Rebellious Risk with Absinthia Vermut

Award-winning absintheure and outrageous entrepreneur, Absinthia Vermut, shares her thoughts on her rebellious journey of creating absinthe, taking the giant step to begin her own company, and living outrageously (as lovers of the "Green Fairy" do). Learn more about her perspective as we discuss:

• her first taste of absinthe at Burning Man
• how friends and family felt about her bootlegging for 10 years
• her favorite absinthe-based cocktail
• and roller skating and fire poi spinning!

Guest Biography
Absinthia Vermut is an entrepreneur with a passion for vintage spirits made with wormwood. Her first taste of absinthe was in 1996. She served her first bootleg bottles to friends a few months later on April Fool’s Day 1997, where she received the nickname, Absinthia. In 2013, she legally changed her name to Absinthia, trademarked it, and founded Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits, LLC, in order to bring her organic absinthe to market. Her last name, Vermut, German for wormwood, is on her birth certificate. This is pure coincidence, as she discovered this after being called Absinthia for years. 

Absinthia™ Organic Absinthe Blanche Superieure began to appear in bars, restaurants, and bottle shops in 2017 and won its first gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2018, officially changing Absinthia’s status from bootlegger to award winning absintheure!. Six awards and three years later, Absinthia Organic Absinthe is currently available for distribution in California, New York, and Louisiana, as well as on her e-commerce website, absinthia.com to almost all 50 states. A second product, Absinthe Verte Superieure, will be released March 5, 2021, National Absinthe Day. Absinthia has launched a podcast called “Absinthe: Education,” and is a member of the Women’s Cocktail Collective. 

Absinthia’s products are all made with organic ingredients, based on vintage recipes, and produced in California. Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits, LLC, is WBENC certified and 100% woman owned. 

Cofounder of Nickel Dime Cocktail Syrups, Absinthia lives in Oakland with her two daughters and their Havanese pup, Cohiba. A certified pyrotechnician and trained in the martial art Muay Thai, Absinthia earned her BFA from NYU and her MBA from Babson College. 

Connect with Absinthia:

• Website

Episode References

• Book: "Absinthe: History in a Bottle" by Barnaby Conrad III

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• Episode 1: Transforming Lives with Autumn Adamme

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Lady Grey is an award-winning international entertainer and educator. She has been at the helm of numerous performing arts organizations and has performed everywhere from Broadway to the Sydney Olympics. She currently serves as Artistic Director of Lady Grey's Lovelies and continues to work as a mentor and empowerment coach.

Connect with Lady Grey

• Facebook
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• Website

Transcript

Absinthia Vermut  00:00

I think that's definitely a rebellious thing to do to take an underdog and try to show the world that they should actually embrace this thing.

Lady Grey  00:16

Hello, you lovely humans. Welcome to the live outrageously with Lady Grey podcast. I'm your hostess Lady Grey. And I have had the great honor to interview a number of super inspiring world changers about how they live outrageously. So we're going to share about how they push boundaries. They fight for change, and how they seriously shake up the status quo. Our goal on this show is to learn to live more outrageously bright. Well, this Friday, March 5, is National absinthe day. And for those of you that know me, you know that I am a great lover of the green fairy. So I am very, very excited to introduce you to my guests today. The lovely Absinthia Vermut. She started her journey with the absinthe in the late 90s when she began as a bootlegger when it was illegal in the United States. She eventually founded Absinthia’s Bottled Sprits in order to bring her organic absinthe to the market. She has since won six awards for her Absinthia Organic Absinthe Blanche Superiere. We're very excited to have her here today to talk about all of her outrageous choices in her life. Welcome, welcome. Welcome, Absinthia. It's so great to have you on the show.

Absinthia Vermut  01:39

Thank you so much. It's so great to be here.

Lady Grey  01:42

Now, I know that you've had a pretty wild and outrageous journey, because I've read a little bit of your story. But I want to start the show off by giving you the opportunity to share some of the highlights or the very big moments that you're most proud of?

Absinthia Vermut  02:00

Well, that's a great question. The first one that pops to mind really is that evening, in 2018, about a year after I finally launched the absinthe that I had been bootlegging for, oh, 20 years, 22 years at that point, and I checked my email just before I went to sleep, and learned that my absinthe had won the gold medal in the San Francisco world spirits competition. And in that moment, I went from an absolute bootlegger to an award winning absintheure. And that was that was quite the milestone.

