The Green Fairy Flies Back to the US

Ricky Welshiemer, Staff Reporter

Ricky_Welshiemer@csumb.edu

March 24, 2008

Walking into Lallapalooza

Restaurant (La La’s) in downtown

Monterey, the bartender was busy

mixing drinks for everybody

sitting around the bar. After

asking the bartender if they served

absinthe, he gave back a confused

yet energized look and called the

manager over.

The manager grabbed a dark

bottle and fancy glass, and began

to pour. Once the glass was full he

lit the liquor on fire and allowed

it to burn before pouring it into a

second glass. The sizzling drink

set a stream of fire down ones

throat.

Immediately following the shot

the manager pointed to another

glass, which had the burned off

fumes trapped from the shot.

He stuck a straw underneath

the glass, which allowed for the

participant to suck out the burned

fumes. The partaker pulled away

fast coughing and choking. The

manager continued to pour out

four more shots, then hid the bottle

behind the bar.

After being banned in 1912,

absinthe is now making a

comeback in the U.S. The

legalization of absinthe started

this year and has had people of all

ages very excited.

CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB)

senior Business major Kenna

Frazier was eager and thrilled

when she found out that La La’s

served absinthe. However, after

trying the green drink she quickly

found out that it was not what she

expected. “It tasted like heated up

Jager [meister] and Goldschlager

mixed together,” said Frazier. She

said taking the shot was not all that

bad, but sucking the fumes through

the straw was awful. “I felt as if I

had smoked 100 cigarettes after

sucking the fumes from the glass,”

said Frazier.

There are many different ways

of drinking absinthe. One of the

ways is to drink it the way in

which La La’s offers, or another

more traditional way, is to pour

the absinthe into a glass and take

a specially designed slotted spoon

(commonly called an absinthe

spoon) and place a sugar cube

on top of it. Slowly pour icecold

water on to the cube until it

has dissolved into the glass. Once

done the absinthe will turn from

green to a foamy white.

Absinthe, also known as the

“Green Fairy”, is high proof

distilled liquor derived from

wormwood. According to

greendevil.com, absinthe has an

“extremely high alcohol content,

ranging from 50 percent to 75

percent but usually around 60

percent in average.”

In the 1970s it was believed

that Thujone, a chemical found

in absinthe, was a hallucanagen

related to THC, a chemical found

in marijuana. While the thujone to

THC link has been invalidated, it

has been yet to be proved whether

or not absinthe actually causes

halluncinations.

Currently, absinthe cannot

be found in the local market.

The drink can be found online

at several different websites,

including bevmo.com. According

to Stephanie Metzler, Human

Communications junior and

waitress at Lallapalooza

Restaurant, a shot of absinthe is

$10.