Those were from Switzerland and included our favorite in the tasting, Kubler. But one absinthe was turquoise, which is near enough to green, I suppose. The absinthes offered numerous variations on green, from pale celadon and shimmering aquamarine to extra virgin olive oil to dizzyingly garish shades that don’t exist in nature outside of South Beach nightclubs. For instance, all those nicknames - the green fairy, the green muse, the green torment, the green oblivion - might lead one to believe that absinthe is green, right? Often, but not always.

It’s understood now that hallucinations and other health issues attributed to overindulging in absinthe were more a result of alcohol poisoning due to the high alcohol content, typically 50 to 70 percent.įew things demystify absinthe more than the daunting prospect of 20 glasses in front of you. This wormwood contains small amounts of thujone, a compound once thought to affect the mind. So what makes absinthe absinthe? Essentially it is a neutral spirit infused with myriad herbs and botanicals, centering around anise, fennel and a specific type of wormwood, Artemisia absinthium, from which absinthe takes its name. Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Audrey Saunders, an owner of the Pegu Club on West Houston Street, and Pete Wells, editor of the Dining section, who writes about drinks. To give absinthe its moment in the harsh light of day, the tasting panel sampled 20 bottles. Once smuggled from Eastern Europe or procured from back-alley producers, absinthe is now just another bottle on the bar. Since absinthe was legalized in the United States in 2007, it has gone from forbidden fruit to virulent weed. Pull over, you disillusioned dreamers: with no laws to break, no frissons of danger, let the mystification stop right now. The two faces of absinthe offered possibilities to idealists the world over, searching for a muse or testing the limits of their risk-taking.Ĭonsider the cast of mythological absinthe drinkers: the vulnerable painter and poet, too sensitive for this mean old world the tormented soul, unable to snap out of his self-loathing the rakish hedonist, seeking one big, lurid rush the wealthy dilettante, dipping a toe in bohemia.īut now absinthe is legal again, and the romance of belle époque naughtiness must give way to what’s in the glass. If nothing else, a century of prohibition on absinthe gave it the sort of aura of dissolute glamour that would-be brooding artists would drown their agents for. But it’s poisonous, no? It eats your brain and drives you crazy! Asinthe? So devil may care, so deliciously disreputable, so…louche.

Absente absinthe