memento

"cute and amusing" indeed, both the FDA and TTB. I know the worst (best?) of the herbs I have right now would have to fall in the thujone-free category of <10ppm. Everything else so far is a typical food item and GRAS. For my wine I hope that I don't have to send in a sample to the TTB for analysis, but if I do then so be it. I will do what I have to do. I'm sure with the little bit I'm using and the fact that it's not distilled or macerated in a high alcohol environment, that it will be <10ppm.

I'd love to go off the beaten path, but everything I produce is subject to the approval of the feds and I really don't know how free they are with adding herbs. I'll develop the flavor I like and hopefully it passes.

Evan, thanks. I also have Roman wormwood that I have yet to play with but I understand that one to be less bitter and one of the common "vermouth" herbs. What other wormwoods would you recommend I try? This is going to be a long process to learn and get the right blend, so I'm open to all ideas.

Duanesburg, NY anyone? probably not!

Thanks for the welcome! I have indeed tested some of my wine infused with wormwood and my first time using it gave me pretty much the same reaction (except I kept it down). I used what I thought was a little but it was WAY too much. It's all a matter of degrees, so I cut the amount used by 75% and it was much better and very drinkable, but still too sharp. At least I know the approx. amounts to work with now. We are planting our own wormwood at the winery this year along with a few other herbs to use. It will be trial and error until I find the right method and herbs. I haven't tried to steep it yet, we just used a dry-hop method and let it soak for a month so time is also a factor. Maybe a day is good rather than a month and maybe it needs to be sweetened too. To me, this is the fun part!

I'd like to say hello to all fellow absinthe fans. I've only gotten into absinthe in the past year or 2, but I'm a huge fan. I'm also a potential future producer. So for full disclosure I own a winery and I'm developing a recipe for a type of wine with similar herbs as absinthe. It's going to be my basis and test bed for herb blends (wormwood included) although I know that extraction of oils is very different in wines vs. spirits. In a few years I hope to be able to get licensing to distill with the intent to make a great absinthe.