Lady Grey  02:36

I'll say that's wonderful.

Absinthia Vermut  02:39

Yeah, launching a liquor business in this country is a very challenging thing to do. And so that wonderful.

Lady Grey  02:45

Well, we're gonna get into it here. We're gonna hear all about this story so that other people can enjoy it, too. So why don't we start by having you tell us how you were first introduced to absinthe I hear there's a story about Burning Man and some other things that maybe is worth exploring here.

Absinthia Vermut  03:03

Yes, I first had absinthe at a San Francisco Cacophony Society party in 1996. The cacophony society is the group of pranksters their slogan, is “you may already be a member” that originally brought Bruning Man out to the desert from Baker Beach. And I was at this party in San Francisco, and there was this beautiful crystal bowl filled with this green liquid. I had no idea what it was, I heard it was absinthe, I didn't really know what that meant. I was kind of scared of it. And I eventually walked over and had a glass of it and just immediately took to it. It was a wonderful evening. It was a wonderful buzz. It was my favorite color. And a friend that had made it gave me the recipe. My first recipe was everclear and some more money to Anna's from a store in the mission, a little bit of food coloring, and I served it at a party about four months later. And immediately my friends started calling me Absinthia, and that name has stuck. It is now all anybody calls me. It's my it's my legal name. Now, well, first absinthe and then suddenly, 10 years later, it was legal. And I had to figure out what I wanted to do. I was making it for friends and family. And did I want to start this business? Did I want to go down this this rabbit hole? Turns out I did. But

Lady Grey  04:22

were your friends and family thinking, Oh, that's a cute little like homebrew project that you have. Or were they supportive? Were they on board?

Absinthia Vermut  04:33

They were definitely on board. People would show up all times a day or night you have an extra bottle around I can get I'm throwing a birthday party. Can I have a case of it? Can you come to this event and your fancy green dresses and serve it? No, they absolutely loved it. And I was one of a very small handful of people that made it possible for San Franciscans to actually have absinthe because it had been over 85 years at that point that had been illegal. One of the things I loved about it, 

Lady Grey  05:01

you started this thing you were a bootlegger, right. Yes. And so I know a little bit, but you're definitely the expert here. Why don't you explain to people about the history of absinthe being illegal and then legal in our country?

Absinthia Vermut  05:15

Sure. I'll try to keep it short because this is a topic that you could just discuss all day long, because it's so complicated. But the the French wine industry had a real problem in the mid 1800s. When the grape vines developed phylloxera, which is a lice, and they had no French wine available for many years. That was at the same time that the French soldiers brought back absinthe from a war in North Africa, and absinthe became wildly popular, happy hour was called the green hour “L’Heure Verte” in French, and absolutely got you drunk faster than line it was cheaper than wine there has the whole ritual to it with the sugar cube and the spoons and the water fountains. It was beautiful, and it was everywhere. When the French wanted to bring the wine back, nobody really cared much really, it came down to money and competition. The church had a little bit to do with it in that they needed people drinking wine, because they had some money invested in it. And then along came World War One. And the French soldiers were sitting around smoking cigarettes and drinking absinthe while the German soldiers were were big, buff beer drinking, guys. And that was how absinthe became illegal. They blamed the Wormwood, which is one of the three, the trinity of herbs as we call them, as must contain Wormwood, anise and fennel. And they blame the Wormwood for being hallucinogenic. Now, as it turns out, what they were really talking about with late stage alcoholism. Wormwood, once you distill it is safe.

Lady Grey  06:54

how did that then translate into legal versus not legal in the US? Was that a government thing? Was it strictly locally that that was enforced? Could you still buy it? Or was it just you couldn't produce it? What were the laws around that?

Absinthia Vermut  07:12

No, that's a great question. As it turns out, absinthe actually been legal since the repeal of prohibition. There was never a ban, there was really more of a misunderstanding of Wormwood, and it was modern science in the early 2000s, that prove that distilled Wormwood is actually safe to ingest. And so it was just announced, you can now sell absinthe. So the ingredients have always been legal. I mean, Warren wood grows wild in Golden Gate Park. But stores weren't allowed to sell it. And borrowers weren't allowed to service after the early 1900s. The exact date is escape. Fascinating.

