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The proof is in the absinthe: Formerly banned liquor returns with fanfare
    #7519128 - 10/15/07 11:52 AM (16 years, 3 months ago)

By Kathy Flanigan

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder. Or so one might believe, considering the buzz over its return to legal status after 95 years of exile.

Welcome back the opaque green liquor with a back story as cloudy as its pour.

Or rather, it's back in some places: New York, New Jersey, a few bars in California and a couple spots in Chicago.

They're the first to sample a new, legal absinthe, Lucid Absinthe Superieure (left), released this year as part of a slow and theatrical roll-out that could bring the mystical drink to Wisconsin in the first half of 2008.

"I've actually tried it with Red Bull, and it's quite good," said Anastasia Smith, general manager for Lumen, a club in Chicago's up-and-coming meatpacking district that plans to debut Lucid during a masquerade event on Halloween.

Smith said Lucid tasted like licorice and numbed her tongue ever so slightly.

She's counting on the 124-proof liquor to be a hit, if only for the mystique of having been legally unavailable in the country for nearly a century.

The legend of absinthe's ban is weighted with stories of people going mad after drinking what is sometimes called the "green fairy."

Absinthe gets its distinctive flavor from the herbs anise and fennel, with which it is distilled, and its name from a third herb called grande wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), which contains the compound thujone.

The amount of thujone, once considered to cause hallucinations or epilepsy, is regulated in the United States.

Lucid's maker, Viridian Spirits of New York, found a way to distill Lucid so that it contains less than 10 parts per million of thujone, which the government considers thujone-free.

Three other absinthe products have been approved for distribution in the near future, one called Green Moon and two other labels from Kübler, a Swiss company.
Wilde on absinthe

Absinthe's infamous reputation is famously documented.

Oscar Wilde was said to favor the drink (he compared absinthe to the sunset but liked absinthe better). Vincent Van Gogh was thought to have cut off his ear after an absinthe binge. Pablo Picasso was a fan, and in 1914 he unveiled "The Glass of Absinthe," a painted bronze sculpture.

As the availability of absinthe waned, its cult following grew. On Internet message boards and in blogs, fans make requests for European absinthe, rank the absinthe products they've tasted - some have compared the taste to warm Listerine - and rail against absinthe imitators.

Lucid was the first contemporary version to get the stamp of approval for its label: spooky green cat eyes against a dark bottle. Viridian Spirits president Jared Gurfein spent time living and working in Europe, where absinthe has been legal for the last few years. He and his business partner found a distiller in France.

"We wanted to do what we could to try and produce the real thing," Gurfein said. They think they've got it in Lucid.

Now he has to teach people how to drink it.

For the New York rollout in May, Gurfein instructed bars to use an ornate glass fountain filled with ice water, in the traditional French way of serving absinthe going back to the belle époque. Bartenders were told to pour the Lucid into a shot glass, on which rests a slotted spoon with a sugar cube. The ice water washes over until it dissolves the cube.

"Properly made absinthe doesn't have any sugar in it. The herbs have a natural sweetness," Gurfein said. "If you add sugar, which is part of the traditional French ritual, it is a sweet drink."
A thirst for answers

Gurfein has already heard from impatient Wisconsin residents at www.drinklucid.com. When Lucid arrives here next year, fans should look for it at bars and clubs first, then retail establishments, which seem to be getting a slower rollout. That gives thirsty patrons time to start saving their pennies: Lucid is $59.99 for a 750-millileter bottle.

Lumen, in Chicago, is still working on its plans to serve Lucid, but Smith knows they'll pair it with Red Bull for one drink, and with champagne to make a cocktail called the Hemingway. They'll also have a water fountain for tables who wish to reserve it, she said.

Smith settled on a Halloween debut for Lucid because no matter what you mix it with, the drink turns a creepy green color.

The bigger issue is going to be educating the staff on absinthe's 62% alcohol content. Smith believes it might be among the strongest alcohol she serves, comparable to Bacardi 151 rum (75.5% alcohol content).

"I couldn't in good conscience serve an entire bottle of absinthe to a party of four," she said.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674031


--------------------
"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
-Oscar Levant

"Our scientific capabilities have outrun our spiritual capabilities. We now have guided missiles and misguided men."
-Martin Luther King, Jr


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