The Chicest Spirit in the City? Why Absinthe is back in Vogue – Sales are up almost 50 per cent
Tatler’s Harriet Kean – Sips the Green Fairy at Hotel Café Royal’s Absinthe Bar: The Green Bar
Oscar Wilde once said that there is nothing more ‘poetical’ than drinking absinthe. ‘What difference is there between a glass of absinthe and a sunset?’ the great man mused. Infamous for its alleged ‘hallucinatory’ properties and its undoubted potency, ‘The Green Fairy’ (as it is known) was the tipple of bohemian Paris, the 20th century glitterati and Christian in Baz Lurhmann’s Moulin Rouge, when the young poet and his bohemian clique begin to envisage a green fairy – played by Kylie Minogue – after slugging the spirit.
Green fairies? Pink elephants? No wonder absinthe has always been in and out of vogue – and banned from time to time. But now it’s having a high-society comeback. Just look to Allegra Handelsman who’s partial to an absinthe cocktail because, well, Hemingway drank it. ‘He drank champagne with absinthe. It’s called Death in the Afternoon,’ the poet-cum-socialite tells Tatler, adding there is an absinthe fountain at The Gothic Bar – her father’s bar in St Pancras. (Her idea, of course.) Then there’s Hotel Café Royal’s new absinthe menu at their Green Bar. Boujie, moodily lit, and billed as a bar for ‘lost poets’, here is an ode both to absinthe and to Oscar Wilde, who once drank the stuff behind Hotel Café Royal’s gilded doors.
Keen to try a glass of sunset myself, I head down Regent Street from Vogue House to see what the fuss is about. Dressed-to-the-nines in a glittering Clio Peppiatt dress – and with my hair slicked back by my man at Hershesons – I am greeted by Wilde himself. Well, by a photograph of the author lazily holding a cigarette, encased in a glass box. And there too, on a shimmering shelf is a green bottle of La Fée Absinthe, the spirit distilled in Paris based on a 19th century recipe containing wormwood, and celebrated as ‘Real Absinthe’. I know The Green Bar means business.
Faux smoking with Oscar Wilde, who used to drink absinthe in hotel Café Royal : Phoebe Rolls
Everything is a deep shade of green at the Green Bar: the floor-to-ceiling thick velvet curtains; the reflective-tiled walls; and the leather bound menus. Its lighting – or lack thereof – makes the bar feel rich, clandestine, and as though anything can happen under its seductive cloak of darkness. I am joined by my fashionably late friend, Phoebe Rolls, the society photographer who is a vision in red, in a dress she borrowed from her supermodel friend Fran Summers. In Wilde’s honour, we order the ‘O. W Punch’ from the Art of Absinthe menu.
The cocktail ‘for two’ arrives in the most extra fashion: in an ornate metallic and glass fountain, complete with two dainty taps, and a sculpture of a woman ‘holding’ the structure together. The ‘punch’ – a blend of La Fée absinthe, bergamot liqueur, white apricot tea, agave nectar and cardamom butter – is in the glass container, along with a mountain of ice. I laugh at the enormity of it all. ‘Er, how much absinthe is in this?’ I ask nervously, my mind spinning with visions of Lurhmann’s Green Fairy. ‘It’s mainly ice; it’s distilled,’ soothes the charming barman. So we tuck in, gently twizzling the taps, and the tangerine-coloured cocktail falls into spindly, elegant glasses.
The first whiff of the cocktail is intoxicating – and a little medicinal. We feel like witches murmuring over a deliciously sweet potion. ‘Initial thoughts?’ asks Phoebe. ‘Think of a lemon lozenge but make it glam,’ I announce. ‘Perfect, I have a sore throat,’ she replies. Mid-way through our liquorice nectar, a sea of small plates arrive: a fluffy lobster brioche roll (with truffle for an extra £10), zingy tuna tacos with yuzu mayo and blinis with a generous dollop of smoked salmon, creme fraiche and trout roe.
Our next fountain arrives perhaps a little too swiftly. We aren’t seeing double yet, so we welcome the potion, entitled La Parisienne from the ‘Absinthe Revival’ menu. (‘A favourite,’ smiles the waitress). It’s pure absinthe, so this time, the fountain is packed with just ice, and our glasses are filled with an intriguing green liquid. A chic sieve-cum-spoon is placed on top of the glasses with a single sugar cube. We twizzle the taps very carefully – this is very important, we’re told – so that the sugar slowly dissolves the bitter taste of the wormwood. The liquid turns a milky green and I take my first sip. The powerful flavour knocks my socks off, but the celery root kick is a delicious after thought. Suddenly, everything becomes a bit giggly. We decide to take photographs with Phoebe’s camera.
Are influencers the new aesthetes? But our fun is soon cut short by a disgruntled security guard.
We’re back in the good books when Faye Wei Wei – whose art plasters the walls of just about every London members’ club – arrives looking like a beautiful vampire bride, in a white lace dress and fur coat. She orders an absinthe sour from the first menu – also confusingly called La Parisienne – which might as well be an ode to Hemingway: La Fée Blanche, champagne sherbert, liquorice bitter and egg white. ‘It’s the strongest on the menu,’ warns the waiter. We are unperturbed, and soon a cream-coloured frothy cocktail arrives in a round cocktail glass. ‘It’s sweet like candy, just like Brighton Rock,’ Faye coos upon her first taste. We all take turns sipping the cocktail and unanimously agree it’s the best on the menu.
Well-balanced, zingy and with a gorgeous texture from the egg-white, we agree to come back just for La Parisienne.
Phoebe Rolls and Faye Wei Wei : ‘It tastes like Brighton Rock’
Heady with the glamour of absinthe we set off into the streets of Soho, Faye’s Manolos slipping beneath her. Rain splattered Piccadilly Circus whirs past in a blur of colours, and we begin to understand Wilde’s sunset analogy. Our next stop is just a stone’s throw away: Lío for Tatler’s Little Black Book Party. We join the dancefloor, thronging with fist pumping aristos, vintage-bedecked It girls… and perhaps a Green Fairy.
This feature was first published in Tatler, November 2023