Lady Grey  07:52

No, it sounds like it's very closely intertwined with history and a lot of world events. And one of the things that you may or may not know about me is I'm obsessed with vintage everything, music, arts, whatever. And so green fairy art, there's so much and I'm curious, whether you're familiar with all of that I know you have an art background.

Absinthia Vermut  08:19

I do is actually art history, my own personal experience. So my my undergrad was in photography and art history from NYU. And it was the study of art history and absinthe that really hooked me into absinthe itself. I started making absinthe and discovered that it had this whole amazing art history to it. It was hard to find because there was no internet at this time. This was the mid to late 90s. But there was a recently published book, The history of absinthe by Barnaby Conrad that got me down this amazing research project of absinthe in our history. I've since been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and there's just so much absinthe art. It's absolutely beautiful. And you can't see because this is just an audio podcast, but I have a little green fairy pocket. Oh,

Lady Grey  09:16

fantastic. That's lovely. What and you said earlier that you have a green dress to sounds like you have an infamous green dress.

Absinthia Vermut  09:26

I have many green dresses, including some outfits made by one of your previous podcast guests autumn Adam from the dark garden has made 

Lady Grey  09:36

I was gonna ask you what your thoughts were she was on and referenced dark garden, her shop, as being a place that was welcoming to rebels. And so I wondered if you would put yourself in that category of rebel with what you do.

Absinthia Vermut  09:57

Absolutely. I think the thing I learned loved about absinthe was that it was illegal really drew me to it, it was this illegal, misunderstood. There's so much anti-absinthe propaganda and I just felt like, absinthe is really my muse. And I just wanted to just scoop it up and take care of it and show the world that it's actually really safe to drink. And it can be really delicious. And it doesn't have to be bitter. And it's not going to make you hallucinate. And I just wanted to let people know that it's this really wonderful thing. And I think that's definitely a rebellious thing to do to take an underdog and try to show the world that they should actually embrace. Absolutely.

Lady Grey  10:42

So what does a day in the life of a rebellious absintheure look like?

Absinthia Vermut  10:51

There's never two that are the same. I am either, you know, boring days chatting with my bookkeeper and working on the books of the business or dealing with the TTB. My first label took 23 months to be approved at the TTB there are days where for example, this week, I've been bottling and finishing up my new apps Variks and came home and my hands were sore for about three days from trying to get the corks into the bottles, we do everything by hands, working with my photographer, looking up vintage recipes, looking up different stories. And you know, one of my favorite things to do is to do podcasts. Yeah.

Lady Grey  11:31

And it's fantastic. Because I feel like there are so many people that are afraid of it, right? It's not their first pick, they're not gonna go to it. And some people are like, well, I don't like licorice. And they like blow it off as Ba, this one dimensional thing, right? And the right many, many bottles of absinthe of varying kinds that I have on my bar would speak to a completely different truth. What is it that makes it not everyone's first pick? What specifically do you think has happened over the years that's made people afraid and not want to try it?

Absinthia Vermut  12:10

It really amazes me that we are more than 100 years beyond when the anti f propaganda started. And people still believe it. I do a lot of education as part of my career. When I do tastings at bottle shops. Almost everyone who tasted buys a bottle when I'm not there, and it's just sitting on the shelf. Nobody even looks for absinthe, I have put over 100 different apps and cocktail recipes on my website to help show people when to when to use it, how to use it, how to use in a cocktail how to drink it in a loose, getting people to understand that this is just like any other alcoholic spirit. It's not scary. It's not licorice. And if you need a lot of sugar in your absinthe, chances are it's not very well crafted. So getting people to understand the difference between a true well crafted absinthe and a product. That's

Lady Grey  13:12

what I would love to know is more about Absinthia, your particular absinthe and what makes it special or unique.

