Around 100 people turned up for Phil Baker’s reading from his recently penned Dedalus Book of Absinthe.
Of course La Fée Absinthe were only too happy to help when he asked if we would be able to help out with the refreshments. After all, it seemed only fair that while Phil explained Oscar Wilde’s definition of the three stages of absinthe drinking that we made sure that the visitors were at least entering stage one:
‘After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.’
The guests heard many excerpts from the book recounting the lives and drinking habits of Oscar Wilde and Ernest ‘Kit’ Dowson. However, there wasn’t enough time to cover the fact that the book discusses the rituals and modus operandi of absinthe drinking. It also explains the pharmacology of how real absinthe works on your central nervous system.
But the thing the Dedalus Book of Absinthe does that other books on absinthe perhaps don’t, is that it presents an assessment of the various brands available today. It exposes the fakes and explains how real absinthe has become available again in the UK.