50cal

Green fairy takes flight



Absinthe back on U.S. market
By Jason Watkins - jwatkins@militarytimes.com
Posted : August 18, 2008

Absinthe — once the elixir of artists, poets and ne’er-do-wells — is making an American comeback. Thanks to a law that went into effect last year, you no longer have to darken the door of a shady European pub while on liberty just to try the stuff.
It tastes either like a medley of aromatic herbs or like licorice and gasoline, depending on whom you ask, and was banned in the U.S. for the better part of a century because it contains trace amounts of thujone, an active compound in wormwood, one of absinthe’s key ingredients and the supposed cause of its psychotropic power. (Legend has it that artist Vincent Van Gogh was under its spell when he dispatched his ear.) But multiple studies showed the levels of thujone are too minimal to be classified as a drug — you’d die from alcohol poisoning long before you’d ride the yellow submarine — so the ban was lifted in 2007.
Still, the stuff packs a Chuck Liddell-like punch.
“It does hit you very differently and much more quickly than other spirits because of the alcohol content, but it’s a far cry from a hallucinogenic effect,” says distiller Lance Winters, who has spent more than a decade perfecting a recipe for St. George Spirits in California. He also spent nearly eight years in the Navy, much of it aboard the carrier Enterprise as a machinist’s mate second class.
Packing a 120-proof wallop, the stuff is a distilled liquor that’s best served watered down or in cocktails. Specially made kits and slotted spoons for dissolving sugar are hitting the market, and a variety of distilleries are reviving centuries-old recipes. Even rocker Marilyn Manson has thrown his hat into the absinthe ring with his own formula, called Mansinthe.
So does a visit with “the green fairy” live up to the legend?
“No, I think it’s hyped up a little bit,” says Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hawks, who encountered it while on vacation earlier this year in Prague, Czech Republic. “I’d always heard that it was a mildly hallucinogenic alcohol, but I’d never seen it.”
His drink was set on fire by the bartender (a no-no among absinthe purists) and downed like a shot (another no-no).
“I threw up and then I went home,” he says.
“The typical, legendary absinthe-induced hallucinations are all complete fabrications,” Winters says.
With all of its theatrics and lore, absinthe might be the new trendy drink, but it shouldn’t drive you to self-mutilation anytime soon.
Where to find it

Absinthe is sold in American liquor stores and bars. Popular brands include Kubler, Lucid, St. George Spirits and Pernod. Most cost around $60 a bottle.
How to drink it

Packing a 120-proof punch and a pungent taste, you don’t want to drink the stuff straight. Instead, start with one part absinthe; place a slotted spoon over the glass and put one sugar cube on it. Pour four parts of cold water over the sugar until it’s dissolved. You should be left with a green, milky liquid. Enjoy your drink — slowly.

__________________


"Sweat dries, blood clots, bones heal. Suck it up. Be a Marine"

chazziff

ya that lil green fairy will kick your azzz ... LOL ... not that i know anything about that either

but it is a bytch waitin for it to drip over the sugar cube i tell ya ... its spoz to be a real slow drip LOL. guess it pays to have fam that work in a liquor store LOL

it was banned in US? gee didnt know that ... never noticed if it was banned here too

__________________

Mud_Woman

finally . . . bring on the fairys and giants

__________________

Mud_Woman

i bought a bottle of "Lucid" . . . 750 mL . . . $62.98
yes, its still closed. waiting for a special occation . . .

more info

__________________

chazziff

dang 63 bucks for lucid ...

and those are some freaky eyes painted on that one model in the pix section LOL

__________________

CaliChoctaw64

That stuff is hella popular up here in the SF bay area, they have bars especially for it.

chazziff

ya my niece bought a bottle last year i think that was .... shyt her and her buddies there were fakd up LMFAO. the guys pazzed out first ... the girls were still sitting up in the kitchen when i came over the next afternoon HAHA

__________________

Mud_Woman

actually, lucid just became legal in the U.S. a few months ago.
the stuff your neice was probly drinking is the watered down half-n-half stuff

__________________

chazziff

we in canada .... LOL

__________________

chazziff

plus too it could have been this spring ... i cant remember ... think it was ... cuz her current BF wasnt around HAHA

__________________

Mud_Woman

. . . yeah, i knew that

__________________

Ndnsoldierboy

Used to drink that stuff in Okinawa back in the 80's. Purple Haze was hella good @ the CLUB EAST COAST & CLUB ROCK AMERICA! Loud metal and drunken Marines, what a combo!

__________________