One of the more unexpected drops this year has to be Hendrick’s Absinthe. Yep, you heard right. One of the world’s most popular gin producers is now making one of the world’s most misunderstood spirits. What’s more, it’s bottled at a lower ABV (48%) and oh yeah, it’s clear! 

It all started when Hendrick’s Master Distiller Lesley Gracie started experimenting with wormwood, a key ingredient in absinthe, whilst creating the well-received limited release Orbium gin. “Absinthe has this incredibly rich history steeped in mystery and was for many years feared, but it really shouldn’t be as it is such an amazing liquid. It is really a cousin to gin, in that it is a botanically flavoured spirit – just with a different palette of botanicals to play with.”

Needless to say, it wouldn’t be Hendrick’s if the absinthe wasn’t curiously unconventional. Besides the headlining wormwood and star anise, there are seven additional botanicals, including Hendrick’s Gin’s signature infusions of rose and cucumber. “For me, star anise has always had star quality, and I’ve been playing with its magical flavours in the background for years. Now, there is enough curiosity and desire to explore new dimensions within drinks to release our absinthe experiment to the world. I’ve added the rose and cucumber we put into Hendrick’s Gin – the rose adds a floral element and the cucumber a fresh dimension, which you don’t necessarily expect from an absinthe,” explained Gracie.

If this has made you curiouser and curiouser, you’ll just have to pop down to one of your favourite bars pronto; Hendrick’s Absinthe is only exclusively available on-trade. Good thing is, you have 20 excellent bars to choose from: Atlas Bar, Barbary Coast Ballroom, Barbary Coast Deadfall, Employees Only, Fat Prince, Jekyll & Hyde, Jigger & Pony, Low Tide, Manhattan, Night Hawk, Nutmeg & Clove, Papa Doble, Revival, Sago House, Stay Gold Flamingo, Sugarhall, Tess Bar, Writers Bar, The Bar @ 15 Stamford and Nemesis. You have til 23 October 2022.

Where better to start than Stay Gold Flamingo, which eases you into the world of absinthe with the aptly-named Intro To Absinthe 2.0. It combines the star spirit with Cold Drip Earl Grey infused Hendrick’s Gin, Coconut Water, and garnished with a beautifully Pollock-ed piece of white chocolate. The concoction mellows out but doesn’t hide the absinthe, so you get a gentle taste of its possibilities. Don’t wanna spoil it but the white chocolate does magical things. So nice.

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