Cocktails of the Week - Blanchette absinthe and the Sazerac

This tasting was actually done on June 21. I haven't been real good about keeping up with the postings! I've also cross-posted this on our new web site InAbsinthia.com, where we will keep you up to date on the latest and greatest in the world of absinthe.

Another evening of the "devil in a bottle". This time, we tried a clear, Swiss-style absinthe called Blanchette. In general, absinthes can be either green or clear. Absinthe gets its natural green color because of a combination of the herbs used to make it and the very high (65% or more) alcohol content. Because of the high alcohol percentage, the green chlorophyll bits actually remain suspended in the elixir, only to be released when you add the water and sugar, a process known as "louching". A clear absinthe, which has a milky white louche, is often a Swiss La Bleue absinthe. These are usually of a slightly lower alcohol level (55-60%) than a traditional French absinthe, which may account for its clear color, or perhaps a different recipe.

In any case, T.A. Breaux, the New Orleans chemist mastermind behind Jade Liquors, has helped out Combier to produce Blanchette. It is the first clear absinthe we have tried and we were looking forward to it, wondering what kind of spell a clear absinthe would cast.

Upon twisting off the cork, a strong aroma of anise (licorice) assails the nose, loud and clear. Blanchette does not have the hard wax sealed corked bottle Nouvelle-Orleans, but rather the plastic topped cork stopper as found on lower end port bottles. But the nose is definitely that of absinthe!

We poured about 1.5 oz into each glass, put the absinthe spoon on top with two sugar cubes on it and began gently pouring in filtered, ice cold water. I shake it in my cocktail shaker filled with cracked ice, getting it nice and cold. Then I decant the water into a small glass pourer and we pour the water over the sugar cubes, trying to be as slow as possible. Someday, we'll have to get one of the fancy absinthe glasses with the little reservoir at the bottom, and the holder for the ice cubes at the top. But for now, we'll make due with fancy goblets and trying to be careful while pouring the water over the cubes.

The louching action was pretty good, but subtle. It really just gradually clouded over, rather than the water showing up as droplets. The final result was a nice, cloudy drink, but without any pearly touches. Still with a powerful anise smell, though.

The first sips were pretty good as well with, once again, a nearly overpowering taste of anise. There was really no room left for tasting too much else, which made the Blanchette very much a one trick pony. There weren't nearly as many interesting flavors as we found in Nouvelle-Orleans, just a full-bodied anise (licorice) taste. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and certainly not unexpected, given the aromas.

So it was an enjoyable blanche absinthe, but lacking the subtleties of Nouvelle-Orleans. A nice twist on the original verte absinthe, and one that we will visit again in the future, I'm sure.

We followed up the Blanchette by making the only real cocktail that features absinthe. The Sazerac, called "America's First Cocktail", dates back to the 1830s, as discussed on Sazerac.com. Sure, there are other cocktails recipes that use absinthe. Heck you could even write a book about them if you were so inclined. But they are mostly silly concoctions that don't add anything to the La Fée Verte experience. The Sazerac, though, is the real thing.

Sazerac

• .5 tsp Absinthe (we used the aforementioned Blanchette)
• 2oz whiskey or bourbon (we used Maker's Mark bourbon)
• dash Peychaud's bitters

Shake well in a cocktail shaker full of cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

This particular recipe wasn't anything to write home about, really. All we could taste was the bourbon, which meant it was a waste of some good absinthe. We actually used (gasp!) Angostura bitters, and not the real Peychaud's. I should order some online, just for the authentic taste. A more interesting sounding recipe comes from the Wikipedia, which uses the method more often specified of swirling the absinthe around in a glass. It still doesn't sound like there would be enough absinthe to really show up in a cocktail glassful of bourbon, though. Maybe we should also try a more subtle taste, like Dewar's whiskey.

We then played a few more levels of Serious Sam 2 and we only have two more levels to go (yay!). And then we finished up season three of The Sopranos. The season finale was surprisingly low key - no cliff hangers, with no long storylines (like last season's FBI arc) to be wrapped up. It felt very much like another episode. But all in all, I'd say the third season has been the best so far. The show definitely has yet to jump the shark.