Absinthia Vermut  13:23

One thing I really wanted to do with my brands was be very different than a lot of the apps that are out there, they're based on the old understanding a lot of them have a very dark golf appeal to them. They're they're all about death, you see a lot of skulls and reference to to death, and alcoholism and all of that and I wanted to create a brand that was very much alive and show people that absinthe could actually be made out of really high quality ingredients. It was certified organic in the beginning, that was actually prohibitively expensive and time consuming. And I didn't want to have to pass all that on to my consumers. So we're still using all organic ingredients, but we know how longer have that logo on the on the bottles. But the bottle show a really beautiful sketch of Wormwood, which is actually one of my tattoos on my arm and my back. All the ingredients are very, very high quality. So the grapes that we use are actually biodynamic grapes grown here in California. And we use organic Wormwood, anise, fennel, and coriander. That's for the blonde. And then for the very we take the launch and we we soak it in more organic herbs, three different organic herbs to get a green and strain it so there's no sweetener, there's no sweetener needed when you drink it. It's got a natural sweetness from the grapes that we use. I just didn't think that people who were going to choose a high quality organic absinthe wanted to throw sugar cubes into their glass so it doesn't eat sugar at all organic and it's just the feel of the brain. It's very much alive. For example, I recently recreated a Hemingway cocktail. So are you familiar with that? Absolutely. Yeah. Death in the Afternoon is champagne and absinthe. And it was the end of 2020. And we created a cocktail called Hopes and Dreams, where hopes is the champagne and dreams is the absinthe. Because we, you know, at the end of 2020, it just we didn't need at cocktail to celebrate death in the afternoon. We needed hopes and dreams. And that's my intention. Yeah. Oh, I

Lady Grey  15:33

know. I love that. I love that. It's interesting, because I guess I realized that a lot of the labels are very skull and death oriented. In my mind, I think of it as the green fairy, right? I think of it as this beautiful, artistic kind of feminine art actually, more than many other liquors. I feel like absinthe has an art built around it. The drinking of it is an art form, and, and the ritual and all of that. So I think of it as a very beautiful thing to drink. But yes, now I'm thinking, ooh, I should look at the bottles on my bar, and see how many of them have dark and somber sort of tones in them. So that's fascinating. That's very fascinating. You mentioned your Verte. And when this episode comes out, it will be the week that we're also celebrating National Absinthe Day. So it's appropriate. How can people get a hold of your absinthe? Where can they purchase it?

Absinthia Vermut  16:39

The best way to do it is go to my website, which is very easy to remember, it's absinthia.com. And you just click the shop button, and that will take you to my e commerce site. We ship to I think, currently 47 states, there's always a few states that it's not legal to ship alcohol into, those are constantly changing. So if for any reason, you can't ship to your state, that's state laws, we really have no control over that.

Lady Grey  17:08

I'm curious, you mentioned there was a little bit of a time lag between when you made the Blanche and when you made the Verte. What was that due to?

Absinthia Vermut  17:20

That was due to a whole number of different things. I got the blanche out, I wasn't really happy with the verte recipe and we just kept working on it. Midway through I switched distillers which was a really complicated process. And the various labels similar to the launch label took a long time to approve it. Well, it says on the bottle, distilled with herbs and spices, which is for some reason, the phrase that the labeling agency at the federal office, the TTB liked it sounds to me like it's pie not absinthe. But I got to the point where it didn't matter. I just wanted to have my label on my bottle and get it out. There's also you know, the issue of sourcing the right herbs, we use vintage recipes from Switzerland. And sometimes it's really hard to get the right ingredients in the right quantities in the right time of year. So you know, this really is a business that starts on farm. So you know, we get everything from several different farmers. Sometimes I'm looking for new farmers new connections, we use mostly fresh, warm wood. And I've had issues where the warm wood has arrived wasn't packed properly and arrived at the distiller composted and you have to wait a whole nother year to get more warm wood it can be really can be really challenging, but it was just a matter of everything come together. And one of the lessons I've really learned in making products is that they're going to come together when they want to not when I want to.

Lady Grey  19:04

When did you know that this was kind of the leap of faith that you wanted to take you were not going to pursue art history or whatever you had gone to school for and that this was the path that your life was gonna take.

