Potent Postings

It’s been a little over two years now since absinthe has become once again legal in the US. There are now something like over 20 brands available in the American market.

Personally, I’ve only tried two. One shall remain nameless b/c my mother taught me if I had nothing nice to say, blah, blah, blah…..

The other… well the other completely changed my hastily made, and narrowly-based, opinion on absinthe.

I had the fortune of being introduced to Stephen Gould from Maison de la Vie, Ltd. by my very good friend Scott Suskowicz of DuoHome in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. Through a happy accident, Stephen walked into Scott & Tim’s store one day last spring and began telling them of his adventures in absinthe formulation. They gave him my contact info and Stephen and I began corresponding.

This past winter, Stephen and I finally hooked up over lunch. (At the fabulous Peppermint Thai Cuisine, by the way.) He was kind enough to bring a pre-production sample of his upcoming REDUX Absinthe. I just couldn’t help myself and had to at least smell it before I could whisk it home with me to try.

I was amazed. Stephen has done a tremendous amount of research on authentic 19th century absinthes and used many herbs in his blend. The smell alone was so different than my first experience with that “other” brand. This smelled like what I always thought it would smell like. Herbaceous, earthy, anise tones but not overwhelmingly licorice-y.

Later on, when I had the chance to taste-test it, I was equally blown away. Simply terrific and tastes like my imaginings of how it “used to” taste during it’s hey-day. It has a wonderfully golden hue and is a true pleasure to sip.

REDUX Absinthe should be coming into production shortly, although I do not yet have the official date. Stephen is also working on some very exciting ideas for eaux de vies and aguardientes.

So how many absinthes have you tried and which are your favorites? Here’s a link to a SurveyMonkey page from the Absinthe Review Network. They want to know what we all think of absinthe - both those available here in the US and abroad.