Friday, April 2, 2010

Essential Liquor #5

#5) Herbsaint- Never heard of it? Well, it’s got to be in your bar. Louisiana in the 1800s was the U.S. king of absinthe. Then the government decided to ban absinthe for nearly 100 years from 1915-2007. So, in 1934, an enterprising tag team of J.M. Legendre and Reginald Parker of New Orleans created absinthe without its offending ingredient- wormwood. Of course, the government stormed back in to stop this absinthe too. So they simply changed the name to Herbsaint. In my opinion, it’s tastier that anything the French have.



For our recipe, we go back to the mid-1920s, where a Russian doctor, Serge Voronoff, was hard at work in Paris perfecting his surgeries of which he hoped would deliver on the promise of eternal youth. How, you ask? Well by transplanting a young monkey testicle into an old dude’s sack, of course! (You can’t make this stuff up!) Anyway, the expected aphrodisiac effects of this procedure inspired a great drink. No, there’s no monkey juices in it. Man, you guys are sick.


The Monkey Gland
1 ½ ounces of gin
1 ½ ounces of fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp grenadine
1 tsp Herbsaint
Shake vigorously. Garnish with monkey testicle (or not).


The two we poured for you (in picture form), were prepared with fresh squeezed clementines. It was incredibly good.

12 comments:

  1. No Herbsaint at the local grocery :( Have to try a liquor store I'm guessing. Where in the booze section is Herbsaint typically placed?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liqueur section, with the rest of the anise flavors like Jager, Sambuca, or absinthe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did see some Hiram Walker junk called Anisette. Will that work?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Er, depends...Do you think a dirty East Dubuque ho will work for Jessica Alba?

    ReplyDelete
  5. LoL, I imagine not, but then I've never had Jessica Alba either, ROFFL!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The liqueur substitutes would be absinthe, sambuca, ouzo, razzouk, Ricard, Pernod... You're close to Mexico, maybe you can find some D'Aristi Xtabentun...never had it, but it might be interesting in the Gland.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll go to a couple of our big liquor stores and see if I can find it! I'm stuck on Level 5 here! Don't have time to go hunt for Herbsaint right now :( Please DM, give me more quests so I can get XP

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just updating what I posted on Facebook. I got the D'Arista Xtabentun (Last word pronounced ish-tah-ben-TOON, aka I call it it Ish) Anyway, I have not tried it yet. Price was on par with Herbsaint.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sweet! You'll have to let me know if it's an 'essential'! It sounds like it should be good.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm catching up on my homework. I just made a Monkey Gland. You are spot on with this drink man. It tastes like orange sherbert. The anise flavors of the D'Aristi are perfect. I sipped the bottle first. This stuff feels like syrup in your mouth. It coats your whole mouth. I may have to try Herbsaint to compare. The Xtabentun is very sweet as well. Is the Herbsaint anything like my description

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds like Herbsaint has a bit more oil to it than the Ish. Probably due to Ish's honey. Sounds awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Look for Legendre "Herbsaint Original" which is a revival of the original 1934 recipe.

    Herbsaint is unique in it's category as an absinthe substitute, and has a flavor profile closer to a classic absinthe, than a number of modern absinthes.

    www.neworleansabsinthehistory.com

    ReplyDelete