OPEN FULL SIZE PDF - Vieux Carré Absinthe

OPEN FULL SIZE PDF - Vieux Carré Absinthe

June 2014 / PasteMagazing.com Vieux Carré Absinthe Review by Marissa Hermanson
Vieux Carré Absinthe Supérieure Review
by Marissa Hermanson (pastemagazine.com)
Philadelphia Distilling’s Vieux Carré Absinthe Supérieure
was the second absinthe on the market after its
legalization in 2007, and as one of America’s first
legally bottled boozes of its kind, it has set a precedent (and high bar) for craft absinthe distillers to
come.
For those who don’t know much about absinthe,
here’s a quick crash course. Absinthe is a spirit, and
has its own liquor category, like vodka and whiskey. It
was banned from the United States until 2007
because the Federal Drug Administration thought its
key botanical, grande wormwood, had hallucinogenic
properties in the chemical compound thujone. This
means during its ban, all absinthe distilled in the
United States wasn’t true absinthe since it lacked the
wormwood ingredient. To be classified as an actual
absinthe, the spirit must contain “the holy trinity” of
principal botanicals, which are grande fennel, green
anise and grande wormwood. After finding that the
chemical compound thujone existed in other foods
(sage and yarrow), the FDA legalized the distillation of
absinthe in the U.S. and now craft and commercial
distillers are bottling it for consumption. Yay!
Rather than using a base of eau de vie (white grape
spirit) as a foundation, like traditional European absinthes, Vieux Carré’s base spirit is made from a mix of
corn, wheat, rye and barley. Philadelphia Distilling
takes this neutral-tasting liquor and re-distills it with
herbs sourced from around the world — star anise
from China, petite wormwood and genepi from
Switzerland, anise seed from Egypt, fennel from
Provence and grande wormwood from Croatia.
Spearmint, lemon balm, hyssop and petite wormwood steep in the alcohol and release their chlorophyll
coloring.
The color and flavor from all-natural botanicals sets
Philadelphia Distilling’s absinthe apart from the massproduced absinthes on the market that sneak in food
coloring, giving them a mouthwash-green color.
At a high-alcohol content (120 proof), Vieux Carré is
surprisingly smooth. Bright fennel and licorice-flavored
anise dominate the taste up front, and following, you
savor sweet notes of spearmint and the earthiness of
the grande wormwood. Hints of saccharin spearmint
sets Vieux Carré apart from other absinthes, which
are primarily anise-based spirits
In the end, you get a full-bodied layered liquor with
pops of herbal, earthy flavors, and a complexity that
rivals other craft absinthes.
If you find absinthe’s anise and fennel flavors peculiar
rather than palatable, give one of these five cocktail
recipes a try. The effervescence of Champagne or
fruity notes of pear brandy may just turn you onto this
herbaceous spirit.
The raw botanicals (grande wormwood, green anise
and star anise, fennel du Provence and lemon balm)
are heated and soaked in a copper pot overnight.
Then the spirit (which is still clear) is combined with
the botanicals that give the absinthe its verdant color.
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/vieux-carre-absinthe-superieure-review.html