Oscar Wilde penned glorious stories of sipping absinthe in fashionable Victorian parlors. Wilde wrote: “After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are… .”

With the promise of fantastical side effects, the libation enchanted writers and inspired artists during the height of Paris’s Belle-Epoque. Manet and Picasso imbibed the spirit daily. It’s rumored Vincent van Gogh’s excessive absinthe consumption may have even led him down the path to madness. Decades later Ernest Hemingway discovered absinthe in Spain as a journalist covering the Spanish Civil War. The spirit became one of his favorite muses – and vices.

The experience of sipping absinthe at Five Crowns in Corona del Mar recalls this European decadence. Only regulars of the bar know about the once-a-month speakeasy, where head bartender Randy Thais creates a revolving cocktail menu. The one constant? The absinthe fountain.

Thais places four goblets beneath a clear glass vessel decorated with silver flourishes that looks like a glorious winner’s cup trophy. He pours a few ounces of absinthe into the glasses; each topped with sugar cubes sitting atop perforated teaspoons. Water droplets splash from the fountain onto the sugar. The cubes begin to dissolve, and then disintegrate. As you watch the melting sugar blocks, your mind turns to existential questions: Does this absinthe preparation symbolize the ticking clock of time? Does it reflect the fragility of our own fleeting life? Maybe it’s the ceremonial way each glass is prepared, or the mysticism of the drinking ritual. Whatever the combination, this absinthe experience is crazy good.

Ingredients

1.5 ounces Vilya Spirits absinthe

1 sugar cube

3 ounces ice cold water

Method

Pour liquor into an absinthe glass. Place a perforated absinthe spoon with sugar cube on top. Drizzle the water over the sugar cube until it dissolves. Stir vigorously.

Five Crowns

3801 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar 949.760.0331 :: lawrysonline.com/five-crowns