Getting Absinthe minded

I’ve read about Vincent van Gogh. I’ve seen Moulin Rouge. Shoot, I’ve been to Moulin Rouge. I knew what was up.

So I wanted to see if this hype was all bluster and foam, or if the return of the “Green Fairy” stateside was actually worth its $9 per glass price tag.

Since the ban was lifted last year, Lucid’s Absinthe Supérieure is the first grand wormwood-based absinthe sold legally in the United States since Prohibition. Crafted in the Loire Valley of France, this stuff is close to what bohemian artists downed night after night during the country’s Belle Époque (“beautiful era”) leading up to WWI, and each glass comes with a show.

My Red Star bartender poured about two ounces of absinthe into my glass, then balanced a sugar cube atop a thin slotted spoon that stretched across the rim like a tight rope. Slowly he poured cold water over the sugar, pitching it into the depths of absinthe. Fizzy clouds of dissolving sugar billowed up, overtaking the glass and releasing a sweet licorice smell. Another patron picked up on it and asked if anyone was drinking Jägermeister.

The absinthe’s taste matched its aroma, a thick, cream soda flavor with a zing of black licorice. It won’t make you hallucinate as legend has it, and though most sugary spirits go straight to the head and energize the drinker, Lucid has a slow, calming effect you feel all the way down to your toes.

Lucid Absinthe Supérieure is available from several local liquor distributors and bars in Baton Rouge.