absinthe MINDED

The green fairy has landed.

That’s not code. Absinthe, the notorious pale-green liquor that inspired a generation of French artists and was reputed to cause madness, is legal in the United States for the first time since 1912.

The first bottles — Viridian Spirits’ Lucid — hit shelves in New York in June. Despite its $60 price tag for 750 milliliters, it has proven so popular that Viridian is working overtime just to meet demand there before expanding into other markets. It is, however, available online.

“With Lucid, United States consumers will have a good grip on absinthe,” said Ted Breaux, who created the liquor for Viridian. “It’s a solid example of a handmade product.”

Breaux and Viridian President Jared Gurfein say a successful roll-out is essential because absinthe’s notoriety carries a price: Due to the abundance of bad absinthes available in Europe, no liquor is more misunderstood.

“Many people’s experiences are unfortunate,” said Gurfein.

Breaux was blunter: “The markets in England in Canada got polluted with dreck. It ruined the public perception.”

ROMANCE OF THE GREEN FAIRY

Absinthe was invented in Switzerland late in the 18th century as a cure for stomach ailments. Its key herbal ingredients are the licorice-flavored anise and Florence fennel, and the bitter wormwood Artemisia absinthium, without which absinthe isn’t absinthe.

Soldiers in the French Foreign Legion drank it as medicine and took their taste for it back to France. By 1840 it was fashionable and also notorious due to its high alcohol content. (Absinthe must be at least 60 percent alcohol in order to

preserve its distinctive green color, and is often much higher.)

Absinthe surged in popularity during the 1860s and ’70s when the French wine industry was crippled by the spread of phylloxera, an aphid that attacked the roots of grapevines. By the 1880s, it was the most popular spirit in France.

The cocktail hour became known as “l’heure verte” — the green hour — and absinthe was called the green fairy. For millions of French, no afternoon was complete without the ritual of watching the drink slowly become cloudy as cold water was dripped into it through a sugar cube. Oscar Wilde compared absinthe to a sunset.

But there was a seedier side to the drink, as tales spread about its ability to spark strange, violent behavior. Poet Paul Verlaine shot his friend, poet Arthur Rimbaud, while under its influence; absinthe may have been a factor when Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear.

Nevertheless, absinthe remained wildly popular, which ironically sowed the seed for its demise.

“People have no idea of the degree of effort involved in making a good handmade absinthe,” said Breaux.

Cheap industrialized versions were often mildly poisonous. The word “absinthism” was coined to differentiate the drink’s effects from those of regular alcoholism.

Add the prohibition mania that swept the world in the early 20th century, and the results were not surprising. Absinthe was banned in Switzerland in 1910, the United States in 1912 and France in 1914.

THE FAIRY RETURNS

The ban only increased the drink’s mystique. Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in “Death in the Afternoon.” British occultist Aleister Crowley immortalized it in “Absinthe — The Green Goddess.”

But absinthe never completely disappeared. Production continued in Spain, where it was never banned. Swiss bootleggers kept the tradition alive.

In 1988, absinthe was quietly legalized in the European Union, although production didn’t begin until the 1990s.

Then, distillers in the Czech Republic began creating strong, bitter liquors that became popular with the goth crowd. Most Czech absinths (they drop the “e”) bear little or no relation to historical absinthe, but they established that there was interest in the drink.

That interest increased with the popular 2001 movie “Moulin Rouge,” which featured John Leguizamo as an absinthesoaked Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Absinthe also began to attract celebrities, including actor Johnny Depp, who said, “Drink too much and you suddenly realize why van Gogh cut off his ear.”

That’s nonsense, said Ivars Spons, manager of Southwest Wine & Spirits on Eighth Street.

“In my opinion, it’s just strong alcohol, period,” said Spons, who’s had Czech and Spanish absinthes in Europe.

He attributes any other effects to the power of suggestion: “If you drink enough of it, and you think you’re going to see green fairies, you may see green fairies.”

ENTER LUCID

By 2001, several European distillers were attempting to re-create the liquor’s authentic flavor. The first of Breaux’s replica absinthes — exact-as-possible copies of historic brands — was released in 2003.

It was early 2006 when Jared Gurfein, a lawyer sick of the 24/7 routine, conceived the idea of bringing absinthe back to the United States.

Gurfein approached Breaux about creating an absinthe that would be commercially viable in large scales. Then he used his legal expertise to persuade the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to harmonize its regulations with those in the European Union — making the drink legal. It’s not a change in the law, but simply in how it’s interpreted.

“It was a joint effort of myself on legal side and Ted on science side,” said Gurfein.

