I just bought one of those 200ml Jade Nouvelle Orleans bottles for--what I think is--a very good price! I never expected to get one, or any bottle of Jade (price reasons solely). I happened upon a good deal and WHAM, I'm getting some Jade!

Anyone have any tales of unpredictable jubilant absinthe spontaneity?

Absolutely, but never of the commercial variety.

Yeah..I had this really weird experience. I went to sleep, leaving my bedroom door ajar, so that it was possible to see into the bathroom. Later that night, some noise woke me up, so I got up and turned on the light. The bathroom mirror had Absinthe written on it with toothpaste. I washed it off with a rag. I checked to see if anyone else was awake that might do this, but no one was. When I returned to bed, I found a bottle of Absinthe sitting on my nightstand. I still don't know who did it.

absinthe gremlins!

That's nuts Azyanea! I'm with pt447, it had to be gremlins. Or the absinthe gnomes. What brand was it?

A few years ago I won on eBay an empty vintage (1930's) Herbsaint bottle. When the bottle arrived in the mail, it was FULL! Apparently the seller did not have a digital camera so he used a stock photo off the internet. Bottle: $4; Shipping: $9; The envy of others: Priceless!

haha... or Absinthe Santa. Actually, I didn't have a cool absinthe surprise story, so I just made one up... but would have been cool if it had actually happened. I think I might actually pull that on someone and put a bottle by their beds and see what happens the next morning..

Care to travel up a bit north?

I was testing an absinthe for a friend of mine some times ago, thinking "damn, that shit is quite good"

One night at that time, my dear and I wanted to for a Jade each. She just loves NO, and well, I wanted an Edouard.

She pours the absinthes while I prepare the foutain. Then I louche them, and have a taste. After the first sip, I can't help myself

"That damn motherfucker !" (which should be taken as a mark of good surprise and affection)

While not being an Edouard (when you know your absinthe, you won't make the mistake), his absinthe had a striking ressemblance (to the point I could trick my girl into thinking she had made a mistake), and the same level of quality

Oh, and also the last time I drank a La Coquette after a while

I've had a few awesome absinthe surprises. My best was when a forum member sent me two unopened bottles of the Delaware Phoenix absinthes after I had despaired about not being able to afford them. A close second was when a member sent me 50cl of Lion Prototype 31 Verte. I've also gotten great samples of this and that from several people here, from absinthe to coffee beans. Even a simple, durable, home made fountain when my nice one was broken.

I've never really had absinthe to offer but I've tried to hit people back with mead and whisky when I was able.

I've always wondered what the strange mead in the Redwall novels tasted like. They have honey mead, elderberry mead, other mead.. Luscious Oily Lesbians!.. It's been years since I read Redwall. It's about these animals that can talk and fight and drink mead.

I found this off the Redwall Wikipedia:

Well, all mead is made with honey. But you can add other stuff, like elderberry or blackberry. Joe makes awesome flavoured mead. I usually make plain mead, occasionally pyment (grapes are used, so it's like a cross between wine and mead) and I once did a pumpkin mead.

I want to build a Viking ship sometime to sail on the Ross Barnett Reservoir while drinking mead. I should see if my brother's willing to do that next summer.

Peridot has built some nice mead, thank you sir.*smile*
The only thing about it is that it takes so long to get "good". If you want some next summer, you'd best get started on it. I'm waiting on some to mellow right now. I've gotten some nice mead from a few very nice folks and one of these days I hope to share what I've built. Cheers!

What does your night look like?

Home @ 5:15 then the casino @ 6 then leave the casino @ 6:40 and heading towards the hovel.

What do you have in mind? PM me.

Most of the mead that I have tried has tasted like rotten apples steeped in mud puddle water. I should give it a second (read 10th) chance.

Like others, some of my best experiences with absinthe have come from the generosity of members here.

Dude! How cool is that?!

I must agree with c. hoefler in terms of the generosity of the other forum members here.

I have had some very nice meads and pyments. I specifically recall a raspberry one that was just amazing.


As far as absinthe goes...there's a story I should relate. I had decided sometime in the beginning of the summer that I'd leave all the pre-ban absinthe alone and just focus on the current offerings. I took Garth Algar's words to heart, "Live in the now!"

Then one night during Green Week, I was enjoying a few glasses with Bill, Precious (Pepsi), Rich, Jules and Joe, down by the fire pit. I hadn't really noticed, but Joe had slipped away for quite a while. The next thing I know he says "C'mon up to the house everyone I've got something to show you." I figured it was something to do with the Ridge distillery or was something here on WS, so I was quite surprised to see that Joe had a fountain set up and ready to go with samplin' bottle of some PF 1914. I don't remember being speechless for too long, but that may have not been the case for some of the more sober among us. It wasn't the best part of Green Week for me, but it's up there, and as far as absinthe surprises go it's pretty damn special to me. Thanks again for the generosity Joe, Jules, and Bill.

We were all probably drunk!

Yikes. I've never had anything that remotely tastes like that.

I can say that I have never had a commercial mead I would buy a second time. Most are cloyingly sweet, musty and fairly undrinkable. I've had several good homebrewed meads that were delicious.

Honeymoon Meadery in Bellingham makes a few lovely, dryish examples aged in oak, but they're a very small, artisanal commercial operation.

I recently found a forgotten bottle of Roquette 1797 at the back of a cabinet where it had been sitting for over a year. Better than the proverbial $20 bill in the coat pocket...by a long shot.

By a very long shot. I really like the Roquette 1797!

A kindred spirit, I see...personally I think it's a bit of a scandal that the 1797 isn't rated more highly on the main site, but I suppose it's peculiar enough to be a love-hate sort of absinthe....

Right, I've seen very little middle ground about the 1797. Love it or hate it.

Personally I'm more flexible than that. I can drink the middle of the road booze with friends and be happy as a clam.

We went into a liquor store in Colorado (Tipsy's) back in July and were pleased to find several brands of Absinthe on the shelf. I called Joe and based on his recommendation decided to try Leopold. The surprise was when my wife grabbed three bottles.
It was almost as good as the time i lost track of her in Best Buy....and found her standing in front of the big screen HDTV's talking to a salesman.