What does one do on their first night in a strange city like San Francisco?

Taking a stroll downtown to go visit the Absinthe Brasserie & Bar should be considered a must for any absintheur. As I am swanning through this fair city for a mixture of work and pleasure, it would be remiss of me to forgo visiting this fine establishment and letting you, dear Absinthe.com.au reader, know all about it. Particularly as their website is absinthe.com (to our absinthe.com.au), we feel a little fraternal affinity from an interweb point of view.

Situated on an easily identifiable corner position between Gough and Hayes Street, this popular establishment has a rich and luxuriously laid out dining area and easily accessible bar area where food may also be purchased alongside ones imbibing. The decor and ambience reflects the French Cafe atmosphere one would desire for a night on the green.

Upon my arrival I was warmly greeted by a namesake, Jonathan (Jonny Raglin), the Principal Bartender for Absinthe. Soon our mutual love and interest in absinthe laid the foundations for comparisons of the Australian and US experiences with absinthe. Of course such conversations should be lubricated with a glass of absinthe. Perched on the bar were two four tap water fountains waiting for my decision….Lucid or the San Franciscan produced St George Absinthe. Neither of which are currently available in Australia.

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Boules d’absinthe de chocolat

These absolutely delicious liquid centred absinthe truffles have been commissioned exclusively for Absinthesalon. There are currently four varieties produced from a combination of the finest Swiss couverture, French and Swiss absinthe. For a limited time you will receive two complimentary absinthe truffles when you place an order with Absinthesalon.

Free chocolate! Its a win-win situation.

Absinthe isn’t all green fairies.

We often obsess over whether it is artifical or naturally coloured, whether the natural colour is a commercial chlorophyll or whether a proper natural colouration step is used. So when the colour is removed, we are freed to focus a lot more on the other important characteristics of an absinthe - particularly the aromas and flavours.

Blanche de Fougerolles is, as implied by the name, a blanche - meaning it is a clear absinthe that has not undergone any colouration. It is our invisible fairy. Sometimes called a La Bleue in Switzerland, this style is more popularly associated in context to the illicit Swiss stills that produced bootleg absinthe. This product however is produced by French Distiller Paul Devoille at his family owned distillery exclusively for Liqueurs de France.

The label text of this 74% alc/vol absinthe reads as follows:

This unsweetened apertif is made by individually distilling in high quality grap-based spirit both grand and petit wormwood, green anise, coriander, hyssop, génépi , camomile, fennel, veronica and angelica. The distillates are then carefully blended in accordance to historical methods once again used by Hughes de Miscault at his distillery in North Eastern France. The protocols for this uncolored absinthe come from the recipe listed as “Absinthe suisse blanche” in several well regarded French distillers manuals of the 19th century, including P. Duplais, J.Fritsch and J.de Brevans. It has been finished at 74% alcohol in accordance with these works.”

Enough reading. I unwrap the silver composite foil capsule, pull the T-cork and inhale deeply……..wow.

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Morning drinker?

Fluid-only diet?

Ever had a shot of vodka and thought, “needs bacon”?

Well, you’ll love this.

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One of your admins here at absinthe.com.au has recently had the pleasure of tasting the very first batch of hand-made chocolate absinthe truffles from a certain purveyor of fine absinthes. Without giving too much away let’s just say that there are several varieties of truffle using two types of absinthe and… they are very good. Very, very good. In fact, I want more of them immediately.

We will keep you posted.

Mmm… chocolate.