We had an impromptu tasting of American-made absinthes the other night. Who would have thought just a couple of years ago that we could say actually say that? And not sure absinthe available here in the States, but honest-to-goodness verte absinthe made in the goold ol' US of A?

The tasting was possible because a good friend (and a real good friend!) from Chicago brought us a bottle of Sirène from the North Shore Distillery, a local gin and vodka maker who has started making absinthe. It's a very distinctive bottle and must have just skirted the very particular senses of the

The aroma was very distinctive and very promising. A heady mix of scents really came on nicely after we opened up the sleek bottle. The green color was a little pale, but still quite appealing in the glass. As has become our custom, the first drink was sans sugar. We also tried not to put too much water in it, as it has a relatively low alcohol at "only" 60%.

The louche however was quite disappointing. Only a slight cloudiness followed and it never really got that thick. Even at its fullest point, the glass was still not completely a nice opaque opaline. And drinking was also a little disappointing, as the heady aroma did not really lead up to a real outstanding taste. It was a solid yet uninspiring taste. Nothing really stood out and there was no special tingle on the tongue either. A good, not great, absinthe.

We next tried St. George Absinthe Verte, which has been around since the wine trip to California last summer. We have had it a couple of times and it has really begun to grow on us. The color in the bottle is a little strange, sort of a greenish tinged gold, but it louches up very nicely. Again, a little on the low side on alcohol at 60%, so we keep it pretty strong and have been sticking to no sugar with it as well. There's a real nice tingle on the tongue and the varied tastes hinted at by the unusual color are carried through. It's a very nice absinthe and one we pull out often these days.

So the St. George remains our favorite native absinthe, although we have some hopes for Sirène, as its initial impressions are very much like we remember ours for St. George. It is certainly good enough for us to continue to experiment with its recipe! DrinkUpNY.com has two more we haven't tried yet - Leopold Bros. Absinthe Verte (made in Colorado) and Gwydion Stone's very own Marteau Absinthe de la Belle Epoque, from House Spirits Distillery in Portland Oregon. Also coming up in the near future is Vieux Carre from Philadelphia.

Wormwood Society Sirène Topic
Wormwood Society St. George Topic

Not counting St. Patrick's Day, March is pretty much devoid of holidays. But if absinthe maker Lucid has its way, March 5 will henceforth be known as National Absinthe Day. It was on that date in 2007 that the U.S. government finally gave in and made the libation legal here after about a 95-year ban.

Amesh A. Adalja ("End the drug war," Letters, March 4 and PghTrib.com) seems to believe that allowing the legal use of drugs will stop the violence by Mexican drug gangs from spilling over into the United States.

It may, but free access to drugs by the public will bring on consequences too serious to contemplate.

The French didn't prohibit the unrestricted sale of absinthe for nothing. It endangered the well-being of the whole nation.

William R. Casey
West Mifflin

We tried the Absinthe Cocktail and thought it worked out pretty well. We used Lucid as the absinthe, because we don't find it a particular standout amongst the other absinthes we have handy, making it good for a mixer. Given the cost of a bottle of the green gold, we are usually loathe to do anything but enjoy it normally, but we don't mind abusing Lucid, which still has enough character to contribute in a cocktail. You can find the Absinthe Cocktail recipe here on the How2Heroes web site.

We put a touch too much ice water in it to start with. The recipe calls for ice, but the accompanying video shows ice water, so we went with that and probably should have cut it down, as we ended up with about a 3:2 water:absinthe ratio, which is too weak. And we were able to purchase a bottle of Ting, the Jamaican Grapefruit soda, as mentioned at the bottom of the recipe, at our local supermarket, which was nice. We would also probably cut back a bit on the simple syrup. And don't forget the limes! We did for our first sip, but the fresh limes really added a necessary tartness to the drink.

But in the end, it was a very nice drink and one with great potential. As mentioned, a little less ice water and simple syrup, and a touch more lime juice would make it a very refreshing summer drink. Absinthe Cocktail, For The Win!

The big news in the absinthe world last week was the thrilling announcement that Viridian, makers of Lucid, one of the first absinthes back on the US market, is going to import two very prominent labels beginning this fall. Alan Moss, who we interviewed earlier, has a very nice blog post listing upcoming labels and, at the end of the post, reveals that La Clandestine, the Suisse Bleu absinthe he promotes, is coming to America finally!

And he also mentions at the very end the inclusion of Nouvelle-Orléans, from Ted Breaux's Jade Liqueurs to Viridian's stable of imported absinthes. Both of these have great reputations as absinthes and we can personally attest to the wondrous Nouvelle-Orléans and have had La Clandestine next on our list of absinthes to purchase. Looks like soon we will be able to get it locally and avoid the stiff shipping charges!

Viridian Press Release

The bottle arrived the other day and we immediately scheduled a tasting. Unfortunately, as you can see, the bottle lacked a label, which, given the nice look of the web site, was both disappointing and, to be honest, a little intimidating. I mean, someone contacts you by email and then mails you an unmarked bottle, asking you to try it? But we decided to persevere and take one for the team, so on we went.

It was very securely sealed in wax and cork, so it took some effort to get opened. The bottle had a twist off cork, which is convenient. The first whiff was very promising - a subdued yet distinctly absinthe aroma, with some interesting herbal hints.

Then comes the next big decision - how much water. We did our usual 3 or 4 to 1, which, it turns out, is probably a little too much. But the louche was good, although it did seem to retain the earthy colors of the original. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but there is a definite brown tinge to the drink; not at all off putting, just unexpected.

In the end, as we eased up on the water, we decided this was a solid absinthe. It worked both with and without sugar and had a good if not powerful taste. Obsello would work very well as an introductory absinthe, yet is good enough for the more sophisticated palate. Probably about a 7 out of 10 for a rating. Keep up the good work! See the discussion forum on the Wormwood Society site for more discussion, including several posts by B. Alex, the maker of Obsello Absenta. It can be found here.

Update: We received the following note about the color from B. Alex, Obsello's creator:

The color is an interesting thing we are monitoring. I suspect it is rather unstable at 50% alcohol and I think that bottle got a bit of direct sun in the distillery while waiting to be shipped. We are looking at this closely.