Looks like Paul Nathan might have taken a page out of our book...

The publisher is sending me a copy this week. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Sounds good.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Let's call his bluff and see if he can.

He does have a lot of explaining to do.

The problem with that is that he'd have to show up here again to do it...and you just know his explanation would be pure , as usual.

Zactly!

I seem to recall that he emphatically stated that he was not an expert on several occasions.

Wait a second. I'm experiencing cognitive dissonance...

I think W.C. Fields summed it quite well:

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

I found this review on The Little Green Book of Absinthe..

Once-banned absinthe, the drink said to inspire the muse of artists, writers and revolutionaries is, after a century underground, worming its way back into popular culture.

Initially a medicinal tonic, the current incarnation is made from a mixture of herbs, including green anise (this gives it a licorice flavor and its color), fennel (more licorice) and grade wormwood ("contributes the bitterness and controversy").

Wormwood contains a neurotoxin, thujone, that can cause "seizures, hallucinations and brain damage," the authors write, and in high doses is lethal. But absinthe contains very little of it.

"Any danger in absinthe comes from alcohol, not poisonous plants."

Aficionados Paul Owens and Paul Nathan have written an entertaining and enlightening history of this drink once thought "so dangerous that the United States banned it in 1912, four years before cocaine and heroin." (Nathan is said to be the only American ever busted for possessing it.) They have also included a plethora of contemporary recipes from the famous (infamous in absinthe circles) Las Vegas bartender Dave Herlong.

In its heyday, the drink made quite an impression on the French Impressionists. The louche (the swirling cloud of yellow that is released by the oils when absinthe is properly mixed with water) is said to have inspired Van Gogh.

It was also a favorite of writer Ernest Hemingway, who referred to it in many of his stories.

A reference in "For Whom The Bell Tolls" includes this passage: ... of all things he had enjoyed and forgotten and that came back to him when he tasted that opaque, bitter, tongue-numbing, brain-warming, stomach-warming, idea-changing liquid alchemy.

So, if you want to impress your friends, pick up a copy of this little book. You could make them a "Death in the Afternoon" (from the eponymous Hemingway novel) or prepare them for the links with an "Arnold Palmer's French Caddy." Who knows? It might improve their game.

Yeah, saw that yesterday.


Paul REALLY loves to play the bad boy card doesn't he? He has to let everyone know he got busted.

As a point of clarification, he didn't get busted for posessing it, he got busted for selling untaxed alcohol, which is what he, in effect, was doing when he was selling tickets to those crapsinthe parties.

Mon dieu!
So, if you want to impress your friends, you could prepare them for the huffing ritual.

Are you saying that you can't tell the difference between brands from across the room? I really doubt that.

Lets say you are at an absinthe party. The host has gone to Bevmo and grabbed a selection of absinthe. Since the host knows that you are into absinthe she calls you for some suggestions. You suggest that she gets a few brands representing the various main styles of absinthe. Kübler or La Clandestine for the Swiss style, La Fee for the French style (I know you would never recommend La Fee, I'm just teasing you), and St. George because it is made right here in the good ole US of A.

I will bet a hundred dollars that you could get four out of five right from across the room, in low light, after a few drinks.

The absinthe bar in Amsterdam has about 8 different brands at any given time. Usually a couple of French brands, a couple of Swiss brands, a German brand, and a couple of Czech brands (I know you would not call it absinthe - but you would certainly recognize it from across the room by the lack of louche). Once again... I would be surprised if most of the enthusiast who frequent this forum missed more than one or two.

Well that's not much of a challenge you say... How about if you line up five brands that louche exactly alike. Sure you can stump me. Sure I can stump you. My point in writing this was simply that once you get to know a bit about absinthe the differences in the louche are very obvious and easy to identify. It was meant to be exciting and encouraging to new comers.

Here is a nice article with videos showing how the different brands and different styles look when they louche

There are definitely a couple with some very distinct louches. St. George comes to mind, as does Pacifique.

But I can bet if I put 10 similarly colored vertes, you wouldn't be able to pick them out as easily.

If you came to my bar, I'm pretty sure you couldn't guess any of them.

I read your website post Paul. Listing LTV as a "traditional" french absinthe? What is traditional about it? I really want to know because I have never tasted any traditional french absinthe, pre-ban or modern, that tastes like Le Tourment Verte.

Actually Brian you are completely wrong. The main absinthe related charge was selling a poisonous substance in alcohol. A charge that I found ironic since alcohol is poison. The law says that it is incumbent upon the accused to prove that what they are selling is safe. At that time there was ample evidence (in the form of thousands of liters per year sold around the world without incident) that the drinks we had on offer were safe. I was very much looking forward to taking it to trial as it could have been an end to the ban.

