Traditional Café-Style Absinthe
INGREDIENTS
- 1½ ounces Pernod (or absinthe or other absinthe substitute)
- 1 sugar cube
- 5 ounces cold filtered water
- 1 perforated spoon
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Pernod into a pousse-café or sour glass. Place the perforated spoon across the top of the glass, resting it on the rim. Position a sugar cube on the spoon, and slowly pour the water over the sugar cube, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture in the glass turns cloudy.
VIDEO HOW-TO
NOTES
Absinthe "Drip", the infamous cocktail
The notorious absinthe, which scandalized late 19th-century Europe, was embraced by the literary and artistic café society of the mid-1800s. Purportedly addictive, it was the drink of choice for artists, writers, and poets, most notably Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. All had quite the passion for the "Green Fairy," so named for the signature cloudy green color and alleged hallucinogenic properties. Wormwood is the ingredient in absinthe that was thought to be the cause of such visionary inspiration, as well as the insane actions of creative types. Van Gogh evidently was partaking of the aperitif at the time of the infamous ear incident.
Eventually, its scandalous reputation along with the lack of quality control by unscrupulous producers, caused absinthe to be banned from production and distribution by the end of World War I. Absinthe was again legalized in 2007 with the caveat that all lawfully imported absinthes sold in the United States liquor stores must be thujone-free. In other words, it must contain no wormwood. Wormwood is to absinthe as caffeine is to coffee, it's what gives it its "buzz".
Potent, at 75 percent alcohol by volume, absinthe has an intense licorice flavor, tinged with an herbal aftertaste. When mixed with cold water, it begins to louche, or turn a cloudy white, sage green. Although unobtainable in the United States, other fine anise-flavored liqueurs are available, such as Pernod (the producers of the original), Herbsaint, and Absente, a newly refined form of absinthe without the wormwood.
