If you live in a country where it is hard to find real wormwood Absinthe, or you just fancy having a go at making your very own Absinthe, you will want to know how to brew Absinthe at home.
Absinthe of Henri-Louis Pernod was made with the use of a wine base and herbs in addition with aniseed, hyssop, fennel, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, veronica, juniper, dittany and nutmeg. Czech company Sebor use a blend of 13 herbs, including chamomile and mint in addition to wormwood, and a 100 year old recipe to make their Absinthe.
There are 3 main ways to make your own Absinthe drink:-
1.For distillation of Absinthe liquor one will require a recipe.
2.Use an Absinthe Kit with a blend of herbs and instructions.
3.Use an Absinthe essence
How to Brew Absinthe Using a Recipe
Distilling liquor at home is illegal in most countries unless you have a license and is quite complicated. Typical home-brew recipes include:-
– Wormwood (Grande Wormwood, Artemisia Absinthium)
– Importance of Green Anise
– Fennel
– Alcohol
The ingredients are first macerated for several hours, heated and then slowly distilled and then colored with extra herbs such as lemon balm, hyssop and petite wormwood. After going through the heating process one has to filter and dilute the solution.
A blend of herbs with alcohol is needed for other recipes. Take an example:-
– Requirement of 30g/ 1 ounce dried Wormwood
– 1 teaspoon hyssop
– 1 tablespoon angelica
– 1 pinch of fennel seeds is required
– One will need a teaspoon of lemon balm
– There is requirement of ¼ teaspoon each of caraway seeds and coriander seeds
– 1 liter of Everclear or vodka
In a bottle mix chopped dried wormwood with the alcohol and leave for 1-2 weeks in a cool dark place. Mix the sieved wormwood with the other herbs. After 3 or 4 days sieve it again. The Absinthe is now ready.
Brewing Absinthe at home in these ways is not recommended. Distilling is tricky and usually illegal and simply mixing the herbs with alcohol does not give a true Absinthe.
How To Brew Absinthe with a Herbal Blend Kit
There are many different herbal kits on sale online, for example the kits from Green Devil. These are the things in their kits
– Unique micron filtration system is done for them.
– An Absinthe blend includes grande wormwood, hyssop, anise seed, fennel seed, calamus, melissa, star anise and coriander seed.
– There is more herbal ingredients in Absinthe flavoring and finishing blend.
Their Deluxe kit also contains two Absinthe spoons, two Absinthe glasses, a 1000ml bottle, two bottle labels, two muslin bags for infusing the herbs, a poster and a pamphlet containing information and instructions.
They claim that their finished Absinthe will contain as much as 70-90mg of thujone per liter – rather a large amount of thujone, the chemical found in wormwood which was once claimed to cause psychedelic effects. A real Absinthe is produced after distillation.
How To Brew Absinthe With an Essence
Absinthe essences are available to buy from AbsintheKit.A real Absinthe can be prepared at home by visiting AbsintheKit.com. The distilled essences are manufactured from traditional Absinthe herbs. Mix the essence with Everclear or vodka to have your own bottled Absinthe.
One can use 4 types of essence to produce varieties of Absinthe. They all contain real wormwood and are essences used by the Absinthe industry.
AbsintheKit.com also sell their essences in kits containing enough essence to make 14 bottles of Absinthe, bottle labels and a plastic measure. Visit their website to get more information about brewing Absinthe with their essences.