“I wasn’t ready for how much I loved absinthe. The anise-y, licorice-forward notes were refreshing and livening. They felt at once new and exciting, the opposite of the ornate—yet decaying—theater I was surrounded by, but also full of avant-garde artist energy, pushing boundaries. Sordid and salutary all at once. I sensed history in it all. It’s fitting that my introduction to the spirit was amongst disheveled artists. The spirit garnered both glory and its bad-news reputation in 19th-century France, where everyone from Van Gogh to Oscar Wilde was a fan (or at least absinthe-curious), producing works of art both glorifying it and demonizing it whether or not that was the artist’s intent. No spirit has had quite the reputation, though perhaps whiskey and country songs would give it a run for its francs.”—”The Folklore-Filled History of Absinthe. Debunking the most popular myths surrounding the ‘Green Fairy.'”