(Credit: Brandon Picchierri)
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Yes, absinthe: The stuff Van Gogh drank when he decided it would be romantic to cut off his ear and mail it to a love interest, the stuff Hemingway drank for inspiration, the stuff your college roommate pounded in Paris the time he swore he saw his dead grandmother peeking through the window at 3 a.m. That very same absinthe.
Before you abandon your Bud Light habit, be warned: There is nothing—nothing!—in the history of modern beverages that is more highly romanticized than absinthe. The supposed hallucinogen thujone, which comes from the namesake of the liquor—Artemisia absinthium a.k.a. Grande Wormwood—is present in such small amounts the FDA deemed absinthe safe for consumption after numerous tests. All the paintings, poems and songs dedicated to the stuff may very well have been dedicated to Jaegermeister, if, like absinthe, that had been the trendy drink among the European elite. In fact, the regulations of the outlawed drink weren't even that extreme. It was only illegal to sell absinthe; if you somehow got your hands on some, it was perfectly legal to partake, which is more than you can say for a lot of other substances.
The spirit is distilled from the herb green anise. It has a soaring alcohol content (around 64 percent), which makes it pretty high proof (124). Anise provides the strong licorice taste associated with absinthe, which is similar in flavor to Sambuca or Ouzo. Anise also causes the liquid to magically turn a cloudy, milky-white color when cold water or ice is added to it.
That said, the mystique surrounding absinthe warrants at least a sample (or five), so Metromix sought out convenient places to see the storied flying fairies.
