Saturday, November 6, 2010

A Glass of Herbsaint, The classic Herbsaint Drip

A Glass of Herbsaint, The Classic Herbsaint Drip

In the midst of many things happening all at once, it's been difficult to sit down and catch up posting new material, hopefully, this trend is now broken.

One of the things I had hoped to put together is various Herbsaint cocktails, now that we are lucky to have Herbsaint Original on the shelves, our first look will be at the classic Herbsaint Drip.
 
The Herbsaint Drip is based on the classic Absinthe Drip enjoyed by many before the unfortunate ban on absinthe. One can do an absinthe drip many different ways, absinthe fountain, carafe, brouille, or Dripper as known in the USA.
As was popular in the hot humid climate of New Orleans, the brouille or dripper has a number of advantages, over using a large absinthe fountain, and much better control than trying to drip water from a carafe. 

To make a classic Herbsaint Drip, is simplicity it’s self.
Take one absinthe type glass, add two ounces of Herbsaint Original, fill the brouille or Dripper with crushed Ice, place on top of the absinthe glass, and add water to the dripper. The dripper will slowly drip the ice 
cold water into the Herbsaint Original; enjoy watching the alchemy as the ice water and Herbsaint Original combine, creating the classic Herbsaint Drip.












In the early days of Legendre & Co., J. Marion Legendre commissioned his own absinthe drip glass sets, giving a few lucky authors and celebrities their own Herbsaint Drip Glasses, these glasses were among the best designed absinthe styled drip glasses made. Offered for sale via mail order the Herbsaint Drip Glasses were available into the 1960s. 





For those not lucky enough to own a vintage Herbsaint Drip Glass, I’d recommend picking up a Herbsaint etched dripper from the Tales of the Cocktail website here: 
http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/shop/herbsaint_dripper
The modern Herbsaint etched dripper works quite well, and I have a couple in my own collection that I use when the vintage Herbsaint Drip Glass stays in the cabinet.   
As for a recommendation for an absinthe glass, I recommend one of the La Rochere Perigord type glasses, which are quite easy to find from a number of sources, but feel free to use one of a number of reproduction absinthe glasses for those that do not wish to use an antique absinthe glass.