Famous artists and writers like Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Gauguin, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Degas and many more 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. Other herbal ingredients used in the manufacture may include hyssop, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, juniper, nutmeg, dittany, calamus root and mint.
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. Legend says that Absinthe was created by a French doctor Dr Pierre Ordinaire in the late 18th century, in the Swiss town of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers. Ordinaire used it on his patients, as an elixir, with miraculous results.
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. Everyday the production of Absinthe was 30,000 liters by the Pernod company!
Absinthe was a popular drink in France, in La Belle Epoque, and also many other countries. The popularity of Absinthe was more in comparison to wine in France. Contemporary there were concerns about health and the effects of Absinthe. It was said that the liquor is linked to the Bohemian culture of Montmartre. People became convinced that thujone, the chemical in wormwood, was psychoactive and caused psychedelic effects, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death.
People believed that Absinthe was responsible for Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, for a man killing his family and for the rising rate of alcohol abuse in France. Absinthe was banned in the USA in 1912 and France in 1915. Absinthe was banned in other countries also.
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.
Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone was legalized in the EU in the late 20th century and in 2007, in the USA, certain brands of Absinthe, those containing up to 10 ppm, were legalized and Americans can now enjoy buying brands such as “Lucid” .
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. In France, Absinthes are famous as “spirit a base de plantes d’absinthe” and should contain up to 5mg per liter of fenchone.
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.Visit AbsintheKit.com for more information about Absinthe essences. They also sell replica Absinthe glasses and spoonslike a Pontarlier glass and Eiffel Tower spoon.