Paulius Musteikis
Vom Fass does absinthe up right, and in small amounts for the curious.
When it’s hot and humid, there’s little more refreshing than an absinthe frappé. Absinthe first arrived in the U.S. via New Orleans in the early 1800s. In the 1870s, Cayetano Ferrer concocted the first frappé at the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. The bar still exists, and you can drink from the same place that once served the drink to Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain.
The frappé is a simple drink, requiring just a few mint leaves, absinthe, simple syrup (just hard-shake equal parts water and sugar together) and maybe a dash of soda water. Muddle the mint leaves in the bottom of a shaker (or use a glass), add crushed ice, and pour in 1 1/2 ounces of absinthe, 1/2 ounce of the simple syrup and 2 ounces of soda. If you have a shaker, shake vigorously and pour the drink out into a glass. If you don’t, rock the concoction back and forth between two glasses a few times and then serve.
Vom Fass, 119 State St., recently threw an absinthe party to introduce the liqueur to Madison imbibers. The store offers a few different varieties (available in sizes as small as 50ml for the curious but uncommitted), and its Libertine 72 will make a cooling, memorable frappé.
