What a crew! Wish I were with ya. As it is I'm at a park with some friends and our kids and some BBQ. I brought some absinthe, cuz I'm not driving. -odd, I know. Buy The fellas a shot on me. Also, more photos of all y'all.
I brought some ice and simple syrup. -we had a small glass each. My friend is Serbian and was just in Prague trying various absinthe's. He liked the one I brought.
Okay, I'm REALLY into absinthe, and you have to drink it proper for the good stuff. And, all due respect to your Serbian friend, the Czech stuff is complete shit. Find American or French and you're off to a good start. It should be entirely organic ingredients, as in only herbs that should be listed. What you need now to get this good is sugar and very cold water. Sugar cubes are ideal, but not required. -Fill your glass one fifth to one third absinthe. I think a fifth or a fourth is the perfect balance, but hey, different strokes. -If you have sugar cubes, take a fork and place it across the glass with the sugar cube resting on top. Drip the cold water onto the cube until it's saturated, then slowly add more until the sugar is totally in the glass and then fill the rest with the water. Drop from as high as possible without it splashing out. -Without a cube, put the amount of sugar in you like. Estimate one cube, but this is taste preference. There should be a sweetness, but not overpoweringly. There should be a spice behind the absinthe's flavor that will be offset with too much sugar. Then add your water from above as to blend the sugar, water, and absinthe. You'll notice the liquid goes from a translucent, brilliant neon green to an opague, milky white/green color. You'll also notice the aroma come out fully at this point. Sip and enjoy. AH GOOD. I WORKED ALL DAY, I'M NOT IN BOSTON, AND NOW I'M DRUNK AT HOME AND WRITING ABSINTHE PREP INSTRUCTIONS. WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND I'M HAVING NOT IN BOSTON.
Ohhhh Meriadoc. We will have a ton more opportunities to hang out, especially when I figure out where my brother will be playing minor ball. Obviously, when he makes the big I will be in DC a lot. So exciting. I love DC!!! That said, you should probably stop working on Saturdays. There is far too much life to live! I've only had absinthe a couple times and the first was in Italy when I was 16. The bottle we got came with this nifty little flat piece of metal with a handle that could sit on a glass and it had holes in it for the sugar cube. It works really well. We did the whole sugar cube sha-bang how you outlined above with assistance from some local Italians. I liked it but I was too young to fully appreciate the flavors and everything. Maybe I should try it again.
That's called an absinthe spoon! You can get really, really gorgeous ones too. There are so many fantastic kinds! If he sticks around with the Nats farm system, it's still around the DC area! AAA games are so much fun with the O's at least, so I'm sure the Nats would be great too. Oh man I can't wait til the end of the summer. No more Saturdays at work!