There are a number of bars in New York City these days that make cocktails with absinthe, mixing it with rum or tequila or gin to, um, complement the taste. A significant portion of them are on the Lower East Side and are the kind of bars that don’t have a sign or a listed phone number — although, once inside, you may well find yourself in the exclusive company of a bunch of drunk account executives.
Not so long ago, this clear-green liquor long associated with the French Impressionist movement was available only on the black market — outlawed, it was said, after having caused hallucinations and violent behavior. This was attributed to a mysterious and mystical chemical called thujone present in one of the ingredients used to make it (a mysterious and mystical herb called wormwood).
Now it is legal, and so we are in the midst of what appears to be an absinthe mini-craze. But to follow the arc of this craze, like others that have come before (remember cigar bars?) is to see just how quickly something that was once illicit — and acquired notoriety because of that very illicitness — can lose its sheen of mystery and become, well, rather uncool. Once the naughty aura of the forbidden fruit is removed, all that remains is a grasp at unearned sophistication.
Attendees at Barack Obama’s Inauguration will surely taste ‘The Spirit of Liberty” in an overwhelming sense of patriotic pride (But also potentially by the glassful, should several leading caters opt to pour ‘The Spirit of Liberty’ in cocktail glasses during celebratory dinners and festivities.)
