Toast Tuesday: Absinthe

Over the years of touring distilleries and going to distillery events, I’ve tried a lot of absinthe. I’ve hated most of them. Early in my tasting journey, I found them all distasteful, slowly I came to recognize ones I could tolerate over ones I couldn’t.  After absinthe was allowed back in the U.S., a micro-distillery in Portland was the first to make and bottle one here, but sadly, is no longer in production.

It was at one of these distillery events that I had my first absinthe I thought didn’t completely suck. Ok, I can see there are some nuances, but not something I just want to sit down with. That was until I visited Oregon Spirit Distillery that I thought, this is something special, and I left with my first bottle of absinthe.

I’ve driven a bottle of  Wild Card Absinthe to long route to California via Mississippi. More recently, a bottle was driven to California and then flown to me in Tennessee. The lengths we go to to get good hooch. But this bottle is well worth it.  Here’s a neat video from the Oregon Distillers website about the history of absinthe and how they make Wild Card.

I’ve lamented enough about my lack of good cocktails being readily available, so you know my plight. One of the things I’ve done to remedy this is started a monthly Happy Hour at Home with some of the ladies. I’ve also told you they lean toward the ridiculously sweet drinks. I’m trying to change that.

It was with some trepidation that they accepted this week’s invitation for cocktails with absinthe. Be assured, they drank everything that was put in front of them. The next morning I smiled when I got the following texts:

M: being a lightweight and drunk, I forgot to say THANK YOU, LULA! Normally I’m not a absinthe lover,  but you made the drinks tasty!

R: So funny how my taste testing rating scale just kept going up with each successive drink

I served mini cocktails so we could all try everything and not get hammered.  I did wake up with a slight headache that was quickly cured with coffee and a dog walk.

I made (and in this order) the Foaming Fairy, the Sun Also Rises, Corpse Reviver #2, and the Victory Cocktail.  I tweaked a couple of these just a touch (foaming fairy needed a splash of simple syrup and I dialed back the absinthe in this version of CR#2).  With the simplicity of the the Victory Cocktail, I was a little surprised how much I enjoyed it.  It really gave all the flavors an opportunity to shine.  I think this may be added to my list of go-to drinks.  A 1930’s classic.  There’s a reason it has survived the test of time.

So, what did you drink this week?  Be sure to see what Meg drank.

I’m going to leave you this Tuesday with the sunset Coe and I just enjoyed.  She was really quite curious about those things swimming away as we approached the pond.

Here’s our Toast to Tuesday!