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Drink
Get the oil paints and canvas ready, because absinthe is back.
The legendary "green fairy," a cloudy swirl of opalescent anise liqueur, was the favored elixir of Belle Epoque poets and artistes. It was also blamed for insanity and hallucinations - a myth that has since been dismissed.
Still, it's taken nearly a century for an absinthe concocted to an authentic recipe to pass for legal in America, and Lucid is among the first. The addition of grande wormwood gives this drink it's "cafe cred." An absence of the potentially toxic compound thujone allows it the official U.S. stamp of approval.
It is Lucid's beguiling flavor, though - with just 39 newly arrived bottles left in Pennsylvania! - that has me reaching for my slotted sugar spoon. (Unlike common absinthe replacements like Pastis, it isn't presweetened.) Crafted in antique copper stills in France by New Orleanian Ted Breaux, this fairy brew has a warm fennel flavor, but also an elegant herbal swirl of other tastes - artichokes, asparagus, and an earthy red spice that evokes smoked Hungarian peppers.
No hallucinations ensue. But this cat-eyed bottle packs a 124-proof meow that is so seductively sneaky, it might be described as poetic.
A 750ml bottle of Lucid is available online for $64.99 through the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's Web site at www.pawineandspirits.com.
- Craig LaBan
