Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Gauguin, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Degas are among the famous artists and writers who enjoyed drinking Absinthe.
Absinthe is a strong alcoholic beveragedistilled at high proof but generally served diluted with iced water or in cocktails. The preparation of Absinthe liquor is done from a wine alcohol base and is flavored with herbs and essential oils together with wormwood, aniseed and fennel. One can also use hyssop, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, juniper, nutmeg, dittany, calamus root and mint in the making of Absinthe.
Information about Absinthe History
Absinthe has a very long and interesting history. Since ancient times wormwood has been used as a tonic and to stimulate digestion. A French doctor, Dr Pierre Ordinaire created Absinthe in the Swiss town of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers. Ordinaire used it on his patients as a medicine.
In Couvet Henri-Louis Pernod distilled Absinthe with the use of the Absinthe recipe and then under the name of Pernod Fils in the French town of Pontarlier. The Pernod company used to manufacture upto 30,000 liters of Absinthe each day!
Absinthe was a popular drink in most of the countries. Absinthe’s popularity affected wine producers as it overtook wine as the favorite drink of the French people. There were concerns about health and the effects of Absinthe simultaneously. The Bohemian culture of Montmartre was combined with the liquor. The psychedelic effects, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death was believed to be the causes from thujone.
Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, murder of a family and the rising rate of alcohol abuse in France were the events for which Absinthe was blamed. Buying and selling of Absinthe was illegal in the USA and in France. Other countries also made it illegal to buy and sell Absinthe.
Absinthe Revival
During the ban, people either drank Absinthe substitutes, such as Pernod Pastis, or bought bootleg Absinthe. Most of the people were convinced with the reports given by studies and research about Absinthe.
As per research thujone in Absinthe cannot cause any harmful side effects and intaking Absinthe was not risky than intaking other alcoholic beverages.
The EU legalized Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone in the late 20th century and in 2007 the USA legalized certain brands of Absinthe which contained up to 10 ppm of thujone .
France, home of Pernod’s original Absinthestill has a ban on products labeled “Absinthe” and France also strictly regulates drinks containing fenchone, a chemical in fennel which is a key ingredient in Absinthe. The fenchone content in Absinthe is 5mg per liter in France,.
In these times of revival, it is possible to order Absinthe online, buy it in a liquor shop or buy real wormwood Absinthe essences to make your very own Green Fairy – see AbsintheKit.The website AbsintheKit.com provides all the information related to Absinthe essences. They also sell replica Absinthe glasses and spoonslike a Pontarlier glass and Eiffel Tower spoon.