Absinthe is known as the "green fairy" to many because of the soft green color of the drink. The Green Fairy will deliver you into a deep hallucinatory experience if too much has been drank. Vincent Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde were big fans of this concoction.

Absinthe has a long and colorful history tied to New Orleans. Since our city was founded by the French, absinthe achieved quite a bit of popularity here. It was widely consumed by people from all walks of life. Painters, musicians, aristocratic Creoles and even Storyville madams loved the drink.

Absinthe is a strong herbal liqueur distilled with a great number of flavorful herbs like anise, licorice, hyssop, veronica, fennel, lemon balm, angelica and wormwood (the flavor of anise and/or licorice, at least in contemporary forms of the liquor, tends to predominate).

Wormwood, the one that's gained the most notoriety, is Artemisia absinthum, an herb that grows wild in Europe and has been cultivated in the United States as well. Much of the liquor's legendary effect is due to its extremely high alcohol content, ranging from 50% to 75% (usually around 60%), plus the contribution of the various herbs. It has been assumed by many that the so-called "active ingredient" in absinthe is wormwood, although that is apparently not really the case.