Meet the Green Fairy

Posted At : July 16, 2008 10:20 PM | Posted By : Admin
Related Categories: General Info

This weekend I went to Phoenix to console my friend who lost her gramma. Actually, let's be real. Julia lives in DC and I live in LV, so we don't get to see each other very much. So when she let me know she was coming to Phx for the weekend to be with her family I saw an opportunity. Luckily, Julia was amenable to the idear. Also, it would give me a chance to see my folks, so all the way around it was completely selfish on my part.

Julia and I decided we needed a night out, and I found this restaurant review for Digestif in Scottsdale. As soon as I got to the part about absinthe being served, I was sold. Luckily Julia was up for an adventure too. The menu looked intriguing, but really I was drawn by the green fairy.

Apparently absinthe is legal in the US again after a 95 year ban. The particular brand of favor at Digestif is Lucid Absinthe. This link to the Lucid site has a lot of history and background about the drink. This site has a lot of good info and I give it the Peacock Marketing Review Stamp of Approval^® because the design is good and is chock full of good content.

So Julia and I show up for our reservation with our curiosity piqued and hunger a brewin'. We promptly order up two Lusid Absinthes prepared in the traditional fashion.

The manager came over to help us with the fountain and gave us an ABSY-101 lecture about the history, the prohibition, the distilling and blending, and how to drink it. It was very informative.

This is an image showing the cool fountain, the water dripping on the sugar cube, and the green liquor itself.

It was finally time to imbibe. I loved it. MMMM...potent alchohol swallow followed by a warm, round liquorice flavor that filled my mouth.

We sipped and ordered some tasty morsels while waiting for the full absinthe effect to set in. The manager had explained that absinthe's herbs and the thujone create an upper, while the alcoholo content (62% !!!! No wonder you dilute it with sugar and 4-5 oz. of water) acts like a typical downer, so the effect is unique and can be potent.

Julia, who started to get some sort of trail-like vision, was definitely affected by it. She was opening her eyes wide and blinking slowly. The description she gave was that she could move her head at normal speed but all images moved in slow motion, but inside she didn't get that typical drunk sappy smiley feel. You want to know what I felt? Nothing. I got nothing! Okay, so maybe I drank it slowly, and maybe I didn't finish the last 10th of my portion, but still. You'd think I would have some kind of reaction. Nada. Tostada.

Oh well, it was still great to eat a fine meal and be with my best friend. We ate several courses including 2 appetizer courses, a shared entree, dessert, and a few more tasty beverages. The drink menu was an odyssey. Julia ordered her new favorite, campari and soda, while I experimented with the Corpse Reviver mixed drink that contains Hendricks gin (never heard of it before), Cointrau, Lillet (que?), Lucid Absinthe, and fresh lemon. MMMMMM...lemony liquorice. Still, aftert this, I was fine to drive.

Okay, so maybe we were there for 3.5 hours, and maybe I drink at a snail's pace, but still!

We had a great time and got this classic hold-the-camera-at arm's-length-and-take-your-own-picture shot. We had to do it twice because I was just a head in the first one.