Making A Absinth Recipe From 100+ years ago

Hi, I'm from Iran and I don't have access to white oak. Is red oak poisonous for aging whiskey?

I really think you should try out for master distillers

Hi Jesse, enjoying the absinthe uTube. Have been making on a small scale in the Pyrenees for several years. My understanding of history may be questioned but wasn't absinthe developed by a French chemist as a preventative fot malaria for the French soldiers fighting in Algeria in the 17'00s? My understanding is the chemist left france for the safety in Switzerland during the revolution. Yes the soldiers had healthy tastes for it on returning that coincided with the wine producer's predicament... let the story continue 🙏

you should try to make Chartreuse

I've made wormwood cordial a couple of times. I made the mistake of tasting a tiny amount of wormwood in its raw state. Bad, bad idea. It's beyond bitter into some sort of hell...

Isn't absinthe normally only green once added to water? the essential oils precipitate out, causing the change in color?

Recently discovered your channel dude. I'm from NZ but live in France, I'm so keen to ask around to see if anyone here has recipes that differ from yours. Love the content, keep doing what you do mate 🙌

Great video! A spirit that would be fun to make. I split the plugs on my air still so I can control the power input to the heating element while keeping full power to the cooling fan. It sure works well for spirit runs. Your machine may be different but worth a try if you are able. I just looked back at your review of your air still and your electrical plugs look similar to mine.

Could you barrel age absinthe to see how it would change the flavour ?

Describing Wormwood Flavor... Maybe as a strong quinine flavor? Closest thing I can think of anyway.

Would you ever dip your toes into ulrra-sonic aging.
I am curious about the difference vs traditional aging (something you have laying around)

thanks bro you shut my lights off lol

So if I'm new witch I am a sugar wash is a vodka? But if you age in America white oak to become a bourbon?

Hey Jesse,
For future batches that you want to color, I did some experimenting with spinach that might be helpful.

I made a batch that was roughly halfway between the 1700’s and 1800’s absinthe recipes. I’d seen Alan’s comment on the first absinthe recipe video (and I think he’d mentioned it in one of the podcasts, too) about drying the spinach for coloring, since you were disappointed in the lack of color on that first batch.

After some experimenting, here’s what I found worked best:

Dry the spinach in the oven at 210° F (or 98-99° C) for about an hour. I used some parchment paper just to ensure it wouldn’t stick. Then just crumble the dried leaves.

Using 3 g spinach, 2 g lemon balm, and 2 g hyssop, it makes a great emerald green.

But the crazy part was when I tried to make it an even more extreme green. I doubled the spinach (6g) and kept the others the same. It did add a very slight umami flavor, mostly in the finish - kinda like dried seaweed/nori. I really like it, but figured it’s worth warning that going too crazy with the spinach can affect flavor.

The result was so dark that light wouldn’t pass through, and it looked almost red in the bottle (the spirit was still around 80%). In the glass, it pours a very dark green, but then becomes a brilliant emerald when louched.

But here’s the best part: it hasn’t gone brown. After three months in a brown bottle in the cupboard, it has definitely faded, but it still pours and louches as a faded green, not brown.

My next experiment will be to see if it’s possible to add a tiny bit of acid (probably will use powdered citric acid or vitamin c) to preserve the color without messing with the flavor too much. My end goal is to get an absinthe that still tastes amazing and also does the insane bright green like commercial brands, but using only natural ingredients.

Hey Jesse, I'm just on here because it's the newest post you have so, so you know of our could you make a video of the exact (step-by-step) process of using "dunder" to flavor and color rum

im adding blue bell morning glory to mine!

I love that jar, difficult to pour, I bet, but it's such a cool container none the less. I have all square 3.5l jars with glass lids that 4 fit neatly in milk crates. Not as cool as that big scientiffic looking bottle, but they are fairly practical.

