Green Fairy' tasting enlightening.
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Byline: Nancy Sheehan
COLUMN: OUT & ABOUT
You could say "absinthe makes the heart grow fonder "Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" is the sixth episode of the Showtime original series Californication. It was written by Tom Kapinos and Eric Weinberg, directed by Ken Whittingham and originally aired on Sunday September 17, 2007. ." But what does it do for the taste buds?
An SRO See Self-regulatory organization.
SRO
See self-regulatory organization (SRO). crowd of about 150 people got a chance to lift their spirits at the Worcester Art Museum Thursday night with a taste of absinthe absinthe (ăb`sĭnth), an emerald-green liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics, including angelica root, sweet-flag root, star anise, and dittany, which have been macerated and steeped in alcohol. , a recently legalized green-tinged drink that inspired writers and artists for centuries.
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The tasting was part of a lively presentation by Jeremy Bell of Leominster, a transplanted Scottish comedian and professional toastmaster who specializes in presenting the historical aspects of things "spiritual" - as in whisky and, lately, absinthe. In character as Jerome Cloche cloche
n.
1. A close-fitting woman's hat with a bell-like shape.
2. A usually bell-shaped cover, used chiefly to protect plants from frost. , a velvet-suited, top-hatted proprietor of a Paris cafe in the 1880s, Bell presented an engaging history of "The Green Fairy," as absinthe has been called due to its reputed mind-altering capabilities. That muse-summoning reputation was part of the lure of absinthe among the many bohemian artists, writers and musicians who embraced it during the Belle Epoch, the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among famous absinthe drinkers were Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Paul Verlaine, Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain.
We can now add to that illustrious list Thursday night's art museum absinthe samplers, who had varied reactions to the storied drink, except they all agreed on one point: It is incredibly strong. And we are talking fire breath here. Don't come near me with that match! The absinthe offered was a high quality brand, Pernod 68. The number in the name signifies that it is a whopping 68 percent alcohol, or 136 proof. Absinthe makers take various herbs, usually anise anise (ăn`ĭs), annual plant (Pimpinella anisum) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), native to the Mediterranean region but long cultivated elsewhere for its aromatic and medicinal qualities. , fennel and wormwood wormwood, Mediterranean perennial herb or shrubby plant (Artemisia absinthium) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), often cultivated in gardens and found as an escape in North America. It has silvery gray, deeply incised leaves and tiny yellow flower heads. , and process them in all that alcohol, hence the green color. It is the wormwood that is believed by many to impart psychotropic properties and the content of that active ingredient is limited by law in the United States.
Bell says that is no great loss because he believes the high alcohol content accounts for most of the fabled episodes of bizarre behavior among absinthe drinkers. Another factor, he says, is that some of the most famous absinthe-minded artists, such as Van Gogh, were mad to begin with. Another possible culprit: Toxic color enhancers from the days long before such things were regulated, an unscrupulous attempt to have the greenest fairy in the flock.
So is that why absinthe was outlawed in the US and most European countries in the early part of the 1900s? Again, theories abound. One school of thought finds blame with France's powerful winemakers for unleashing scare-tactic propaganda aimed at quashing a competitor whose popularity was growing wildly. Eventually, reason prevailed and the beverage's decades-long banishment ended. So what did the art museum tasters think now that they could have an absinthe shot without risking a mug shot?
"It tasted a little like gasoline,'' said museum member Mary Wilson of Auburn. The ritual associated with drinking it, including the custom of adding water until the absinthe turns a milky white, was more appealing to her. "It's pretty, though," she said. "I liked the color, and I liked that it changed color."
Her husband, Dan Wilson, had read about absinthe and wondered what all the fuss was about. "I had run across it in literature classes years ago and was just curious to get a little more background," he said.
Yes, but how did it taste? "It reminded me of Nyquil," he said.
Others found anise, or licorice licorice (lĭk`ərĭs, –rĭsh), name for a European plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) and for the sweet substance obtained from the root. , to be the dominant note - in some cases very dominant.
"It was good,'' said Assumption College senior Terry Suriyamongkol. "It was wicked licorice-y but it was a lot smoother going down than I thought would be."
John Dion, vice president of the museum's members council, also is a licorice, hence an absinthe, fan. "I liked it but I like licorice flavor so I thought it was really good,'' he said. Even better for Dion was the fact that the event drew people who hadn't been to the museum before. The tasting was part of an ongoing series called "Third Thursdays at WAM WAM - Intermediate language for compiled Prolog, used by the Warren Abstract Machine. "An Abstract Prolog Instruction Set", D.H.D. Warren, TR 309, SRI 1983. ," with entertainment of various kinds but not usually with a presentation such as Bell's and never before with absinthe. The event proved so popular that would-be absinthe drinkers had to be turned away after the museum cafe became packed to capacity. "I've been going to Third Thursdays for a while now and I'm seeing a lot of faces I haven't seen before," Dion said. "It's been a good opportunity for bringing new people into the museum."
If you were one of the many who had to be turned away, Bell does his absinthe program at various locations in the area. There is one coming up at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at Nick's, 124 Millbury St., Worcester. The fee will be $15 to try absinthe three different ways - and anyone who was at the museum tasting will tell you three absinthes should be quite enough.
ART: PHOTOS
CUTLINE: (1) Toastmaster Jerome Cloche, left, sips a glass of the once forbidden absinthe at Worcester Art Museum's absinthe tasting event. (2) Above, the brand chosen for the tasting was Pernod 68. (3) Participants at the tasting included Angela L. Zajac and William Nadeau, below right, and Jessica Desaulniers and Tien Vu, below left.
PHOTOG pho·tog
n. Informal
A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : T&G Staff Photos/STEVE LANAVA
