"The first stage is like ordinary drinking, the second when you begin to see monstrous and cruel things, but if you can persevere you will enter in upon the third stage where you see things that you want to see, wonderful curious things." - Oscar Wilde
Ah, absinthe. That sweet, pale green alchemical marriage of wormwood, anise, and fennel. Strictly legal in this country only since 2007, this mind-bending, body-warming, heart-swelling, brain-fogging liquid was the drink of choice for many of the 19th and 20th Century's greatest men (and women, no doubt) of arts and letters: Hemingway, Van Gogh, and Picasso, just to name a few.
Perhaps its psychoactive properties have been exaggerated; maybe it won't instill its drinker with great, heretofore untapped artistic abilities. There's still nothing quite like it, however, and while straight-up absinthe is available for consumption at many LA bars these days, a slightly preferable entrée into the green palace for first-timers is with an absinthe cocktail. Here, then, are 10 ways to channel your inner Degas.
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