For Breaux, the years he spent creating small batches of another absinthe brand, Jade, in Saumur, France, helped prepare him for the challenge of mass-producing absinthe at the same distillery.

“Nobody’s done it on this scale for a long time,” he said. “In reality, everything we’re doing is impractical, but we’re doing all we can to make it practical.”

Spons said he’s looking forward to stocking Lucid, once the company finds a distributor in Colorado.

But that might be awhile.

“The demand is many multiples of what we’d hoped it would be,” said Gurfein. “We’re working on insuring a steady supply. If I have to go Saumur and put herbs in the still myself, I’ll do it,” he said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1602 or mark.arnest@gazette.com

LUCID

Price: $60 for 750 milliliters

Proof: 124

Learn more: For information on background information, distributors and recipes, go to

Lucid’s Web site, drinklucid.com.

MORE ABOUT ABSINTHE

QUESTION: How is absinthe made?

ANSWER: Absinthe begins as a neutral spirit in which green anise, Florence fennel, wormwood and other herbs are soaked. The resulting mixture is then redistilled. If the absinthe is clear — a blanche absinthe — it’s done. A green, or verte, absinthe goes through a coloring step, using petite absinthe, hyssop and melissa to impart the distinctive peridot tinge.

Q: What does it taste like?

A: The cliche is that absinthe should remind the drinker of an alpine meadow. In historical absinthes, the sweet licorice flavor of anise and the bitterness of wormwood are held together by the fennel’s earthier licorice flavor.

Lucid was designed with American tastes in mind — meaning a milder anise flavor than historical absinthes. But if you don’t like anise, you probably won’t like absinthe.

Q: Will it make me hallucinate?

A: Ironically, absinthe’s reputation as a psychoactive liquor is largely a result of the ban.

There was, however, some justification for the myth: Absinthe contains thujone, a chemical in wormwood that can cause convulsions and death. But research has shown that properly-made absinthe contains very little thujone. There’s probably as much of it in a helping of turkey stuffing seasoned with sage — which also contains thujone — as in a glass of absinthe.

Q: But what about van Gogh’s ear?

A: Drunk people sometimes do really stupid things.

Q: So why was it banned?

A: There was a lot of temperance hysteria in the early 1900s (think 18th Amendment). And poor-quality absinthes often contained toxic chemicals such as copper sulphate and antimony trichloride.

Q: What’s so great about it?

A: Some absinthe fans are convinced that it leaves them more clear-headed than other alcoholic drinks — hence the name “Lucid.” All of them love the intense herbal flavor and the absinthe ritual.

Q: “Absinthe ritual”?

A: It’s part of the drink’s romance. Absinthe is always diluted with cold water, which releases the oils and turns the drink cloudy, or “louched.” Traditionally, the water is dripped slowly through a sugar cube placed on a slotted spoon. When the absinthe is fully louched — which can take several minutes with a good-quality absinthe — it’s ready to drink. In the 1990s, drinkers of Czech absinth — spelled without the “e” — developed a fire ritual, in which the sugar cube was drenched in the liquor and set ablaze. It’s picturesque, but be forewarned: A flaming sugar cube will ruin good absinthe.

Q: I had some absinthe I bought online, and it tasted terrible. Why should I give it another chance?

A: This can’t be stated too often or too strongly: Absinthe is supposed to taste good. If it tastes bad, it’s bad absinthe. Unfortunately, there are many bad ones — usually Czechmade and spelled without the “e.”

Q: Lucid will sell for about $60 a bottle. Is there something similar for less?

A: Sort of. A good raki — such as Club Raki, which sells at Cheers Liquor Mart for $26.95 — conveys an idea of absinthe’s flavor profile, though without the dryness or the

complexity. Other decent anise-flavored introductions include good-quality ouzo, pastis, and Absente, a French brand that falsely claims to be the real thing, but is made without the requisite artemisia absinthium. But absinthe isn’t as expensive as it seems. Between the flavor’s intensity and the high proof — Lucid is 124 proof— you don’t drink very much.

Q: Will there be other absinthes sold in the U.S.?

A: Almost certainly yes, but the process will be slow. Although many modern absinthes are potentially legal, it remains to be seen how many manufacturers will bother going through the process of FDA certification. And some high-thujone absinthes will continue to be illegal.

Q: Where can I learn more?

A: The best absinthe sites, which were used as sources for this article, are Fee Verte (www.feeverte.net; Web site not working correctly at press time), the Wormwood Society (wormwoodsociety.org) and The Virtual Absinthe Museum (oxyge nee.com). The Lucid site is drinklucid.com.