A Visit from the Green Fairy

Absinthe (a.k.a The Green Fairy)

I firmly believe that different types of alcoholic beverages produce different effects. I have tried most of your everyday bar libations and have become rather bored by them. From the fancy mass marketed vodkas, to the new fancy mass marketed tequilas… blah, blah, blah. Upon returning from a visit to the U.K., a friend turned me on to Absinthe. Entranced by it’s calming effect (the best way that I can describe it is that it feels like your floating in the deep end of a swimming pool) I searched everywhere… to no avail.

I soon found out that it could not be imported into the US. Recently, laws have changed and certain types of Absinthe can be imported. That’s when I discovered Lucid.

On the Lucid website is also a brief but interesting history of Absinthe.

Unique is Zinlightened.

~Zin

According to Wikipedia, “Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic (45%-75% ABV), anise-flavored spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, also called “wormwood.” Absinthe is typically of a natural green color but is also produced in both clear and artificially colored styles. It is often called “the Green Fairy.”

Although it is sometimes mistakenly called a liqueur, absinthe is not bottled with added sugar and is therefore classified as a liquor.^[1] Absinthe is unusual among spirits in that it is bottled at a high proof but is normally diluted with water when it is drunk.

Absinthe originated in Switzerland. However, it is better known for its popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Due in part to its association with bohemian culture, absinthe was opposed by social conservatives and prohibitionists. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Aleister Crowley were all notorious “bad men” of that day who were (or were thought to be) devotees of the Green Fairy.

Absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously addictive, psychoactive drug. The chemical thujone, present in small quantities, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. By 1915 absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries except the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although absinthe was vilified,^[2] no evidence has shown it to be any more dangerous than ordinary liquor. Its psychoactive properties, apart from those of ethanol, have been much exaggerated.

A revival of absinthe began in the 1990s, when countries in the European Union began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale. As of February 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries, most notably France, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic.^[3]“

The proper way to prepare Absinthe