Now that Four Loko is unpopular and "this close" from being banished to liquor stores forever, The Fix decided it was time for its creators to tell their side of the story. For instance, did you ever wonder where Four Loko got its name? For that we take you back to the late '90s, when Red Bull and vodka was the rage, and three guys decided to make their fortune by ripping off Sparks. more ›

Upper East Side French brasserie L'Absinthe opened in 1995, but the namesake beverage wasn't officially served until quite recently, because the the anise-flavored liquor was believed to be illegal in the U.S. According to The Wormood Society, absinthe was banned by the FDA in 1917 because of concerns that a chemical called thujone could cause toxic convulsions, brain damage, and liver damage. While later changes to the law don't specifically cite absinthe, it prohibits any food or drink containing an excess of 10ppm of thujone. When a study several years ago determined that absinthe distilled with traditional 19th century methods contains less thujone than the proscribed amount, the path to U.S. distribution was cleared. more ›

In September, the bar Apothéke opened in an unmarked space on Doyers Street, a tiny alley in Chinatown that sort of plays hangnail to Worth Street's cuticle. Apothéke is one of those semi-private venues, a bar you can't get into; that it's close to a secret tunnel makes it all the more baroque. You half expect to find a minotaur preening in the bathroom mirror with a bottle of Binaca and a comb. The name Apothéke refers to the pharmaceutical-themed nature of its mixed drink menu. The idea is that the place raises the bar for bars, and that head chef (or lead apothéker, as it were) Albert Trummer is half-and-half supertaster and chef, and one part sage. His specially concocted, spiced-tinctures-botanical-elixirs might cure your woes, homesick blues, lovelorn heart, or gnostic turpitude, if you're into that kind of thing. more ›