The spoons themselves were often works of art, covered with filigree flowers and stars, or shaped like sea shells. The sugar helped take the bitter edge away from the absinthe, and when poured into water, the liquor turned a milky white. The sugar cube was place on an absinthe spoon (a small slotted spoon), and the liquor was drizzled over the sugar into the glass of cold water until the sugar was dissolved and the desired dilution was obtained. Wormwood had been used medicinally since the Middle Ages to exterminate tapeworms in the abdomen while leaving the human host uninjured and even rejuvenated by the experience.Ībsinthe – the “Green Fairy” is traditionally served with water and a cube of sugar. It produces a bitter, dark-green oil once used in making absinthe, vermouth, and other bitters. It is specifically the Eurasian perennial (Artemisia absinthium) that is so notorious in the cocktail world. Other liqueurs used today as a substitute for wormwood are Ricard, Hersaint, Anisette, Ouzo, and Sambuca.ĭefinition of Wormwood: Wormwood is a derivation of the German word “wermut” or the Anglo-Saxon word “wermod,” and has a lineage to the word “vermouth.” Wormwood has also come to mean a bitter or mortifying experience.Īny of 250 strong-smelling plants with white or yellow flowers that are generally classed as weed. It is still distilled today, only without the wormwood. When mixed with water, the liquor changes to cloudy white. The drink is distinguished by its dazzling emerald blue-green clarity, due to its chlorophyll content. The nickname stuck, and over a century later, “absinthe” and “Green Fairy” continue to be used.Ībsinthe is an anise-flavored liquor or spirit that is made by steeping wormwood (wormwood has been defined as the quinine of the poor) and other aromatic herbs (hyssop, lemon balm, and angelica) in alcohol. The Green Fairy is the English translation of La Fee Verte, the French nickname given to absinthe in the 19th century. In French, the word “absinthe” means “wormwood.” It was also known as the “green fairy” during its heyday in France in the 1800s. No other drink has inspired so much fear, so much awe, and allure as absinthe! Good bartenders delight in educating.Are you familiar with Absinthe – the “Green Fairy”? A now legalized liquor that has long been rumored to cause madness. “The Sazerac is probably the most famous absinthe cocktail,” says Masker, who also cites the lesser-known La Louisiane, also from New Orleans, as an excellent way to sample.Īs someone who’s been “doing it wrong” from the start, my advice for newbies matches Masker’s: Don’t be intimidated. Drink 3 to 5 of these slowly.īitters and Brass has its own version (plus others - we’ve included a Boothe original here for your experimentation), as does The Courtesy, which offers 10 varieties, as well. Pour one jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass, add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. His offering for “So Red the Nose … or Breath in the Afternoon,” a 1935 cocktail recipe book featuring libations invented by literary notables was the now-famous Death in the Afternoon: There are others, as well, and the cocktail option - one oft favored by Ernest Hemingway, who famously dabbled in all kinds of spirits. “Kübler, from Switzerland, is botanical and floral, it’s little less herbaceous, a little less bitter.” “Pernod is middle-of-the-road and the best example of what this spirit is about,” he says. In 1905, French national Jean Lanfray, in a drunken rage, slaughtered his family in Switzerland, then made a failed suicide attempt. “ Wermut (vermouth) is the German word for wormwood - but these things were never outlawed.” “There’s more thujone in sage than there is in wormwood,” says Boothe, pointing out that it’s also the main ingredient in vermouth. Thujone, a chemical present in wormwood, was branded as toxic and hallucinogenic (that’s since been scientifically disproven). It was a whirlwind, says Boothe, a culmination of grinding anti-absinthe PR from the wine industry made stronger by the growing temperance movement, that prompted absinthe’s downfall. “When vine grafting began to see success in France, and the wine industry began to churn back to life,” Boothe explains, “they had to find a way to get people back to drinking something that at the time was more expensive.” In fact, it was around this time that the idea of drinking absinthe in the cafés after work, roughly 5 p.m., became known as l’heure verte (the green hour), and it’s considered one of several happy hour origins. It was 1859 when Édouard Manet’s “The Absinthe Drinker,” now considered his first major work, was submitted to the Paris Salon and almost unanimously rejected - thereby making it one thousand times cooler. "The Absinthe Drinker," Édouard Manet, 1859.
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