I was recently paid a visit by the Green Fairy. Yeah, that's right, the Green Fairy.
Absinthe.
Absinthe, much like fairies, has been considered a mythical entity in the United States for many, many years (since being outlawed in 1912 in fact). Many people associate it with Van Gogh's missing ear, the debauchery of the Moulin Rouge, the artist Toulouse Lautrec and wormwood-induced hallucinations. I associate it with my trip to Paris one Fall, walking the dark streets with friends and sipping straight from a bottle. I did not hallucinate that night, but I may have seen God...things got hazy.
Apparently, absinthe was never really capable of causing hallucinations, which is why it has recently been allowed to pass U.S. borders once again. However, its extremely high alcohol content makes absinth a drink to enjoy with caution. This past Saturday, I found myself and a group of friends doing just that...minus the caution.
The absinthe of choice was Mata Hari, a delightful gift for my review. This absinthe is Austrian, created in the Bohemian style. This means that while it is still bright green, herbal and alcoholic it is has less of the anise taste that many drinkers find less palatable. I personally found that it went down very easily in the traditional ritual (which I will show below), or mixed into a cocktail. Either way, it is very fun to drink!
We had two different adventures with absinthe this particular Saturday. The first is the traditional ritual, which involves dripping cold water over a sugar cube into the absinthe, to dilute and sweeten it.
This is a special absinthe glass, sugar cube and spoon, provided by my lovely friend Latiffa. She especially enjoys Pernod absinthe in this way, or in one of her world-class Sazeracs. I was lucky to have an aficionado on hand to lead me through this interesting ritual.
The Absinthe Ritual
Fill the reservoir of the absinthe glass with absinthe. Place spoon and cube on top of glass. Slowly drip ice water over the cube until it is fully dissolved. DRINK!
Some people dunk the cube into the alcohol, then set it on fire. I see no real benefit to this except for fun with fire, and burning off a bit of the alcohol (which I would not recommend). It is definitely a cool effect, though.
Our next adventure was a cocktail called the Chrysanthemum, which I pulled from an article by Camper English, on epicurious.com.
The Chrysanthemum
Ingredients
1 teaspoon absinthe
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Benedictine liqueur
1/4 cup (2 ounces) dry vermouth
1 cup ice cubes
1 orange peel twist
Add first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Carefully stir this for one minute. Strain into martini glass. Squeeze strip of orange peel into the glass and add the peel. Enjoy, in a very fancy way.
PERSONALLY, I thought the vermouth was way too overpowering. In my next tries, I added a bit more absinthe and less vermouth. Mata Hari is ideal for mixing, so the anise didn't overpower the other flavors. Also, I LOVE Benedictine. It's very sweet and very herbal. The combination of all of these liquers is quite unique.
When all was said in done, we had sampled many cocktails. The afternoon faded into night, and the shenanigans continued. When we took the streets like good little hooligans, we had the Green Fairy on our sides, and for that I thank her.
Happy Friday everybody!
