How to drink Absinthe in Prague

Prague is probably the only place in the world where one moment you can be clubbing in a crumbling underground ex-cinema and the next you could be sipping a flaming La Fee Absinthe Bohemian in a Romanesque stone cellar.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Absinthe is liquor, usually green in color and hence received the name ""The Green Fairy"". It was discovered by doctors and used mainly as a military medicine early on. It contains a psychoactive neurotoxin called thujone, made from wormwood, an herb. In the United States and many other countries it is illegal. In the Czech Republic, it is legal.
   Absinthe enjoyed a huge and important history in the 19th century. The choice of many artists, poets, Bohemian free spirits and the like, the drink quickly became synonymous with excess and was eventually outlawed probably because of political reasons as governments decided they just didn't like the effect it was having on society. Not unlike the outlawing of cocaine and marijuana in the United States in the 1930s.
2. Vincent Van Gogh cut off his own ear while in the throes of an absinthe binge, and Oscar Wilde once compared a glass of absinthe to a sunset. Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemmingway, Paul Gaugin, Charles Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Voltaire, and the famed Toulouse-Lautrec all reveled in the stuff. References to it in the writings, paintings, and works of many artists have helped lend a sense of mystery to the liquor, contributing to its legendary properties.
   Czech Republic is one of the very few countries still producing Absinthe. You may buy it in most of the souvenir-shops, for a price that is much cheaper than ordering it in your country over the internet. The first stadium is like normal drinking, the second stadium is like seeing cruel things, but if you don't give up, you will see things you want to see - great, unusual things!
3. There are about million ways that people will suggest to you to drink your absinthe. Here are a few, but we suggest you find your own way to enjoy the drink, if you can and the most important: try to drink it in booking your accommodation in Prague.
   Modern-Style: Add equal amount of water and sugar (or coke) to absinthe and drink.
   French Tradition: Pour the absinthe into a shot glass, put a sugar cube on a slotted spoon and hold it over the shot glass. Pour water over the sugar to dissolve it into the drink.
   Czech Tradition: Pour the absinthe into a big glass. Stir the drink, and then dip the wet spoon into sugar, covering the spoon. Light the spoon on fire, letting the sugar caramelize, then dip it into the drink and stir. Add water to the glass and drink. You will see many variations of this in Prague. If you drink it the first time, it will be better to be not in a pub or a night club, but to be in a safe place as Prague hotel, pensions or near your Prague accommodation (http://www.prague-hotels.org.uk/ ), in case your organism could not stand the Absinthe’s test.

Tips & Warnings

• Absinthe has an anise/black licorice flavor in many cases and has been compared to everything from ""pure perfection"" to ""mouthwash gone bad."" It is a very strong alcohol and is now mainly drunk for kitsch purposes by tourists in the city. Some bartenders will even look at you funny for actually ordering it. It's an awful lot of hype and not much return. But in the end, if it's something you want to tell your friends you did in Prague, I am not ones to stand in your way.