The Little Green Book of Absinthe


Book Description

Read Paul Owens and Paul Nathan's posts on the Penguin Blog A celebration of "the green goddess"-this is the first book to share absinthe recipes since it was recently legalized in the U.S. This enticing little volume presents a collection of more than 100 absinthe cocktail recipes that draw upon the classic roots of the drink as well as its new iterations. Readers will be entertained with nuggets of absinthe history and trivia, including the tradition of the green fairy, famous devotees of the drink, and the myths (or facts) of its hallucinatory properties. Readers will learn that: •America's most famous early cocktail, the sazerac, was a New Orleans creation that called for a dash of absinthe •When the absinthe backlash started in the 1890s, Edgar Degas' masterpiece L'Absinthe was booed off the auction block at Christie's in London •An experienced absintheur can identify a brand from across the room just by watching how it louches-the way the herbs' oils cloud the drink as the bartender adds water




The Hour of Absinthe


Book Description

At the height of its popularity in the late nineteenth century, absinthe reigned in the bars, cafés, and restaurants of France and its colonial empire. Yet by the time it was banned in 1915, the famous green fairy had become the green peril, feared for its connection with declining birth rates and its apparent capacity to induce degeneration, madness, and murderous rage in its consumers. As one of history’s most notorious drinks, absinthe has been the subject of myth, scandal, and controversy. The Hour of Absinthe explores how this mythologizing led to the creation and fabrication of a vast modern folklore while key historical events, crucial to understanding the story of absinthe, have been neglected or unreported. Mystique and moralizing both arose from the spirit’s relationship with empire. Some claim that French soldiers were given daily absinthe rations during France’s military conquest of Algeria to protect them against heat, diseases, and contaminated water. In fact, the overenthusiastic adoption of the drink by these soldiers, and subsequently by French settlers, was perceived as a threat to France’s colonial ambitions – an anxiety that migrated into French medicine. Providing keen insight into how local cultural narratives about absinthe shaped what quickly became a global reputation, Nina Studer provides a panoptic view of the French Empire’s influence on absinthe’s spectacular fall from grace.




Absinthe


Book Description

144 proof, notoriously addictive, and the drug of choice for 19th century poets, absinthe is gaining bootleg popularity after almost a century of being banned. Barnaby Conrad looks at the social history, fact and trivia of this drug.




Absinthe


Book Description

Take an intimate look into the contemporary world of absinthe. International in scope, Absinthe: The Exquisite Elixir is a visually rich journey into an alluring subculture. Filled with color reproductions of classic and current lithographs, posters, cartoons, as well as photos of antiques, glassware, and other tools of the absinthe drinker, this new and comprehensive guide explains and illustrates the history, culture, and mystique of the drink known as the Green Fairy. The authors provide insights into the controversy and effects of the Green Fairy through the stories of famous connoisseurs, including Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. In addition to a rich history, this detailed new guide includes recipes, reviews of existing Absinthe brands, and absinthe's contemporary culture and ritual. Confirmed absinthe drinkers, neophytes, the curious, and collectors will all find this book equally intriguing and seductive.




F Is for France


Book Description

Exploring a culture filled with arcane laws, historical incidents, and bizarre paradoxes, Piu Eatwell's follow up to her award-winning and critically acclaimed myth-buster They Eat Horses, Don't They is a delightful exploration of France's quirky, literary, and culinary heritage. From absinthe and catacombs to former French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, Eatwell leaves no stone unturned, taking readers off the beaten path to explore the kind of information that gets missed in guidebooks and 'official' information sources. Who could imagine, for example, that there is a village in France where UFOs are banned from landing? Or that there is a verifiable population of wild kangaroos in the forests surrounding Paris? These, and many other off-beat delights, are just some of the curiosities awaiting readers in this journey through byways and hidden treasures of this endlessly fascinating and paradoxical country. Full of the richness and variety of France beyond the platitudes, including recipes and charming illustrations, F is for France is an ideal gift book and a must-read for Francophiles and anyone with an interest in French travel and culture.




