Posted by Lucy Baker, September 12, 2007 at 11:00 AM
I wasn't able to make it to the recent absinthe tasting at LeNell's Ltd. liquor store in Red Hook, Brooklyn, but owner LeNell Smothers was kind enough to sit down with me and answer a few questions about the green fairy, the business of bars, and booze.
How would you describe the experience of drinking absinthe to someone who had never tried it?
Are you talking about the myth of hallucinating? That's bullshit. It's a high-proof alcohol, so you're getting more of a buzz, but it's not the same as taking a hallucinogenic drug.
Do you subscribe to the traditional method of drinking absinthe, with the spoon, the sugar, and the dripping of cold water?
It depends. Sometimes I just drink absinthe straight, without adding water. Personally it's all about the taste.
Do you think the absinthe available in America today is different than the famous French absinthe of the 1890s?
There were a variety of absinthes available back in the day, when the writers and artists were hanging out in Paris drinking it. Quality varied, just like in any category of spirit, so you can't really say if this absinthe is the same or different.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, August 15, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Few things in the world of drink inspire as much curiosity—and as much breathless hysteria—as absinthe. Banished from the U.S. in 1912 as a warm-up exercise by Prohibitionists, absinthe was absent from the U.S. market (legally, at least) until just this past spring. When Viridian Spirits rolled out Lucid, the first (and so far, only) absinthe to meet regulatory approval in almost 100 years, newspapers and magazines immediately began to circulate many of the old, exaggerated claims and contemporary urban myths about the spirit called the "green fairy."
Last week, the Colorado Springs Gazette joined the fray, but with a difference: Reporter Mark Arnest sought to lay many of these rumors to rest, ranging from the Prohibitionist rhetoric that absinthe causes insanity (Vincent van Gogh's gruesome self-mutilation is the perennial example) to the modern-day thrill-seekers belief that it can make a drinker hallucinate (example from the story's Q&A section: "Q: Will it make me hallucinate? A: Ironically, absinthe's reputation as a psychoactive liquor is largely a result of the ban. [...] Q: But what about van Gogh's ear? A: Drunk people sometimes do really stupid things.") In doing so, the story underscores a point that one of Arnest's sources states directly: Absinthe is simply a strong, alcoholic beverage—no more, and no less.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 7, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Now that absinthe is legally available in the U.S. again, you might be at a loss as to the proper way to drink it. Time Out New York comes to your rescue. Just don't ...
... set it on fire. Yes, it was very cool to light your absinthe-laced spoonful of sugar on fire before stirring it into your glass in that dingy Prague pub, but that’s how the Czechs drink it. The only (legal) absinthe you’ll find on these shores is produced in the French style, and thus should be consumed the French way.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 22, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Louisa Chu of Movable Feast was recently a juror at the annual Absinthiades festival in Pontarlier, the birthplace of French absinthe, and got to taste ten absinthes in the course of two hours. So what's judging an absinthe contest like? "During the judging, I made good use of the giant sand-filled spit buckets but my mouth still went numb and I did experience the infamous lucid intoxication - then again I was just terrified that I might pass out. I did stay surprisingly sober, and even managed to scribble some hopefully comprehensible notes." Alas, real absinthe is still illegal to distill in or import into the United States, so American afficionados resort to smuggling it in or buying it from clandestine black market distillers.
[via The Grinder]
