Thar Be Absinthe!
Sunday, December 30th, 2007
Several weeks ago, multiple newspapers made the announcement that Absinthe was legal again. Legal or no, I had been experimenting with Absinthe in various forms for several years; friends who were making their own, other friends who were smuggling it themselves or having it smuggled into the country, and also ordering it myself from Alandia (with nary a hitch!).
During a lovely Sunday afternoon outing, I settled in at the bar at my favorite North Beach restaurant, Rose Pistola, when I spied an Absinthe fountain behind the counter. "Was it just decorative?" I asked our bartender? "Nope," Tom replied, as he reached up to show me the bottle; Distillée au Val-De-Travers, a Swiss-made version. For the record and for anyone who cares to send me gifts, I actually prefer the Swiss-made Absinthes…
Tom was very deft in his assembly, pulling out the appropriate spoons and sugar cubes. Okay, so they don’t have the right glasses. I can overlook that. Taste-wise, the Kübler is very strong with the burning licorice taste which killed the taste buds for the Bolognese I had ordered. Fortunately, I was pretty well sated with the lovely arugula salad and chickpea farinata I had already eaten with an earthy super Tuscan I had ordered, a 2003 Tassinaia. But what fun to have the full ritual of the Absinthe, more than expertly performed! Bravo, Tom!