La Fée Verte Has Her Day March 5th
The Wine Snoop Report
Ever on the lookout for a good theme to party to at chez nous, I was both surprised and pleased to learn that March 5th is National Absinthe Day. I know just where to find my ’60s Peter Max 23” x 36” Toulouse-Lautrec poster, and as the “green fairy” liquor is now both legal and readily available, I just need to figure out the best way to dispense it. Sadly, I will not have time before friends come over, to try and find a replica of one of the Picasso Glass of Absinthe sculptures I saw on display in the major mounting of his work recently done at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Then I began to wonder what other alcohol related national days might be considered as alternatives. I knew about Margarita Day (Feb. 22), having spilled a giant one at Mexican restaurant in town two years ago. So off to Google, and as always, what I learned was revelatory. Unknowingly, this year to date I have missed Bloody Mary Day (Jan. 1) and Drink Wine Day (Feb. 18). But I will be ready May 21 for World Whiskey Day, and August 7 for National India Pale Ale Day.
Most importantly, I will be prepared for National Rosé Day (June 11), but imagine my shock to learn this day owes its creation to the Swedes. Forward thinking Bodvár of Sweden – House of Rosés successfully petitioned the National Day Calendar organization in 2014, and June 13, 2015 launched it in the U.S. with a party in the Hamptons. (Where else?)
Bodvár’s web site proudly proclaims that their annual celebration provides “awareness and gives Rosé lovers a day to celebrate with summer’s water all over the world.”” (“Summer’s water”– great descriptor!) Its U.S. location has not yet been announced, but if again on the East Coast, I stand ready to crash it.
–JC
As if I needed an excuse! Is there a National Pastis Day, too?
Not a pastis day yet, to my knowledge. But there is a move afoot to weaken it with a slight bit more water than normal, and refer to it as a “piscine.” In the bar I frequent in Cucuron I would not have the courage to order it. The stares I would likely receive would turn braver men to stone.
I had the good fortune to once live in Switzerland, near the center of absinthe production. It was still illegal when I lived there but the law was curiously devised: It was legal to produce absinthe, to buy it, to sell it, to own it and to drink it. What was illegal? To transport it! But of course everyone had a bottle that had magically appeared in their home and we all enjoyed a glass from time to time.
Someone should write a book on the many curious laws involving alcohol. When I lived in France (1988-1994) some fruit producers had the right to make a small amount of eau-de-vie tax free for personal use.