Absinthia Vermut  19:22

It took a while and absolutely first legalized in 2007. I was really shocked. I never expected it to be legal in my lifetime. And I had to think about whether I wanted to go down this road and start this alcohol business go through all the headaches and hassles. And you know, it's very expensive to get a licensing in place. And I wasn't sure I wanted to do it and I spent a few years trying to write a business plan. I spent a few more years trying to write a business plan and it was really hard especially with a background in arts and I ended up taking a course At the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Francisco, I won the Best business idea in my class. And then I actually went back to school and I got my MBA, because I really wanted to run this business, right. And I wanted to be taken seriously. And one of the things as a woman in the alcohol industry is that people just don't take it seriously as a big boys club. And having that MBA has really helped with that. It's, of course, given me an education and the knowledge how to run a business, which is so important. But it was also a lot of the way people see me, they just really treated That's fascinating.

Lady Grey  20:37

We've talked a lot on this show about women and empowerment, you know, there's still so much discrepancy between our experiences and that of our male counterparts, and what we have to do to prove ourselves.

Absinthia Vermut  20:55

We sure do, we sure do. I put NBA on all my all my emails, I put it on my business card. And, you know, when I first started out, I had a GM at a hotel. I mean, I felt like he was gonna pat me on the head when he said, yo, you started a business. I don't get that anymore. I'm also a very proud member of the women's cocktail collective, which is an organization of women, spirit, brand owners. And it's a really wonderful, very collaborative.

Lady Grey  21:25

Is it a big group, I'm curious.

Absinthia Vermut  21:29

There's about a dozen of us that are very active, it started with two or three women. I don't think there's more than 20 to 25 brands at this point. They are trying to keep the organization in such a way where I am the absinthe brands, so none of my content not that there's many other women absinthe makers out there, but I am the absinthe brand. There is the gym, there is the vodka. There is the bitters, you know, so it's really fun type of products for each

Lady Grey  21:58

and everything you have a community of people who are having the same sort of experiences within the industry. Maybe you do or don't want to share this depending on your secrets and how close to the vest you keep them on. My question is just we talk a lot about outrageous dreams, and things that are 5-10 years down the road or things that we haven't really put a business plan around necessarily right but are like those big extraordinary goals you would like to do. Do you have any of those?

Absinthia Vermut  22:34

Oh, of course I do. I will share. Yes, yes. I would like to expand beyond absinthe. There's a lot of my research has shown me that in the 100 or so years were Wormwood was misunderstood and thought to be very dangerous. It was removed from products more than absinthe. Worldwide Wormwood was obviously used in vermouth was used in amaros. I would like to create a gin with Wormwood, I think Wormwood and Juniper pair really well together. So I have actually worked with my designer and I have a whole line of bottles with different colored liquid inside it. I'm really seeing a barrel-aged absinthe in the fall. I'm struggling right now because I have a gorgeous butterfly pea flower absinthe but the federal government hasn't decided whether they're going to allow butterfly pea flower in alcohol products. So there's a there's a whole investigation going on with that right now. But yeah, I ultimately like to have eight between eight and 10 different organic products.

Lady Grey  23:49

I'm so excited. I just got really really excited about the things I'm gonna stock my bar with you know, I wanted to ask you before and I forgot to as we got into what made Absinthia unique and your journey into it. You mentioned somebody gave you a recipe early on. What has been your experience with mentors and other people that have kind of helped you along this journey? Has it been very solo? Or have there been other people that have helped kind of hold your hand along the way?

Absinthia Vermut  24:23

There's definitely been people that have helped along the way. I'm so grateful to them. And every once in a while now someone reaches out to me that I can help which is so awesome to be able to pay it forward like that. One woman that comes to mind is Allison Evanhoe used to live in the Bay Area and we would have lunch occasionally. She's the founder of Square One Organic Vodka and Botanicals and Syrups. Her strong advice to me was not to get into this business because it's too hard and it's not enough money. And I said, I can't help it. I'm like a writer who has to write or an actor has to act i have to do this absinthe and she said okay, Okay. She's one of the founding members of the Women's Cocktail Collective. And she's just always been fantastic. And working with my new distiller he's been amazing to work with you creating new recipes and working to get new products out, and several bartender friends that I have with tastings and advice. Yeah, I mean, everyone's just always been very, very supportive. 

Lady Grey  25:22

That is awesome. I think it makes all the difference in the world, too, to have a circle around you of people that that get what you're doing and fully support you.

25:31

Mm hmm.

Lady Grey  25:33

Yes, yeah. called Absinthia's outrageous advice. And this is your opportunity to share with people that are listening, what advice you have for them about how they can make their lives more outrageous, maybe that's something very simple to do one time, or that's something they should do every day, whatever comes to mind.

