Dancing with the Green Fairy: The Mysteries of Absinthe

XX. Absinthe was one of the most popular and most mysterious drinks that fueled Paris and London's cafe society and artistic circles in the Belle Epoque and late Victorian and Edwardian worlds. 

Artists and writers from Henri Toulouse-Lautrec to Marcel Proust and Oscar Wilde were proponents along with members of the upper classes as well as everyday workers. Myths sprang up that the elixir created dramatic hallucinations and even provoked ghastly crimes. It became banned throughout most of Europe and even in the United States by the early 20th century. 

Join me and my guest Don Spiro, creator of New York's Green Fairy Society to discuss and demystify the myths and legends of this most evocative of spirits.