Absinthe-Pune

My first evening in Pune, I found myself in the swank settings of Westin. My friend's husband's birthday turned out to be just the right occasion for trying Absinthe. I could afford to drink knowing that I was not driving later.

Westin's drink menu had to varieties of Absinthe---the original and more popular Green Absinthe with 70% alcohol content and the Black Absinthe with 85% alcohol content. I decided to try the Green Fairy. It came with a word of caution from the waiter. "Great choice, ma'am but it's very potent." Um...I saw no problem there! So the girls, my friend and I ordered our green Absinthe and waited in giggly anticipation when we saw the waiter arrive with 2 shot glasses of the lovely green drink.

He placed our glasses with butter-knife-like spoons with 2 sugar cubes placed above it and poured Absinthe over the sugar cubes so that the drink trickled down to our glasses sweetened. they he lit the cubes on fire which then lit the drink below. So far, I was loving the show and drama! the waiter then poured ice-cold water over the flaming sugar cubes and the the entire glass lit up like a big firefly. Awesome!

After happy cheers, we clinked the glasses and took a sip. It tasted like toothpaste. Colgate gel toothpaste to be precise. I was not prepared for the minty and slightly sweet taste but I still drank it in anticipation of some crazy mind games. It never came. I felt slightly tipsy and very relaxed but that could easily have been attributed to the very, very busy and tiring day I had that day and I would have unwinded just the same had been drinking diet Coke. Now this is from someone who does not drink much. I wondered how disappointed the hardcore drinkers might have felt. 

Nonetheless, I can now happily cross out Absinthe from my list of drinks to try.