Gastronome

BY NANCY DAVIDSON

ABSINTHE MINDED

The pale-green, anise-flavored spirit that was banned in 1912 is available in the US once again.

The Green Fairy is back. Absinthe—or, more specifically, wormwood, one of the drink’s key ingredients—was once said to have caused hallucinations and madness. In reality, wormwood isn’t harmful in the small doses found in absinthe. What’s more, it wasn’t actually illegal, according to Lance Winters, the distiller of the recently released, made-in-America St. George Spirits Absinthe Verte (www.stgeorgespirits.com).

Before the drink was banned in the early 1900s, New Orleans embraced it wholeheartedly. “[The city] was the epicenter of absinthe,” says chemist and absinthe historian T.A. Breaux, creator of Lucid (www.drinklucid.com), the first legally available “genuine” absinthe in the US in almost a century.

The liquor plays a subtle but important role in the classic Louisiana cocktail, the Sazerac. “It’s just a rinse, but it wouldn’t taste the same without it,” says Ti Adelaide Martin, proprietor of Café Adelaide and The Swizzle Stick Bar (www.cafeadelaide.com; 504-595-3305).

Part of absinthe’s allure is the diluting ritual. Ice water is poured or dripped over a slotted spoon topped with a sugar cube. The spoon rests on a glass holding just the right amount of absinthe (sometimes in a specially designed reservoir). As the water dissolves the sugar and drips into the glass, the liquid turns cloudy, indicating that non-water soluble herbal essences are in the solution.

“Absinthe is meant to be sipped and enjoyed,” says Gerrit French, a mixolo-gist at the Orlando location of Village Tavern (www.villagetavern.com; 407-581-1740), which has the spirit on its drink menu.

If it’s not diluted, most drinks just call for a rinse or dash. But some mixologists, like Shawn R. Sugrue of New York City’s STK (www.stkhouse.com; 646-624-2444), have created new cocktails with this formerly forbidden ingredient; try his Lucid Lady, a sweet mixture of White Chocolate Godiva Liqueur, muddled berries, simple syrup and Lucid. It’s sure to drive taste buds mad.

The Mint Muse

1 1/2 oz. Lucid absinthe
2 oz. pineapple juice
mint leaves
lime wedges
Sprite

Muddle mint leaves with lime wedges and add Lucid. Add ice and pineapple juice and shake briefly. Top with Sprite and add mint sprig.

-Courtesy Shawn R. Sugrue of STK