs and heated for a short time (15 mins). Then gravity filtered. (i dont think i redistilled after coloring). Final outcome was nicely colored, tasted where I thought it should (You need to like the taste of licorice) and looched as it should into a pearl-essent white when cold water was added.

Hope this helps

-Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...