La Fée Verte

About two weeks ago while I was out with a friend, we stopped into a local alcohol shop (it's like a warehouse) so she could look for a particular type of cherry beer for her husband. While we were looking around, she called me over because she found something rather interesting. She found Absente. I think we were both in awe considering it's normally an illegal drink back in the States, but after doing a little bit of research, I found out that the FDA lifted the ban in 2007. Heh. 

So, while Eric and I were out and about, we went back to the alcohol shop to look for a particular goblet he was looking for, found it, and I ended up showing him the Absente. He was just as stunned as I originally was cause we've only HEARD of it, but never seen it. Given, it's similar to Absinthe, which is the MUCH stronger version (think in terms of 150 proof), but the one we picked up is 110 proof (55% alcohol). 

I love how they used Van Gogh for the packaging considering he was said to be a frequent drinker of the spirit. Actually, it must've been pretty interesting to see him during his time considering he was bi-polar, had seizures quite frequently since the Absinthe set him off, in addition to all the other health problems the man had! So, I guess I can't really blame him for drinking the stuff so much.. it took him to a happy place. 

With the bottle, you also get an Absinthe spoon which is REALLY cool! You actually use the spoon when you're making your shot. 

Here's a description of how you make your drink:

The Absinthe Ritual

All true absinthes are bitter to some degree (due to the presence of absinthin, extracted from the wormwood) and are therefore usually served with the addition of sugar. This not only counters the bitterness, but in well made absinthes seems also to subtly improve the herbal flavour-profile of the drink.

The classic French absinthe ritual involves placing a sugar cube on a flat perforated spoon, which rests on the rim of the glass containing a measure or “dose” of absinthe. Iced water is then very slowly dripped on to the sugar cube, which gradually dissolves and drips, along with the water, into the absinthe, causing the green liquor to louche (“loosh”) into an opaque opalescent white as the essential oils precipitate out of the alcoholic solution. Usually three to four parts water are added to one part of 68% absinthe. Historically, true absintheurs used to take great care in adding the water, letting it fall drop by single drop onto the sugar cube, and then watching each individual drip cut a milky swathe through the peridot-green absinthe below. Seeing the drink gradually change color was part of its ritualistic attraction.

Last but not least, there's the infamous Green Fairy.

If you've watched Moulin Rouge,  you remember the scene where the bohemians are drinking this stuff and start seeing a little green fairy (played by Kylie Minogue).

The Green Fairy is the English translation of La Fee Verte, the affectionate French nickname given to the celebrated absinthe drink in the nineteenth century. The nickname stuck, and over a century later, “absinthe” and “Green Fairy” continue to be used interchangeably by devotees of the potent green alcohol. Mind you, absinthe earned other nicknames, too: poets and artists were inspired by the “Green Muse”; Aleister Crowley, the British occultist, worshipped the “Green Goddess”. But no other nickname stuck as well as the original, and many drinkers of absinthe refer to the green liquor simply as La Fee – the Fairy.

But Green Fairy isn’t just another name for absinthe: she is a metaphorical concept of artistic enlightenment and exploration, of poetic inspiration, of a freer state of mind, of new ideas, of a changing social order. To the ignorant drunk, absinthe will forever remain but potent alcohol, perhaps with a bit of thujone “high” thrown in. To the original bohemians of 1890s Paris, the Fairy was a welcomed symbol of transformation. She was the trusted guide en-route to artistic innovativation; she was the symbol of thirst (for life) to Arthur Rimbaud, the first “punk poet”: it was the Fairy who guided him — and his fellow poet and partner Paul Verlaine — on their quest to escape the conventional reality of their time into the sanctuary of the surreal.

Thanks to Wikipedia, here's some additional information about Absinthe.

At this point, I'm undecided whether I want to pour myself a shot and see how this stuff tastes...or just keep the bottle because in all honesty, it's pretty cool looking. I went surfing online and found a bitchin' Absinthe spoon, but I'm not willing to pay what the guy wants for it (£165)...given, it looks like a Woodworm branch (which is an ingredient of Absinthe), but I think I'll just settle for the spoon that's included with the bottle :)