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READ IT (AGAIN): Pair Wilde’s Dorian Gray With An Absinthe Cocktail At “Pourhouse”

by George Giannakos and Robyn Yager | Slowing down a little and breaking out a good book is never a bad idea. But what to read? You could walk into any bookstore and roll the dice on a recent release, but here’s another option: pick up a book that you last put down 5, 10, or 20 years ago. For the next book in Scout’s Read It (Again) series, we’ve picked Oscar Wilde’s timeless 1890 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Why you should Read It (Again): The Picture of Dorian Gray was Wilde’s masterpiece and the only novel published by the Irish poet/playwright. It was widely considered an immoral work in its time, and as such it was subject to criticism, outrage and, ultimately, censorship. It’s simply a Faustian story about a young man whose notions of human nature, beauty, and youth are corrupted by opium hedonism a convincing mentor, with fatal consequences.

Pair it with: An absinthe cocktail at Pourhouse in Gastown, and do it all alone; consumed by a desire to stay young and beautiful. Oscar Wilde was particularly fond of this drink, and we think – after a glass or two – that it would help him feel even more at home in the bar’s Victorian embrace.

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