I have decided to start drinking absinthe. I purchased a bottle of Emile Pernot Vieux Pontarlier at my favorite local wine/liquor store (http://www.swirloncastro.com/ but watch out the site plays music- it also makes it look like they only have wine, but they have quite a bit else) and am currently enjoying my first glass (louched with chilled Evian water, because the stuff out of my tap tastes like metals that are almost certainly unhealthy, and unquestionably spoil the taste of anything- I've started brewing tea with it only post-Brita filter).

Anyway, it's quite nice. And a nice compliment to my other recently acquired pretentious beverage habit, Chartreuse. The Vieux Pontarlier is sufficiently good that it does not require a sugar cube, although I've heard it's quite good that way as well- I'll try it as soon as I get around to getting some sugar cubes. But without sugar its both bitter and sweet simultaneously, which I find intriguing. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to go all out and buy the proper glasses, spoons and a louching fountain (a squeeze-bottle of water works quite well). So perhaps it's only at +1 level for now.

But I've been looking for something to sip on in the evenings when it's too late for caffeinated tea and I'm not in the mood for herbal tea. Both absinthe and Chartreuse are interesting and complex enough to savor (really, gin should be as well, but I've gotten so used to it that I tend to knock it back too quickly- I'm not trying to get drunk here, or at least not very). For whatever reason, while I enjoy wine I've never really become enamoured with it. A friend who visited recently, upon noticing the absinthe display in the window Swirl on Castro with the fountain, glasses, slotted spoons, sugar cubes and elaborate bottles, declared absinthe a fetishist's drink. I can work with that ;-)

Tags: absinthe