It’s been two years since the absinthe ban was lifted in the United States, but I was still rather wary of “The Green Fairy” and grossly misinformed about its illicit history and effects.
Look, what do you expect when I’ve had little exposure to the spirits except for this scene from “Eurotrip”?
Eww! Seriously, I have a twin brother. That shit ain’t funny. No way I was touching the stuff. Right?
Well … 2009 also marks Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th birthday (or, if you prefer, 150th deathday), and having been a Poe devotee since memorizing “The Raven” at age 9, I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity to attend The Liquid Muse Cocktail Club’s pre-Halloween Absinthe-laced “underground cocktail party” and literary salon. This one’s for you, Edgar.
As soon as I stepped through the door of the very cool BarKeeper in Silverlake, I was greeted by the Liquid Muse herself, Natalie, and offered my first of two cocktails, “White Christmas:” grapefruit juice, simple syrup, La Clandestine absinthe, Prosecco, allspice dram.
Whoa. Loved it.
I don’t usually like that licorice/anise flavor. I avoid it in fact. The only anise I take in regularly is the hint of star anise in pho. This cocktail still obviously had that bitterness, but paired with the tart/bitterness of the grapefruit, sweetened and then bubbled, it was definitely gentle on an absinthe virgin like me.
And to help me drink were lots of bites from Amy’s Culinary Adventures, who also does underground parties like this cheese party .
BarKeeper, just a few doors down from Intelligentsia Coffee and Casbah Cafe, is the ultimate cocktail enthusiast’s shop full of fun ice cube trays, flasks, bottle openers, glassware, straws and bar art.
Check out the array of bitters and absinthe spoons. ShopEatSleep’s Maya and I sniffed most of the bitters (not in a huffing kind of way) and browsed the rest of the cute goods, which you can check out on Maya’s blog. We were joined by LA-OC Foodie and e*star LA.
Sobriety check #1: So far, so not crazy.
The evening’s info-tainment got underway, first with a stirring reading of the poem “The Conqueror Worm” by Poe, known to be an absinthe drinker himself. This was part of the literary salon aspect of the night, and I was kind of psyched to hear Poe read aloud.
The whole evening in fact, was fascinating, especially all the information we got to dispel those rumors about absinthe, i.e. it will make you hallucinate and go crazy. Even Anthony Bourdain played into the fantasy a bit. Check out this (somewhat lengthy) clip from “No Reservations,” in which he tries absinthe in France, during a time when it was still banned in the U.S.
Absinthe, loved by artists and the Bohemian movement back in the days of France’s Belle Epoque, really got a bad rap. In fact, absinthe was a PR nightmare, thanks to those sneaky wine proponents. That’s what absinthe category specialist (and rep for the night’s sponsor, Lucid absinthe) Joshua Blake said anyway. Well, he didn’t say “sneaky.”
What I gleaned from my quickie history lesson:
- A pesky pest called Phylloxera devastated the European grapevines and therefore the wine industry in 1863. But hey, no grapes in absinthe, so let’s drink that!
- When vintners bounced back and tried to revive interest in wine, people had already acquired the taste for that damn absinthe. What to do?
- Let’s say it makes you dissolute and even crazy! And this farmer Jean Lanfray who killed his wife and kids in 1905? It must have been the absinthe. Never mind that he was an alcoholic
- Mission accomplished. Panties got in a twist. Absinthe banned in the U.S., France and Switzerland in 1910.
Lesser, pure forms of absinthe flourished elsewhere though, including the Czech Republic. Check out this clip (only the first 2 minutes) from the latest “The Amazing Race,” in which couple Brian and Ericka have to prepare and drink absinthe:
Um, yeah. What was that with the sugar cube on fire and nubile dancers?
Sobriety check #2: No fairies. No dancers either.
Time for my next cocktail. Whoo! Um, yes, this one was a bit too strong for me. The “Phoebe Snow” is cognac, Dubonnet and Lucid absinthe. Definitely a very slow-sipping, “stuff face with any bread products available” cocktail.
Okay, so Joshua told us that unlike that travesty we saw in “The Amazing Race” clip, you DO NOT have to use fire to prepare absinthe for drinking, although the theatrics may help distract from the harsh taste of Czech absinthe.
On the contrary, a genuine absinthe is rather pure and herby, so why add fire? A genuine absinthe only has to have three main ingredients distilled: sweet fennel, green anise and Grande Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). <– Yes, that’s where they got the name absinthe! Other herbs can be added as well.
La Clandestine, Lucid and St. Georges absinthes
The absinthe story just got better and better. Apparently, this genius chemist/absinthe historian Ted Breaux got his hands on a 100-year-old bottle of original absinthe — the stuff before it got banned. The good stuff.
Through reverse engineering or using a Flux Capacitor or something, he figured out the original formula for absinthe. He also was part of the team that helped convince the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau to allow absinthe back in the U.S. in March 2007.
Lucid was the first genuine absinthe imported into the U.S. in over 95 years.
No colorings are added, so if you pull down a bottle off the shelf and look at the ingredients, it better not have FD&C dyes or whatnot in them. That absinthe you have that looks like Scope mouthwash? Not genuine absinthe. In fact, it doesn’t even louche correctly.
What the hell is “louche”?
Dripping water into absinthe isn’t just for show, it actually releases the bouquet and activates the essential oils in the spirits. You can tell because it will turn cloudy and opalescent as in the picture above, which was done without the benefit of a sugar cube.
We like the sugar cube though for taste. The process takes less than a minute. Want proof? Here’s my inaugural YouTube channel video:
Sobriety check #3: Hmm … I feel good.
Even if you forget all the wisdom I imparted, just remember: Not only does absinthe NOT make you crazy, it doesn’t even make you drunk in the traditional sense. It’s more like a “high,” in which everything’s brighter, conversation is scintillating, the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes. This is supposedly due to those healthy, stimulating herbs that keep you lucid. <– Wouldn’t that be a nice, descriptive name for an — ah, I see. Yes. Told ya it kept you sharp.
Wanna read more?
e*star LA’s “The Liquid Muse Cocktail Club Does Absinthe: Don’t Believe The Voodoo”
ShopEatSleep’s “Absinthe Does Not Make You Crazy”
BarKeeper
3910 W. Sunset Blvd.
Silverlake, CA 90029
(323) 669-1675
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
When I hear absinthe, I think of that crazy scene from Moulin Rouge!! Wouldn’t it be great if we could pick up some old school absinthe at BevMo?
I want the drippy machine!