World Cup Cocktails: Group E
Like the England/Italy combination in Group D, I’ve been looking forward to France/Switzerland in this group. That’s because these two countries are closely tied with the scandalous spirit of absinthe.
This also means I have an excuse to include a gratuitous image of L’Absinthe by Degas:
Boom. ART.
I used a tiny dash absinthe in a previous group’s cocktail, but here it’ll take the center stage. France is popularly associated with this spirit, as its artists and celebrities brought it prominence in 19th- and 20th-century Paris. But the creation of absinthe goes back to 18th-century Switzerland, and Swiss politicians are trying to prevent other countries from using the term “absinthe.”
This is actually why I enjoyed the French drubbing of the Swiss team last week. I imagine that a soccer victory has somehow invalidated their silly politics.