Absinthe in Prague and Back Home
Absinthe
by Sarahwelt
I finally had the opportunity to try absinthe this summer while visiting the Czech republic. The first time was with a 350ml bottle, shared between 3 people, in the city of Prague. (Hill's brand). The stuff was 60% alcohol if I remember correctly, and bitter like chartreuse or jagermeister. The most memorable aspect of the first sip was an incredible burn in my throat, followed by a pleasant shot-of-whisky kind of relaxation. (this with about a capful of the stuff). After wandering around town drinking it with a friend, I finally went back to where I was staying to finish it off with the other person I was travelling with. While waiting in the room for him to get up and stuff (he'd been suffering from sore feet) I started to feel really heavy and sedated. (much more than I normally would after consuming an equivalent amount of normal alcohol, I *think* - I'm not normally wandering around Prague drinking hard liquor, so it's kind of hard to compare in any sort of objective way).
Anyway, I eventually drifted off after staring at the ceiling light in a semi-coma for awhile, and pretty much immediately entered a strange hemi-dream state.. I can't remember the precise details but I was involved in some sort of bizarre psychedelic 'game' involving intricate rhythm and climbing down stairs.. I think there was some sort of verbal chant associated with it.
Rather mundane I guess, but a little more than the typical drunkeness. I ended up getting up and going down to the common area of the filthy hospital-turned-hostel we were staying in where we drank the rest of the bottle. It was heavily sedating and I had interesting dreams. That's about it. The best part of the experience was probably sitting at the top of the medieval bridge tower drinking it, watching the sunset.
Number 2: 'Delis' Absinth, 72% alcohol, and the back of the bottle says 'max obsah thujonu 10 mg/l' - I read somewhere that this is pretty high for commercially available absinthe, although I have absolutely no understanding of appropriate, psychoactive, or toxic dose levels so the number is essentially meaningless... smuggled it back from Czech republic; not sure what the import restrictions are but I anticipated at most confiscation. The bottle is a tall screwtop wine bottle type of thing, with a photocopy-looking label which says 'Zelena Absinth muza' in big letters, and 'Delis Zalozeno 1990' at the bottom.. I gathered Delis was the brand because it's prominent on the back label. Anyway, it's much darker in color than the Hill's stuff and excruciatingly bitter! A friend mixed a small amount with orange juice, and could not stomach it despite the heavy dilution - the more it was diluted, the less the alcohol could be tasted; but the bitterness remained. I drank it straight, but only had about an ounce; and I was already quite drunk. I passed out, but nothing spectacular happened; the most notable thing is the incredible bitterness. I didn't mix it, or use a sugar cube or anything.
I still have an awful lot left (8/10ths of the bottle) and intend to take a night when I have the opportunity and drink as much as I can without getting ill or passing out. Will post experience; given that the Hill's stuff (I think I read it has about 2.5 mg/L of thujone) delivered heavy sedation and a very active pre-sleep hallucinations I'm anticipating at the very least a (nice?) coma.
As for price, I can't remember how many Czech crown's the two bottles i brought back were, but I think each bottle worked out to about $10 to $15 (canadian dollars).
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