How To Pour Absinthe In the Proper Czech Style »
Posted By Radiofreeeuropa 2 months, 3 weeks ago in StyleVideo demo of how to pour a proper Czech serving of Absinthe.
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Radiofreeeuropa2 months, 3 weeks ago
Absinthe is illegal in the U.S. if it contains the allegedly hallucinogenic substance known as "wormwood". I have only had it once, many years ago in London and it reminded me of strong ouzo. I had no hallucinations and saw no fairies.
I believe in England, wormwood was never banned because it didn't cause as many social problems towards the end of the great binge as it did elsewhere such as France. Eventually its makers were permitted to continue producing it without the substance but negativity towards the liquor is still fairly high due to its history.
Paul Nathan, however,needs to know it's not ok to dress like you're at the Moulin Rouge.
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gamahuche2 months, 3 weeks ago
Good enough RFE!
I didn't care about his clothes but I didn't like the pic. on the absinthe bottle or the fact that it was German when he was talking about the "Czech ritual".
The key factor in the banning of absinthe was the wormwood factor - so the only point of actually drinking it is to drink one that does contain wormwood - but its also important to check other the quality of the other contents, including high alcohol content, which is a crucial one too!
Another aspect is the "company you're keeeping"..
Wikipedia lists: Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Aleister Crowley were all notorious "bad men" of that day who were (or were thought to be) devotees of the Green Fairy; also all Bohemians in the cultural sense of the word and people whom you either love or loathe - or love to loathe - not much room for sitting on the fence about these characters..
Absinthe was a
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gamahuche2 months, 3 weeks ago
Re the Czech relationship with absinthe..
First it was never illegal here - the Communists 'permitted' alcohol, in all its forms, but of course penalised those who failed to show for work or became overly critical of the regime in their rowdy moments.
And the Czech temperament did lend itself to dark mystification; the conflation of bohemian and existentialist was a shoe-in and was even proclaimed loud and clear right after the Velvet Revolution, when Prague was [overly and overtly] and far too frequently referred to as "the left bank of the 90's". This phrase was first used in published form by Alan Levy, on the first issue of the Prague Post, an English language weekly which still exists. It was "borrowed" from a former friend of mine, who was responsible for shipping huge volumes of English language books as a gift to the fledgling democracy, and was apparently responsible for the HUGE influx of young US citizens at that time.
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Radiofreeeuropa2 months, 3 weeks ago
There's an interesting blog about absinthe here-
http://absinthe-blog.com/czech-absinthe
I believe the Czech variety is quite different from the French or Swiss.
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Radiofreeeuropa2 months, 3 weeks ago
A couple good quotes from acquaintances of the green godess.
"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were.
After the second, you see things as they are not.
Finally, you see things as they really are,
which is the most horrible thing in the world."
-Oscar Wilde
"Let me be mad...
mad with the madness
of Absinthe, the wildest, most
luxurious madness in the world."
-Marie Corelli
Get Drunk! by Charles-Pierre Baudelaire
One should always be drunk. That's all that matters;
that's our one imperative need. So as not to feel Time's
horrible burden one which breaks your shoulders and bows
you down, you must get drunk without cease.
But with what?
With wine, poetry, or virtue
as you choose.
But get drunk.
(cont).
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Radiofreeeuropa2 months, 3 weeks ago
And if, at some time, on steps of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the bleak solitude of your room,
you are waking and the drunkenness has already abated,
ask the wind, the wave, the stars, the clock,
all that which flees,
all that which groans,
all that which rolls,
all that which sings,
all that which speaks,
ask them, what time it is;
and the wind, the wave, the stars, the birds, and the clock,
they will all reply:
"It is time to get drunk!
So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time,
get drunk, get drunk,
and never pause for rest!
With wine, poetry, or virtue,
as you choose!"
Even When She Walks..."
Even when she walks she seems to dance!
Her garments writhe and glisten like long snakes
obedient to the rhythm of the wands
by which a fakir wakens them to grace.
Like both the desert and the desert sky
insensible to human suffering,
and like the ocean's endless labyrinth
she shows her body with indifference.
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gamahuche2 months, 3 weeks ago
I can claim NO personal expertise about absinthe..
It was such an obsession with the YAPpies [Young Americans in Prague!] referred to above, that it quickly became uncool..
Maybe its time to try it!
There's more research to be done, for sure, on the authenticity of the different brands available - some with wormwood, some without, some basically just vodka-based..
But its clear on my mind that the "left bank" allusion had quite a lot to do with the modern-day interest here. I suspect that Gustav Meyrink was also not averse to absinthe and of course the Czechs also had a love for the French bohemians too!
Surrealism was, and remains, strong in the Czech lands and is frequently linked to an interest in alchemy.
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gamahuche2 months, 3 weeks ago
Andre Breton was an important visitor here and raved about an extraordinary building on the outskirts of Prague known as the "Star Palace" or Letohradek Hvezda. Here described by one of our surrealist alchemists, Martin Stejskal:
http://www.universutopia.net/note.asp?L=EN¬e...
Then of course there is Jan Svankmajer..
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Spadecaller2 months, 3 weeks ago
I remember seeing fire a few times during my drinking career, (which ended in September 1978). I can't be quite sure if the fire was in the glass, the room where I was inbibing, or in my mind. However, I do have a distinct memory of the warm feeling it gave me going down.
At the end of my active alcoholism, my top-shelf preferences had slipped by the wayside and you did not find me elaborating on the unique qualities of the spirits that I consumed in copious amounts. I drank Gordon's vodka straight from the bottle and on occassion added a teaspoon of orange juice in a tall glass, which I called "breakfast".
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
There is a bit of the history of absinthe here:
Absinthe
La boisson du diable (the Devil's drink) or la Fée verte (the Green Fairy) or more simply la Bleue are a few of the many names given to this once very popular, but long-banned drink....
...Until very recently it remained illegal to produce or sell absinthe in France and Switzerland, but in October 2001, a Swiss distiller who managed to reduce the percentage of thujone (the toxic substance of the woodworm plant) in absinthe and was allowed to reintroduce absinthe by the Swiss government. The black market of absinthe, on which many farmers rely, is now seriously threatened...
http://www.askoxford.com/languages/culturevultu...
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hyperbola2 months, 3 weeks ago
The aside remark about farmers reflects one of the curious things about Switzerland.
Home distillery is illegal UNLESS you are a farmer. Then you are allowed to distill an amount of alcohol determined by the number of cows that you own (since alcohol is medicine for cows in winter). I don't know whether that influences the quality of cheeses (excellent), but some of those farmers produce some really potent stuff.
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orangefalcon2 months, 3 weeks ago
Now i wanna try that wormwood stuff... Mmm.. Worms and wood...
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