After nearly a century the Green Fairy returns to the US

Ron-P

Absinthe is available again to the U.S.
By Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press
Article Launched: 11/23/2007 08:55:30 PM PST


Author Barnaby Conrad holds up a Kubler authentic Swiss Absinthe cocktail at the Bix restaurant in San Francisco. Since its approval by the federal government in May, two brands of the high-proof liquor, made according to original recipes, have been introduced. Conrad is the author of the book called Absinthe. (Eric Risberg / The Associated Press)SAN FRANCISCO - Green fairy, opalescent muse, bottled madness, the essence of life: absinthe has answered to many names over the centuries, feeding inspiration and insanity in equal measures to artists from Baudelaire to Degas before facing a ban that lasted nearly a century.

Now the emerald witch is stepping out of the shadows.

Since its approval by the federal government in May, two brands of the high-proof liquor, Lucid and Kubler, have been introduced to the U.S. market. Both made according to original recipes, they are fueling a revival among the inquisitive and quenching the thirst of cultish devotees.

Drawn out by the dissolution of national barriers in the European Union, absinthe is also newly legal in its birthplace, Switzerland, and in France, whose fin-de-siecle painters and writers enshrined its allure in masterpieces that survived the drink's prohibition on the eve of the first World War, and ensured its reputation.

"I'd read about it in Henry Miller and Anais Nin, and I was curious," said Stephanie Palmer, who works in software sales, sipping Kubler absinthe on the night it was launched in San Francisco. "It has this mystique - all the stories about wormwood."

Wormwood, an herb that grows wild on the slopes of Val-de-Travers, in the Swiss Alps, is absinthe's key ingredient, and counterbalances the mouth-numbing sweetness of the dominant flavor, anise. A relative of tarragon and mugwort, it imbues the drink with bitter undertones and, reputedly, the drinker with a clarity of vision that made it both beloved and banned.

"After the first glass you see things as you wish they were," Oscar Wilde once said of absinthe. "After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

A chemical present in wormwood, thujone, was long been credited with keeping the drinker lucid even as he succumbs to the pleasant lull of alcohol. Recent studies have shown that wormwood excites the nervous system, said Barnaby Conrad III, author of "Absinthe: History in a Bottle."

"It's a little like stepping on the gas and the brakes at the same time," Conrad said.

As he spoke, he prepared a glass of absinthe in the traditional way: placing a flat, slotted spoon across a tulip-shaped glass, balancing a sugar cube on top, then opening a thin-spouted spigot on a tabletop fountain and allowing the trickle of water to melt the sugar into the clear absinthe below.

The mixture turned a milky, alabaster hue - a process known as the louche, a French word meaning "shady," which could be applied to the drink's opaque appearance or to the allegedly dubious virtues of those who consumed it.

Bohemian artists in Paris at the end of the 19th century lived a life beyond morality, spent in search of sensual experience, even at the expense of madness. Their drink of choice, absinthe, came to embody those qualities in the public's imagination.

The underground, even dangerous image of absinthe was displayed in Edouard Manet's life-sized portrait of a Parisian street bum dubbed "The Absinthe Drinker," in the prostitute Nana, from Emile Zola's novel by the same name, who drank absinthe to forget "the beastliness of men," in the portraits of dissolution and folly left by French 19th century poets Paul Marie Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire.

The reputation wasn't entirely undeserved, Conrad says in his book, reporting the findings of a 19th century doctor who studied absinthe drinkers at a French psychiatric hospital.

Describing its effects on a hardworking sculptor who was prompted to leave work and family and consume a dozen glasses of the stuff at a go, the doctor wrote in his 1859 thesis, "He drank (...) without the ability to get drunk: he was like a beast."

And an excess of wormwood can indeed be deadly, Conrad said. But the chemical reputed to carry the hallucinogenic qualities is present in such low quantities in both the current versions - as required under the federal approval - and the alcohol content so high at more than 100 proof, that the consumer would die of alcohol poisoning long before being seriously affected by thujone, Conrad said. That was also true of 19th-century absinthe, he said.

"The real high is the associations," he said. "Absinthe is pre-1915 Paris, when time unfolded differently."

That's precisely what is drawing new consumers to the old spirit, said Lyons Brown, importer of the Kubler brand.

"There's been this legend, this lure to absinthe that never went away" in spite of its ban in 1912 in the United States, said Brown. "American consumers aren't being introduced to absinthe - they've been waiting for it. The demand is already there."

Using an 1863 recipe passed down through four generations of the Kubler family, distiller Peter Karl macerates the herbs, steeping them for a day in wheat- and rye-based alcohol warmed just above body temperature. Then he distills the mixture slowly, ridding it of the chlorophyl present in French absinthe and which lends it stronger flavors and a green tint.

Indeed, shimmering in the dim recesses of a bar, its warmth making conversation flow above the din of music, Karl's mixture does seem to work the San Francisco crowd into an exalted state - "a different buzz," according to patron Tracey Grant, a San Francisco graphic designer.

http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_7543885?IADID=Search-www.presstelegram.com-www.presstelegram.com

I'll have a bottle of the Lucid Absinthe in my hands tomorrow morning, I'm still trying to track down a bottle of the Kubler brand. I cannot wait!

mrbigbluelight

Here it comes: "Absinth makes the heart grow fonder".