Brian, why do you refer to the parties as Crapsinthe parties? Were you there? No you weren't. If you were you would not denigrate them. They were fantastic parties unlike anything anywhere else. Beyond the amazing entertainment, interesting art and decor, and fantastic crowds there was a zeitgeist that made people feel as though they were experiencing something wonderful and special. You have insulted that particular event on a number of occasions. I don't know if it is jealousy, poor manners, or just plain mean spiritedness but it really is rude.

I don't insult you. I have asked in the past that you keep your comments civil. This little barb is no slap in the face but it is petty and uncalled for.

I will be having an absinthe party next month to celebrate the book release. You are invited Brian. I'll buy you a drink and give you a much needed hug. Then if you like you can take me out back and punch me until your unwarranted anger is sated or until I'm bled out. I would prefer that over the constant rude comments usually made when you think I am not in the room.

Agreed. Personally speaking, that is.

I don't think I have ever referred to LTV as a traditional French absinthe. If I did than I apologize for mis-stating. Absintheology.com offers a page on our site to any maker who wants to put up their own description of their product. It's strictly a marketing position page. The idea was that it would give our readers a chance to see what the brands had to say for themselves. At that time LTV was positioning itself as a traditional French absinthe. I don't know if that is still their position or not. I never called them that. To my mind they stand out as very non-traditional. I applaud the makers for taking a risk and trying something exciting and new. They are one of the top sellers in the US market today so they seem to have come up with a taste that appeals to the American palate.

It was too insignificant to even be called a little barb. Stop baiting.

I believe I said as much in my reply.

But I know the brands who were sponsoring the events.

I think I've been quite civil in the past. I just don't talk in circles, like you do.

I'm more than happy to attend. But I'm not paying my own way out there.

I don't need a hug. And I'm not angry at anything. You do absinthe education an injustice. Plain and simple.

Do you really think I didn't expect that the moment I posted the thread about your book, you'd be showing up? Give me a break. I knew you'd be here within a day. I've said everything I need to say when I know you're here.



But what you say in here and what you say in your publicity are two different things. That doesn't surprise me one bit.

Ahem.

Oh, and this too:



Wonderfully informative.

<imho>

Paul, I'm not going to dance around this: you're full of shit.

What you do to absinthe is rude. If you want to be treated civilly, don't piss on our backs and tell us it's raining.

And I'll bet five hundred that if I pour five real vertes, you couldn't get four out of five right, in full daylight, stone cold sober.



And yet:

So if you're not an experienced absintheur, what the fuck are you doing writing books about it?

"One of" the top sellers is meaningless. They haven't come up with a taste that appeals to "the American palate," they've spent many hundreds of thousands on slick (and sometimes unethical) marketing and positioning that merely suggests that. The reviews on LTV (not just here, and not just experienced absintheurs) say otherwise.


Dave is neither famous nor infamous. I met him when I was in Vegas, sat down with him, and tasted his drinks. He's a nice guy and sincere, and does make a good drink, but let's get this straight: LTV paid him to create drinks for their specific product, which was strategically placed in the N9NE Group's properties. Period. That's all. The same way Paris Hilton was paid to attend said properties and drink said product.

In terms of your involvement with absinthe, you're the epitome of the term poser. You're a carny riding the coat-tails of a fad, and your target audience is any rube gullible enough to be taken in by your pitch.

It shows in your writing, your videos and the lame-ass spin you spew any time someone points out the foolishness of your statements (such as the "across the room" assertion) and the errors in the superficial skimming that you substitute for "research."

Everything you've done on absinthe to date has been for mercenary reasons, and you consistently ally yourself with brands and companies who share these traits. I'm not sure why, because you have talents that could have been applied to genuinely helping the absinthe cause, instead of propping up bogus brands created by companies instead of distillers. But then, that's where the big bucks are, isn't it?

</imho>

You listed four absinthes. that circumstance I very well might be able to get the La Fee and St. George correct if I knew what absinthes were going to be poured in advance, and have a 50/50 shot of getting the blanches correct. And by colour, not by louche action, which has a lot to do with the temperatures of the liquids that are combining and other factors.

However, that is not the same as the blanket statement of identifying a brand by louche across the room. You're adding conditions that make it considerably easier. Knowing the brands ahead of time, having only a few possible choices, and only some of them being vertes. Blanches are almost always impossible to tell apart by appearance. Vertes can be easier if you already have the advantage of a set of names to match them to.

