absinthe
Imbiber blog archive

Absinthe Absent the Haze

Sep/28/2006
Absente Bottle 300 dpi
Absinthe liqueur was banned in America in 1915 because it contained “thujone,” the hallucinogenic component in wormwood plants. This was unfortunate news for all the writers, poets and painters who nipped absinthe to stoke their creative fires, but a victory for militant prohibitionists convinced that any liquid which made people feel exceptionally chill was Devil’s brew. Today, a similar strain of zealot is running this country and, as you might expect, thujone – which admittedly sounds like something a dangerous foreigner might try and sneak onto a plane – is still illegal.

Enter Absente ($35 per 750 ml bottle) a 110-proof modern version of the infamous green hootch that contains “southern wormwood,” regular ole wormwood’s less bitter, less thujone-y cousin. Is it a mere coincidence that President Bush pretends to be from the South and that southern wormwood is legal? Probably, yeah. But let the conspiracy theories roll anyway. Hell, slug some Absente to stimulate the paranoid synapses while you’re working it all out. Here’s how to prepare it: Place a sugar cube on a slotted spoon and hold it over a glass containing 3 ounces of Absente. Slowly drip 3 ounces of cold water over the sugar to dissolve. Watch the Absente change color to an opalescent green. Drink … and away you go!
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