The Absinthe Frappé
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Review on Goodreads
“History is full of romance and myth, and the history of absinthe is bursting with both qualities. Marielle Songy manages to keep the romance and the mythology alive while revealing for us the true story of absinthe and the absinthe frappé. You couldn’t ask for anything better than that, except maybe an absinthe frappé in your hand as you are reading.” -- Elizabeth M. Williams, founder of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum and author of Lift Your Spirits: A Celebratory History of Cocktail Culture in New Orleans
The Absinthe Frappé examines the history of absinthe, its origins, and its influences, culminating in the story of the iconic New Orleans cocktail. Marielle Songy reveals how bartender Cayetano Ferrér invented the concoction and delves into the early days of the drink and its first home, the Old Absinthe House in the Crescent City. She explores the ban on absinthe in the United States and Europe and the misguided reasoning behind it, all in the context of New Orleans’s response to national Prohibition more broadly. Finally, Songy discusses the lifting of the restrictions on absinthe in 2007, a move largely spearheaded by New Orleans scientist and master distiller Theodore Breaux, who dispelled long-held notions that the Green Fairy invariably drove its connoisseurs to madness.
“You can’t tell the story of the absinthe frappé without it being intractably linked to that of absinthe. Separating fact from fiction, Songy brings the reader along for a ride with ‘La Fée verte,’ including how New Orleans became the absinthe epicenter of the U.S. in the nineteenth century and how that led the way to absinthe frappé emerging from this land of cocktails.” -- Sue Strachan, author of The Café Brûlot
“Songy’s history of absinthe, the most storied of spirits, and the absinthe frappé, a truly essential New Orleans cocktail, is brisk, charming, and well-researched. The cocktail guide in The Absinthe Frappé deserves bonus points for including the necromancer, one of my favorite modern absinthe classics. Cheers!” -- T. Cole Newton, president of the United States Bartenders’ Guild and author of Cocktail Dive Bar: Real Drinks, Fake History, and Questionable Advice from New Orleans’s Twelve Mile Limit