I've been following along and just made an Absinthe, shooting for an early Belle Epoque so I can use a low rec brandy substitute... I really can't stand using table/beet sugar. I was really surprised at just how strong the flavor is. It was fairly close to yours, leaning slightly toward the 1700's recipe you did to make it somewhat like a pre Phylloxera Belle Epoque if that makes sense... Anyway, man, keep the awesome videos coming. I've been loving this Absinthe series...

They only sell it in the US without wormwood. It's still good to drink, though, just not with the shroom like hallucinogenic properties.

i wonder if there is a boiler that you can dial in and hold at 60c for 1 hour.

👏👏 thanks for the full abbreviated history I just learned a little more

The recipe calls for anise and fennel. Just to be clear, do you mean anise seed and fennel seed?

What all would you leave out so it doesn't taste like licorice?

It's not a good idea to try freshly made drinks. You need to let them sit in the dark for a couple of weeks so that all the flavors can marry.

he never tests the thujone levels in these which is very important, in history the thujone levels were controlled by country and still are today In the US its reduced in Europe its increased dont know what the legal limits are in NZ but home brew we do what we want!

Lemme guess, the weak version that only has minimal alkoloid content....yes the strictly alcoholic version is just nasty tasting alcohol. BUT! The original absinthe is NOT just a brewing/distilling process. There's a few more ingredients, that we're not allowed to show. Sorta like LSD is a tiny bit lysergic (intentionally mispelled) and tons of solvents. On film, you will never see real absinthe, aside from the trash that has 0% alkaloids.

Thanks for all your work very interesting videos which would be difficult at best for people to film in US.

I am curious, do you know if the thujone distills over with the alcohol or would it all stay in the still with the herbal waste materials?

Is that anise seed? Trying to find the herbs to try this out

So what about straining out the solids after digestion and then putting them in a gin basket?

Has your reach gone down? I've been subscribed for ages but haven't been notified about the last 4 or 5 vids

Most of the sugar from the United States is sugar beet. Anything that's not important or directly say made from cane sugar 100% cane sugar. It's sugar beet sugar

In the US, sugar is beet sugar unless specified as cane sugar that's required by the Food and Drug Administration

I have a Pyrex jug exactly like yours and man does it have the worst spout design, spills all the time.

Longtime viewer and huge fan of your videos. If you continue down this whole absinthe trek recommend something like a Balancier to drip the water for a more ritualistic esque drip shots without having to dedicate to a whole fountain setup. Also @AdrienneLaVey is a fantastic creator who focuses a lot on different kinds of absinthe and working hard on dispelling the myths around this beautiful drink full of history.

you make a video on how that plug in still works? curious

Hi from England another good episode enjoyed it have you ever tried orange wine and distilled it I've just done a 5 gallon and it's my new favourite try it you will like it and it will make a good vid 😊

I made a Half gallon jar and got supplies from my local Brewing supply.
Mine was still 90% Abv. It was tough to drink. Even.
Doing the sugar water with it

A very interesting and informative video about the history and making of Absinthe Jessie 👍

Don't forget about Bohemian Absinthe 👍

Someone drak too much when giving this video a title.

How Mad was it?

Clear Absinth is my old love. Much nicer to drink, because of softer wormwood compared to colored one.
Also, I was really satisfied with changing some wormwood to tarragon, which is wormwood's close relative and plays well both with herbs and aniseeed

Dude you nailed the video your edits and b roll are getting better and better.

I havent tried absinthe yet

Have you ever distilled champagne?

If I buy a small Vevor distiller do I have to worry about foreshots?

I want to try the “poor” absinthe. Unfortunately haven’t been made since the beginning of ww1. It’s basically the same 19th century regular absinthe, but without any anice because was too expensive. It was the cheapest making it the absinthe of choice of the coursed poets and possibly me because i hate anice. I was usually made in the cetzch republic, but as far as i know was also made in france and here in Italy. It’s a shame it is no longer made because anice got way cheaper

More B rolls please lol. Seeing you taste the different botanicals as they run off the still is my favorite part. Until I lived it myself I was skeptical but its real 💡

I’ve been using the still spirits gin basket to keep the botanicals out of the spout
Just put it in empty works great