Absinthia Vermut  26:01

I was in Hawaii recently, which is where my daughter is currently living. And I was staying at this hotel, and I would stop and talk to the bartender every night. And by the third night, he was like, You are so unusual. All your interests are so unusual. I have a pyrotechnic certification, I do fireworks. I am learning how to fire spin. I'm learning how to roller skate. I'm trained in Muay Thai, I make absinthe, right. So I do all these unusual and weird things. And of course, I've never been the type of person who would be very happy with a desk job, and coming home to a safe house and the relationship and you know, all of that just never really been my style. But I think following your passion is really, it's very simple. It really can change your life. If you want to try something new. If something intrigues you, don't be afraid to fail, you probably this is a hard thing for me to to overcome in the beginning. You may not be very good at it in the beginning, but you just have to keep practicing. And if it's something you want to get good at, it will come and if you're really passionate about it, I say go for it. Follow your heart.

Lady Grey  27:15

I feel like nobody was good at rollerskating their first time. Like, that's just not a thing.

Absinthia Vermut  27:21

You know, I've discovered that it's not like riding a bicycle. I used to rollerblade all over Manhattan in when I was in college. And now I'm trying to learn how to roller skate decades later. And it's tough. It's really hard. I'm curious about

Lady Grey  27:34

the first day of spinning fire. And not doing well with that, like, what does that translate to? And how dangerous is it?

Absinthia Vermut  27:46

I mean, I've been going to Burning Man for 25 years, you know, and I light up fireworks. So I feel like I know my way around fire, I wouldn't tell anyone just to pick up a fire stick and start spinning. I've been practicing with puoi which are just glowy lights. So that helps. We also use white gas and you know, you're very careful what outfits you're wearing. It's all 100% cotton, no metal zippers, nothing that's gonna catch on fire, put your hair back all those safety precautions are really, really important. But you know, do be in a safe place expect to drop it and move quickly. Oh my God, that's hilarious. I'm

Lady Grey  28:25

several members of my vaudeville company that are familiar. And they're gonna get a kick out of this conversation. I'm sure when they hear this. I am not one of those people. I am not that coordinated. I'm a tap dancer. So if I could do it with my feet, maybe but not with my hands.

Absinthia Vermut  28:48

You know, it's funny because I am what they call cross dominance. So I'm mostly right handed, I'm left legs, because I started with my tie, which is kickboxing. I'm southpaw or goofy foot or whatever you want to call it. If I had started with traditional boxing, I would probably be standard or orthodox. One of my first times without actual fire and not with a ploy, I realized that my left hand is better at it than my right hand. Again, it's a matter of experimenting and learning and trying and not being afraid to fail and follow your passion no matter how weird it is. I was drawn to absinthe because it was illegal. And that was really cool. You know, why should I do what they say I can do and not what they say I can't do. And as it turned out 10 years later, it was it was legal anyway, it never really needed to be. And like I mentioned before, they never had to change any laws or lift any bands. They just realized it was already safe based on the scientific theories they and test that they had put it through. So don't be afraid to follow your passion. Yeah. And

Lady Grey  29:50

that's definitely outrageous. If somebody's got a passion, and it doesn't fit into societal norms. That doesn't mean To not pursue it because it's not right or good or Okay, or acceptable or whatever.

Absinthia Vermut  30:06

socially acceptable, right? And then there's the whole gender bit to it as well. You know, like I said, I'm probably one of a very few number of female AdSense makers, it was about 45% women in my MBA program, but you know, that's relatively new as well. You don't find a lot of women at the dojo practicing with Thai. So you know, don't worry about it. I wholeheartedly agree.

Lady Grey  30:32

Right there on the same page with you. Alright, so now you get to tell me about your most outrageous fan or supporter, who is the person you want to give a shout out to?

