Cary Bonnecaze is known for many things. As 225 details in a feature in the April issue: He’s the co-founder and original drummer for the alternative rock band, Better than Ezra; he was a talented placekicker who walked on to the LSU football team; and over the years he’s become known as a key collector, authority and producer of all things absinthe.
Nicknamed the “Green Fairy” and associated with creativity and bad behavior, the herby, anise-flavored drink was banned in the United States during Prohibition and throughout Europe around World War I.
Bonnecaze became obsessed with absinthe’s gadgetry after leaving Better Than Ezra and opening a French Quarter gift store in 1998. Named Vive la France, the store carried items that were truly French, not Cajun French, including absinthe spoons.
When real absinthe became legal in 2007, Bonnecaze converted the store to Maison d’Absinthe and started selling only absinthe wares. His collection included large numbers of original and reproduction spoons with ornate designs, absinthe fountains and absinthe glasses. Bonnecaze eventually closed the New Orleans storefront and after stays in other cities returned to his hometown of Baton Rouge in 2013 to open Bonnecaze Absinthe and Home Wholesale.
The mail-order manufacturer and online distributor of absinthe wares and home goods fabricates detailed, high-quality absinthe spoons, hand-blown absinthe glasses, reproduction French café tables and other items that help preserve the cocktail’s glamorous culture.
The timing has been perfect, he says, as new absinthe makers in Europe and the United States are producing complex versions of the spirit that appeal to today’s cocktail-cognizant class. “A lot of history surrounding absinthe was lost when it was illegal,” Bonnecaze says. “It’s really fun to be part of its return.”
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