This is not an answer to the question.
My friend that i’m going to Europe with next month would like to bring some Absinthe back with them to Canada. Does anyone know if this will cause any problems for them at customs both flying from Prague to Gatwick, and Gatwick to Canada? Thanks in advance.

You can buy Absinthe in France and in a number of other EU countries (Italy and Spain being two of them). But it is definitely easier to get it in France or in the Czech republic. However the quality of both seems not to be really good.

As for Absinthe bars, I am not aware of any (but there could as well be) that serves mostly or only Absinthe (it would be like a bar to serve only straight vodka.. most customers would be too drunk after an hour to be able to order anything else!), but it is true that there are some bars where you can be served Absinthe (somewhere Versinthe which is a slightly different legal version). For my experience there are some in the UK (London). However you can easily serve Absinthe to yourself following all the really simple rules of its preparation. Just look it up online and you will be flooded with info.

As for Canada, you may or may not know that Absinthe is actually legal in Canada (try the best LCBO and you will be able to buy it there, even if NOT for cheap). This said, I would presume no problem with taking across the border but I m definitely not sure.

I remember seeing it in Amsterdam. Some of the bottles advertised that it is still made with a high content of wormwood. I think it would be best to buy it and ship it back to the states or Canada.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I’ll let my friend know what I have found out.

Hey everyone

Thanks for the comments. My brother found some information regarding specific bars/pubs that serve it in London and some other cities we will be in.

As for shipping it, he inquired about that too. It seems, a lot of online sellers will ship to the US but cannot guarantee it actually arrives there due to customs.

Two years ago I bought a small bottle back in my luggage (as per request of a friend) and had no problems (though I was very paranoid).

Happy travels everyone!

You can buy absinthe in london it costs around 30 quid, try to get the hapsburg brand its in a tall bottle , and aim for higher than 70% alc . if i remeber u can get 85 and 92 % now , if you think its going to make you hallucinate then you are so wrong . enjoy anyway.

For those of you that have tried it, how do you like it? is it different from other alcoholic drinks? thanks..it seems very interesting

the main taste if of star anise, of the main ingredients.

i do not find it very bitter and i have to say i like it quite a bit in both preparations (with icy water and with flamed sugar).

however, in order to better taste it, i suggest you to stick to an alcoholic percentage between 45 and 60%. no more. enjoy. but believe me this is by far a tourist experience. between europeans the hype for absinthe is long gone.. since it has been banned really.

nevertheless it remains a traditional drink that has an interesting history.

absinthe is drink like every other drink…it containes a 80% of alcohol…it gets u drunk fast…tastes like u just had liquid flame..nothing to get so excited about

there is a bar just short of the moulin rouge in paris, this bar is a traditional bar, that was famous for serving absinthe in the 1900’s and still does today with traditional fountains. there is a Absinthe shop in Paris as well as a absinthe museum on the outskirts of Paris.
there are old distilleries throughout Paris, but working ones are in other countries, as I believe Absinthe still has to legally be below 50% in France.

This is true ! I’ve seen it in the liquor store when visiting friends there. We bought some and quite frankly, it was gross and very, very strong. We didn’t do the straining it over a sugar cube thing though and maybe that would have made all the difference. Having said that, I think everyone should try it at least once !

Enjoy !!
Sara

a good absinthe can be drank straight, some absinthe’s have ethanol in them, especially the homemade ones. the more you spend on your absinthe the better it will be, but some cheap ones that are sweet and nice to drink straight are Dr Jekyll and Pernod’s absinthe.

I’m not a big fan of absinthe even when it’s prepared correctly (with the sugar cube thing). It tastes like licorice to me, which I don’t like. If you like licorice, I guess you would like it.