ABSINTHE
The Maison Premiere
Equal parts: 1920’s Paris, New Orleans Energy, New York Mixology
Shake well.
Garnish with moustache and suspenders.
Williamsburg’s cocktail lounge and oyster den known as Maison Premiere is quite a spectacle. One can’t help but think of the phrase 'old-time barroom,' as the loud swing/bop/jazz music compliments the organized chaos rattling the walls. The experience might feel a bit like traveling back to a time when the tavern was where one got the news, and bar-keep reigned as a prominent social figure.
Absinthe, a spirit made from anise, botanicals, fennel and other medicinal and cooking herbs, is commonly used as an ingredient to many popular cocktails.
Unlike Scotch whisky and many other spirits, absinthe, in most countries, has no legal definition and production regulations. One of two processes are typically used to create the spirit: the distillation method or cold mixing. Switzerland is an exception to this rule, this country only permits the distillation method of production.
In distilled absinthe, botanicals are macerated in a base alcohol that has already been distilled then it is redistilled to make the spirit more smooth and complex.
According to the New York Times, Absinthe is "Cirque Du Soleil channeled through Rocky Horror”.
This new cirque style performance has been held nightly outside of Caesar’s Palace across from Serendipity 3 starting April 1st. Tuesday though Sunday the show beings at 7:30 p.m. and Friday though Sunday there is a second show starting at 9:30 p.m.
Host Gazillionaire insists that the audance takes as many pictures as they can. The more photos that are posted on Facebook and Twitter, the larger the audiance will get. And take photos is what audience members did: the more distasteful the show got, the more camera phones were hastily whipped out of pockets to take photos and share them with the world.
Now that Valentine's Day is past and the warmer spring months are finally just around the corner, Le Barricou's owner, Josh Boissy, has opened up his long-awaited, New Orleans-inspired oyster-and-Absinthe bar in Williamsburg. Boissy told the New York Times' Diner's Journal in a recent interview that he expects to have more variety of Absinthe than any other venue in the country. Sounds appropriate, since he had the featured Absinthe fountain hand-carved from the mossy green marble for nearly 4 months, intending to turn the Williamsburg spot into something like the Olde Absinthe House in New Orleans (it features a fountain that is made of a similar shade of marble and with a similar statue on top). Boissy toured the Olde House and knew he needed a fountain just like it for his own venue, so he worked in conjunction with Krystof Zizka (his partner), John and Kevin McCormick (designers), and Maxwell Britton (mixologist) to make his vision come to life.
About halfway through Fashion Week, I began to notice a certain thing that was once considered the height of fashion reemerging into popular view. No, I'm not talking about the return of tie dye. At a quite a few after parties and receptions, there was a new shape looming over the bar: the absinthe fountain.
The historical mystique surrounding the drink, its odd ritual preparation, and the chemistry-set-like assortment of associated paraphernalia made the sometimes green liquor a favorite subject of conversation among Fashion Week attendees. Black clad fashionistas chatted casually about green fairy this and wormwood that, while downing cup after cup of the stuff. By the end of the week, more savvy consumers were ordering a truly bizarre array of absinthe cocktails with names like Fire Fairy, White Christmas, and Green Tear. From what I could judge, no mixer was quite up to the task of fully masking the drink's trademark (read: love it or hate it) taste of cloves, licorice, and anise, but I have to say the absinthe Caprihina I tried was quite tasty.
As the micro-distillery trend grows around the country, NY State has a new first: an absinthe producer.
Long reviled as the green drink that made men go mad (or produce astounding works of art, i.e. van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Wilde…etc), absinthe was recently approved for sale in America. Along comes Cheryl Lins, who founded the Delaware Phoenix Distillery after visiting NY’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition.
She now produces two absinthes. Walton Waters is 68% abv, with various herbs including wormwood, anise, fennel, and for ‘a subtle accent,’ lemon thyme. And at 72% abv, Meadow of Love shares the main ingredients of its slightly weaker relative, but also incorporates some local herbs, including hyssop and violet. Lins’ absinthes aren’t widely available yet; check her quirky website for a listing of retailers and other useful info. [VV]
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