Since 1807, the Old Absinthe House at 240 Bourbon Street has been receiving notable guests: Oscar Wilde drank here, Franklin Roosevelt drank here, and according to legend so did Andrew Jackson and the Marquis de Lafayette. The copper-topped bar, ancient cypress woodwork, and walls plastered with business cards from every nation constitute one of the great bar interiors in America. The signature absinthe drip (cold water over a sugar cube, slowly turning the spirit milky-green in a ritual unchanged since the nineteenth century) is the obvious order. The building dates to 1806, which means the Old Absinthe House has been pouring drinks longer than Louisiana has been a state.
