Laser cut absinthe spoon

I recently came into a nice bottle of absinthe (OK, it was a very strange Father’s Day gift, if you must know). The classic way to drink the green stuff is an Absinthe Drip, which is composed of a couple of ounces of absinthe, and a few ounces of ice water dripped over a sugar cube into the drink.

You can do the sugar and water bit through any strainer, but the stylish way is on a dedicated piece of gear called an absinthe spoon. I don’t make this drink with great enough frequency to warrant buying one, so I joked with a friend about laser cutting one instead. Why just joke about it? This here is for you, Tod.

I traced a photo of a Toulouse Lautrec-designed spoon in CorelDraw. I modified the design a bit, and added my initials at the top. I then used this vector file to cut a piece of 1/8″ acrylic on an Epilog Zing laser cutter. I’m very pleased with the results! However, I would warn against setting your sugar cube on fire over an acrylic absinthe spoon.

13 Responses to Laser cut absinthe spoon

Big Dave on August 28th, 2009 at 2:20 pm said:

Sorry, but you’ve gotta place your spoon on the glass, sugar on the spoon, absinthe over sugar, sugar on fire, rinse the sugar away with water, and stir to get the green fairy to appear.

Half the fun of drinking an alleged hallucinogenic beverage is setting it on fire.

When I saw the title, I was thinking, “Damn, he’
s got a mighty fine lazor to be shooting wholes in stainless steel.”

//mmm drunken licorice

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- brett on August 28th, 2009 at 3:50 pm said:
  
  http://wormwoodsociety.org/
  
  Setting your sugar on fire makes the green fairy cry.
  
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- dwan on August 28th, 2009 at 4:18 pm said:
  
  The sugar-on-fire trick has never been part of the absinth ritual.
  
  Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinth and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian-style_absinth for more.
  
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John Park on August 28th, 2009 at 4:50 pm said:

I’ve never been interested in setting this drink on fire either (although I know people do), and I certainly won’t on an acrylic spoon!

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Julian on August 28th, 2009 at 6:27 pm said:

Is the stuff that is sold in the U.S. really absinthe though? I had always heard you could get it legally in Europe but not in the U.S.

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- John Park on August 28th, 2009 at 8:22 pm said:
  
  Yes, it’s real absinthe in the US now. I have Obsello brand and like it just fine. Absinthe was banned here in 1912. It became legal again in 2007. Everything about the ban was based on fear-mongering and misinformation; it’s effectively as dangerous as any comparably alcoholic spirit.
  
  I have heard that during the original absinthe craze there were cheap knock-offs that used copper sulfate for the green coloring — those were probably causing very nasty heavy metal poisoning!
  
  If you want to find out (lots!) more, read the Wikipedia entry linked above in dwan’s comment.
  
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Milarepa on August 28th, 2009 at 7:17 pm said:

Nice idea though.
Why don’t you cut one from styrofoam or PU foam or something, bury it in sand and cast it from iron. I never did such a thing but the knowledge is out there and you do have a laser…
Please do so, just to seen if it works

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- John Park on August 28th, 2009 at 8:27 pm said:
  
  Hey, if you’ve got the forge I’ll get you the styrofoam version to cast.
  
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Sampson on August 29th, 2009 at 7:25 am said:

An acrylic absinthe spoon. What a novel idea. It will bend and won’t break, it is inexpensive and if you lose it no biggy! This is a great absinthe accessory. I think this is an idea for the disposable silverware companies. You could buy a bag of plastic absinthe spoons for $2 for your party and who cares if they get lost.

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failrate on August 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm said:

You might also be able to get a metal one via shapeways or big blue saw.

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Absinthe dude on August 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm said:

Never set it on fire. This was done to make the nasty czech absinthes a bit more drinkable- carmelized sugar does wonders for any crappy recipe.

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screaminscott on August 30th, 2009 at 9:41 pm said:

If you’re not big on the ritual (I’m not) just stir in a packet of Equal or similar non-sugar sweetener.

It dissolves better and faster.

That’s what I do.

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- John Park on August 30th, 2009 at 10:23 pm said:
  
  Clearly I’m big on the ritual! Even so, I don’t groove on non-sugar sweeteners, unless agave syrup counts?
  
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