No visit from the Green Fairy

I had my first taste of absinthe the other night. My husband and I had dinner with my sister and brother-in-law, and after dinner, my brother-in-law brought out a French absinthe set:



He explained that absinthe, as of July 1st, was now legal in the US. We all felt very bohemian and artsy-fartsy, as according to Wikipedia, "it is better known for its popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Due in part to its association with bohemian culture, absinthe was opposed by social conservatives and prohibitionists. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Aleister Crowley were all notorious "bad men" of that day who were (or were thought to be) devotees of the Green Fairy."

After tasting the drink, my opposition to the beverage is not because of its sometime illegal nature, or supposed risk of hallucinations and wild behavior, or its association with counter-culturalists and "creative types." I now abhor the stuff because it tastes like black licorice. Nasty, crappy, poor-excuse-for-a-candy black licorice in liquid form. And that, my friends, is truly criminal.

Today, after some research online, I learned that the absinthe that is legal in the US is so because it doesn't contain what makes true absinthe absinthe: wormwood. The FDA prohibits the use of wormwood in products meant for human consumption because of its toxic nature.

So no visit for us from the Green Fairy. But I still felt tres chic!