Press: The mystery of the Green Menace

Wired 13.11: The Mystery of the Green Menace: "Nouvelle-Orléans is just one absinthe formulation Breaux has mastered. He also makes re-creations of pre-ban bottles. He shows me one that he just distilled, based on an Edouard Pernod absinthe, and I'm dying to taste it. Breaux begins to prepare it in the traditional French manner, a process as intricate as a tea ceremony. First he decants a couple of ounces into two widemouthed glasses specially made for the drink. A strong licorice aroma wafts across the table. Then he adds 5 or 6 ounces of ice-cold water, letting it trickle through a silver dripper into the glass. 'Pour it slowly,' he says. 'That's the secret to making it taste good. If the water's too warm, it will taste like donkey piss.'

The drink turns milky, and a condensate floats to the top. This is called the louche, a word that's come to mean 'disreputable.' Breaux hands it to me and tells me there's no need to stir away the louche or add sugar to an absinthe this fine. I take a sip. The flavor is subtle, dry, complex. It makes my tongue feel a little numb."