But how about having 15 or 20 brands like there often is when I go to absinthe events. I walk into an event, don't see a bottle, and someone is louching an absinthe under a fountain. I might be able to tell what it is by smell, but definitely not by appearance unless it's something wacky like Jacques Senaux Black.

I challenge anyone on the face of the Earth to correctly identify four out of five blanches by their louche action alone, without the benefit of colour, and without the benefit of knowing the names of the brands and thereby having a shot at just lucky guessing.

Brian,

I've changed the above to more accurate.

Works for me.

I told all of you if his name got posted at least three times he'd magically reappear for us, just like an opening band that plays an unwanted encore.








Thank you, Sir! I think that about settles it.

Well. So much for polite conversation.

I got yer polite conversation right here!

...now where's that ball-grabbin' emoticon?

I don't care how you want to spin it, Paul, what you're doing is a paid disinformation campaign.

Paul,
does your book specify which recipes are for LTV and which are for absinthe?

Not trying to be a dick, but there truly is a difference.

Also, is this primarily a collection of recipes with some fun facts thrown in, or is it absintheology.com in book form? Or something altogether different?

Polite? He has received more time than any other shill that has passed through this joint. Most shills are shown the door before they can blink twice. Where is that "flush" button?

Paul Nathan...the Ruttling Orange Peel of absinthe....

Please don't go.

The ridiculous, made-up garbage that you spew here is always such good fodder for laughs. It's such complete crap, without any honest attempt to even be half convincing to anyone who has the remotest clue about the subject. You tell lies and then cover them so poorly that it's clear that comedy is your intent. Your inept defense of your words must be an act, as anyone who was earnestly so vapid would surely have difficulty operating a computer or a motor vehicle.

I love reading your circular logic. I really love reading your admonishing of people who are considerably more experienced and intelligent than you are about things they know vastly more thoroughly than you do. And your demanding politeness and respect when you disrespect everything we do? Superb hypocrisy!

You want polite? There's polite for you. That's being as polite and honest and respectful as you have ever been since you joined this forum. Why should anyone care what a jester like you thinks?

Eatabagofdicks. It's Prussian.

Paulnathan has terrific talent. It would have been a treasure to have such talent used for good versus being a whore about it.

I'd rather have him on the honest educational side than the dark "fuck you all, this is how I make a living side".

What do I know, I'm just a clerk prostitutung myself for a meager paycheck. Because it's an honest living and I have a conscience.

I don't want to sacrifice my principals for a buck, a duck or a fuck.

Paulnathan speaks and presents himself very well. His facts really aren't. Such a waste of talent.

It's a shame that I'm even posting this. I feel bad about it but it's something my heart felt needed posting.

JMHO

Like OMG said, he obviously has a talent for promoting (of the self variety more than anything). Unfortunately his actions up to this point lead one to conclude that he loves profit and the furthering of his name brand than absinthe, and that to him, absinthe is the venue best suited to his own selfish goals.

If he wasn't so condescending he might actually be an ally. Instead, he does more to deter the progress of factual absinthe knowledge than help it. His vision of absinthe is one of frat-party-mentality, not respect and tradition.

We are trying to move absinthe away from the same stereotypical nonsense he promotes. We are trying to make absinthe something along the lines of scotch rather than plastic-bottle tequila. He, it seems, couldn't care about absinthe itself, or those who work hard to produce quality absinthe. Instead he seems to want to attach his fouled name absinthe. And like most things in life, the majority of people want to confirm their beliefs/stereotypes, not break them, and he just helps perpetuate bad information about absinthe at every turn.

So what y'all are saying, basically, is that he sucks and is a bad person?

Not a bad person, just confused. Someone should take him under their wing and make a true believer out of him. Show him the light. Show him the truth. Have pity. Bless his heart.

My principals are a little different than his. I don't have to like them but they're his. Like old prostitutes, he may become less attractive with age and work cheaper. Sham-Wow!*












*There may be some sarcasm in this post.

See, I don't think he's confused. I think he is very clear about what he's doing, which is profiting off of other people's confusion.

I can agree with that also. Good point.

Confused no. Misdirected and misguided, yes.

When I first read these sentences, for some reason Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" popped into my head. And I'm an Ummagumma guy.

He's quite clear in his intentions. He's not "bad" per se, just diametrically opposed to truth in regards to absinthe, and apparently motivated solely by a desire to increase his own value rather than stand up for absinthe itself. He's found an apparent "cash cow" and now he'll use any vague semi-truths, or blatant lies he can to "prove" his version of reality so that people give him money.

The fact is that he is passing off untruths as fact, and doing it for a profit.

He's bad for absinthe.

I heard that he also hates puppies.

Makes me glad I'm just a clerk. It also makes the booze I drink that much more tasty.