Now that absinthe is legal, what’s next? That’s the question the good folks behind Le Tourment Vert absinthe recently asked. Their answer: cocktails.
Though I am a huge fan of the 19th-century absinthe ritual—a visually appealing, if not hypnotic, ceremony of pouring ice water over a sugar cube suspended above a glass of absinthe—I was leery of the idea of mixing absinthe in cocktails.
My apprehension was allayed somewhat a couple of weeks ago when I attended a Le Tourment Vert-sponsored party at the Santa Monica, California, home of Finnish chef Stefan Richter, of Top Chef fame. There, bartender Steve Livigni of the Doheny, a private club in Los Angeles, shook up a variety of absinthe cocktails to pair with Richter’s absinthe-inspired cuisine.
The evening’s standouts included an anise lobster bisque paired with a cocktail of absinthe, gin, Cointreau, champagne, lemon, and mint and fresh oysters topped with fennel and tiny cubes of absinthe-flavored gelatin paired with a cocktail of absinthe, champagne, blood-red orange juice, and honey. The French-on-French drinks worked very well for me, but as the evening progressed, Livigni took a walk on the wild side, whipping up concoctions that combined absinthe with chocolate liqueur, rum, vodka, and, yes, even tequila. By the end of the evening, as I ate a coffee ice cream lollipop made with absinthe, I was more than done with the absinthe experiment.
I came away from the party with two conclusions: One, I still prefer my margaritas tasting like lime instead of licorice, and two, champagne takes on haute dimensions with a touch of absinthe, especially when blood oranges and nettle figure into the mix. I think there’s room, after all, for a new ritual in my world. (www.letourmentvert.com; for recipes, www.letourmentvert.com/cocktails.php)