Absinthia Vermut  30:48

Well, unfortunately, he passed away a couple years ago, but my most outrageous fan is Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man. He was one of the very first people to try my absinthe, I would serve at so many Birdman fundraisers back when Bernie man was was broke and struggling, although I guess it is again now, because of the pandemic. I remember. One evening, I was preparing and I was out of a very important ingredient in the initial recipe. And I decided just to make it without and I said, Larry, come taste this. And he was like, Oh, that's better. He loved it. And so I stopped using that one. I can't remember now what it was. But I stopped using that one ingredients. There's another story of him and a few friends. He just loved the absinthe. It was amazing. Those sort of stories that he and a couple of friends decided they had to find me. And they started walking around Burning Man together is absolutely a here. Do you guys know what Cynthia? Is she in this camp. And as he would walk away, people go very hard. Just on a mission on a mission for absinthe, and I'm specifically on a mission for my absinthe, which is just really touched that is really special.

Lady Grey  32:07

Well, that's fantastic. And hopefully Burning Man picks back up, where it left off. Right. And we get back to some sense of what was before I guess.

Absinthia Vermut  32:19

Here's hoping it does in a in a safe way that makes sense for everybody. Absolutely. Looking forward to that shift.

Lady Grey  32:25

You mentioned this before, but I think it bears asking you again real quick, so that it's sort of a nice bookend. If people are new to drinking absinthe, and they want to learn more, or they want to find you online or send you a message, what's the best way that they can hunt you down?

Absinthia Vermut  32:47

My website is Absinthia.com. And there's so many resources on there. There's an FAQ all about absinthe, the different colors, the different ingredients, the different rumors about it, some of the truth histories, some of the art history on that, as well as a recipe collection. So what my web designer and I created was a drop down menu, will your pull down the base alcohol and that will give you so you select gin and up pops all the different gin and absinthe cocktail recipe Oh photographs.

Lady Grey  33:20

Fantastic.

Absinthia Vermut  33:21

So the concept for that was that if you're if you have a bottle of absinthe on your bar, and you have a bottle of something else, gin, champagne, aka V, whatever it is bourbon, you can just go to the website, select bourbon, and you'll know what to do and really, really fun. Then that's where you can buy the the ABS as well. And as of March 5, National Absinthe Day, the day that they said it was okay to start selling it again. So March 5 2007. So March 5 2021, will be the first day that you can buy my absinthe verte online provided that all the all the gears and the wheels move in the right way. It's a very complicated business. So the goal is to have the absinthe verte available on the website on absinthia.com March 5th.

Lady Grey  34:09

Fabulous. And I'll put all of that in the show notes. So it's super easy for people to find. Before you go. I would like to ask you what your favorite absinthe cocktail is, what would be your go to

Absinthia Vermut  34:24

the tuxedo number two, the tuxedo number two is part of a category of cocktails called improved cocktails. And what that means is that their classic cocktails with Maraschino liqueur and the absinthe. So the tuxedo number two is a gin Martini with Maraschino liqueur and absinthe and it's gorgeous gold color. And it is so phenomenal 

Lady Grey  34:55

checking what time it is and if it's five o'clock somewhere, I'm pretty sure I have all those things just within arm's reach.

Absinthia Vermut  35:01

Yes, so the recipe again is at absinthia.com. Click recipes, select gin and it's there. Gin is actually one of the things that absinthe parents really, really well with. So there's a lot of recipes in the gin category.

Lady Grey  35:16

Beautiful. Well thank you so much. This has been super super educational. I feel like it's really fun and outrageous. And people have probably learned a lot from you.

Absinthia Vermut  35:26

It's funny, because I don't think of myself as outrageous.

Lady Grey  35:29

I think it's all relative, right? I have to come on the show all the time that say the exact same thing. And I think that is what makes their life so outrageous and fun is that they don't consider taking risks and dreaming big and going for broke as being outrageous. It's just a thing. Yeah, yeah. Listen, you are always welcome on my show anytime. Thank you so much. Yeah. And thank you for teaching us to live a little more outrageously.

Absinthia Vermut  36:04

My pleasure. Cheers.

36:10

Well, outrageous friends. It has been my honor and my pleasure to have you here today. I hope that you took away some outrageous ideas for your own life. If you enjoyed yourself, make sure that you're subscribed to live outrageously with Lady Grey on whatever your podcast app is. You can also connect with me personally on Facebook at facebook.com/outrageousladygrey, or on Instagram @lady.grey. Also, be sure to check out the website at www.liveoutrageously.com. Once again, this is Lady Grey, encouraging you to go out and live outrageously.