Iconic Spirits


Book Description

Over the past decade, the cocktail culture has exploded across America. Bars and lounges have become the Broadway theater of mixology, with bartenders resurrecting classic pre-Prohibition cocktails and dazzling customers with their creations. Consumers, in turn, are recreating these cocktails at home, and spending unprecedented amounts on upscale bar gear. With more and more emphasis on quality ingredients, the number of small-batch spirits is increasing all the time, and craft distilling has become popular as an offshoot of the locavore movement. In Iconic Spirits, Mark Spivak, wine and spirits guru and host of the NPR show Uncorked!, explores the history and cultural significance of twelve iconic spirits and reveals how moonshine invented NASCAR; how gin almost toppled the British Empire; how a drink that tastes like castor oil flavored with tree bark became one of the sexiest things on earth; how cognac became the "it" drink of hip-hop culture, and much more. To top it all off, Spivak then offers the most tantalizing cocktail recipes from the era in which each spirit was invented.




A Taste for Absinthe


Book Description

Absinthe’s renaissance is quickly growing into a culinary movement. The “Green Fairy” is now showing up on cocktail menus at chic restaurants around the country. A Taste for Absinthe celebrates this storied and complex liquor by bringing you 65 cocktail recipes from America’s hottest mixologists to enjoy as you discover the spirit that has fascinated artists, musicians, and writers for centuries. Absinthe expert R. Winston Guthrie shares the intriguing history of this famous beverage and a wide range of absinthe cocktails crafted by celebrated bartenders such as Jim Meehan of New York’s PDT, Erik Adkins of San Francisco’s Slanted Door, and Eric Alperin of The Varnish in Los Angeles. In addition to the recipes—such as the Salute to Sazerac (with rye whiskey, Angostura bitters, and lemon peel) and the Green Goddess (fresh basil leaves, cucumber vodka, simple syrup, line juice, and fresh thyme)—you will find: - a primer on the accoutrements (spoons, glasses, fountains) for serving absinthe - a how-to on executing your own absinthe drip - a guide to buying the best-quality absinthe (whether imported or domestic) - a lesson on how to discern between real absinthe and fake - sidebars on absinthe’s rich history Whether you want to learn everything you need to know to host “L’Heure Verte” (the Green Hour) and impress your friends with your beautiful accoutrements and practiced pouring technique, or just make a really delicious drink, A Taste for Absinthe will bring you up to speed on the most talked about liquor in history.




The Absinthe Earl


Book Description

Miss Ada Quicksilver, a student of London’s Lovelace Academy for Promising Young Women, is spending her holiday in Ireland to pursue her anthropological study of fairies. She visits Dublin’s absinthe bars to investigate a supposed association between the bittersweet spirit and fairy sightings. One night a handsome Irishman approaches her, introducing himself as Edward Donoghue. Edward takes absinthe to relieve his sleepwalking, and she is eager to hear whether he has experience with fairies. Instead, she discovers that he’s the earl of Meath, and that he will soon visit a mysterious ruin at Newgrange on the orders of his cousin, the beautiful, half-mad Queen Isolde. On learning about Ada’s area of study, he invites her to accompany him. Ada is torn between a sensible fear of becoming entangled with the clearly troubled gentleman and her compelling desire to ease his suffering. Finally she accepts his invitation, and they arrive in time for the winter solstice. That night, the secret of Edward’s affliction is revealed: he is, in fact, a lord in two worlds and can no longer suppress his shadow self. Little does either of them realize that their blossoming friendship—and slowly kindling passion—will lead to discoveries that wrench open a door sealed for centuries, throwing them into a war that will change Ireland forever.







The Shaken and the Stirred


Book Description

Over the past decade, the popularity of cocktails has returned with gusto. Amateur and professional mixologists alike have set about recovering not just the craft of the cocktail, but also its history, philosophy, and culture. The Shaken and the Stirred features essays written by distillers, bartenders and amateur mixologists, as well as scholars, all examining the so-called 'Cocktail Revival' and cocktail culture. Why has the cocktail returned with such force? Why has the cocktail always acted as a cultural indicator of class, race, sexuality and politics in both the real and the fictional world? Why has the cocktail revival produced a host of professional organizations, blogs, and conferences devoted to examining and reviving both the drinks and habits of these earlier cultures?