Absinthe is Back, Despite Oscar Wilde

The NY Times ran a piece on absinthe today. As most of the claims of madness and delirium have been debunked, the liquor it is on an upswing, with some now being imported into the United States, after being banned for many years. I haven’t seen it in Portland stores, though I did go to an absinthe party here, and tried it a few times in Canada.  I never did get what all the fuss is about, but I’ve never gotten to try one that was considered really good. Like any alcohol, there are lots of lousy versions out there. From the Times:

Dear reader! Should this column impress you as being more than usually lyrical, recalling perhaps the imagery and elegance of poetry by Baudelaire or Verlaine; should it seem a bit decadent, redolent of Oscar Wilde’s withering hauteur; should it have a touch of madness or perversity, combining, say, the tastes of Toulouse-Lautrec with the passions of van Gogh; should it simply sound direct and forceful and knowing like one of Ernest Hemingway’s characters; should it do any or all of that, let me credit something that each of these figures fervently paid tribute to: the green fairy, the green goddess, the green muse, the glaucous witch, the queen of poisons.

I love this quote:

But even those who hailed absinthe saw unsettling shadows. Wilde explained: “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see them as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”

You can read the NY Times article here.