Okay, now that that's out of the way; I've been interested what the deal is behind absinth since watching "Eurotrip".

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mrbigbluelight

Here it comes: "Absinth makes the heart grow fonder".

Okay, now that that's out of the way; I've been interested what the deal is behind absinth since watching "Eurotrip".

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As show in the last part of the clip, if you have a twin, don't drink absinth.

Ron-P

This stuff gives a buzz like no other, a very strange sensation. God I love it.

dkg999

Absinth ..... when you can truthfully say you have absof'inglutely no clue as to what happened last night

We won't go into how I know that

That stuff called Uzo runs a close second. Good thing I grew up and got wiser and don't do that stuff anymore!

sucks2beme

I had a USMC friend that drank about five glasses of it. He was out of it big
time. And very wired, too. The effects are much different than just drinking.
I think it was his last time, too.

unc2701

I was big into it awhile back- it's an acquired taste, that's for damn sure. Very lucid buzz, hard to describe. Still have 2 fifths of that rotten green **** in my liquor cabinet. Those Czech **** must be tough to handle it.

jflail2

I was always intriguied by Hemingway's descriptions of absinthe and the way his characters felt post drinking. AWESOME, I can get super drunk and feel a bit trippy right in the US now

George Grand

Ouzo takes you to the spirit land or something. Bad stuff to get drunk on. Hangover lasts a week.

This absinthe I'll have to try, but I generally don't like those anise flavored things.

Sami

dkg999 wrote: »

That stuff called Uzo runs a close second.

Ouzo (and it's cousins Pernod and raki) isn't that strong, about the same as vodka in commercial products. All, including Absinth, have the one common thing though, Anise.

dkg999

The last time I drank Ouzo I think the spirit land rejected me and I went to spirit hell! A week to get over the hangover I don't think I had recovered enough to get to the hangover stage in a week :eek:

Ouzo - makes ugly women beauty queens and then you have to keep drinking to try to make it all better

dylan

That's pretty interesting. We bought a bottle of the knock-off stuff last New Years, that had 'petite wormwood' to get by US laws. There's such a culture around it, I'll have to try the real stuff now. I've spoke to a few people that drank it in Europe, and they all said you at least have to try it. Sounds like it packs a hangover whollop.

unc2701

dylan wrote: »

That's pretty interesting. We bought a bottle of the knock-off stuff last New Years, that had 'petite wormwood' to get by US laws. There's such a culture around it, I'll have to try the real stuff now. I've spoke to a few people that drank it in Europe, and they all said you at least have to try it. Sounds like it packs a hangover whollop.

You have NO idea the kinda hangover you're in for... esp since the real stuff is about 160 proof .

Demiurge

La Clandestine Absinthe from Switzerland (the birthplace of Absinthe) is by far my favorite.

dkg999

I like the way it has the little medical cross right on the front of the bottle. It should just say "call 911 and send help now" :eek:

Demiurge

That's the Swiss flag.

You can order it here, ships to the U.S.

Definitely worth every penny.

schwarcw

That scene from "Eurotrip" is so funny with that guy making out with his sister:eek:

LOL!

beardog03

wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

THat was great (vid)..

Thanks for the linky, but which one is the green meenie ?

swerve

so where is the best place to get Absinthe? I've always wanted to try it. Had a chance when I was 17 or so... chose not to. it was most likely for the best. lol

dorokusai

The last time I had Absinthe, I woke up married.

Demiurge

swerve wrote: »

so where is the best place to get Absinthe? I've always wanted to try it. Had a chance when I was 17 or so... chose not to. it was most likely for the best. lol

Switzerland or France. I wouldn't spend much money on the U.S. approved stuff until more reviews are in on the stuff. This stuff is pricey to just buy stuff you're not sure about.

dorokusai

Yea, go overseas, the US version is BS.

Demiurge

I said stuff a lot.

dorokusai

That's pretty bad man....did you go to school? Pimp school doesn't count.

Demiurge

beardog03

what about the German stuff ?

Oops, I said stuff again too !

Ron-P

dorokusai wrote: »

Yea, go overseas, the US version is BS.

How so?

Here's the quote from the president of Lucid...

I want to assure you that there really isn’t anything modified about our product. If you are familiar with Ted Breaux, he has spent a dozen years perfecting absinthe making in Europe based on the original pre-ban recipes. He has meticulously recreated genuine Absinthe is it was meant to be. In so doing he also managed to refine it to the point where the Thujone was virtually non-existent. But that’s just as it was in the 1800’s according to Ted. About the only modification was to create a taste a little easier for Americans. But that just involved balancing the herbs. I promise you’ll recognize the wormwood the moment you pull out the cork!

Here's the link, you'll have to scroll down about half way to get to the rest of the article.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wwff.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/absinthe.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wwff.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/&h=375&w=500&sz=88&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=qBmUQQmAliii8M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlucid%2Babsinthe%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Ron-P

Oops, double post.

Sami

create a taste a little easier for Americans

If beer is any indication, that means they added lots and lots of water...

dorokusai

Ron-P wrote: »

How so?

I wasn't aware that Lucid determined what is classified as a drug by the FDA and DEA. I must not be in the loop. I hope you noticed the caveat about "modified".

PolkThug

I've had the real stuff and it goes down about as smooth as gasoline. I won't be buying it anytime soon.