The Allure of Absinthe

The history of absinthe is as intoxicating as the drink itself. Absinthe, also called The Green Fairy (due to the emerald green coloring that is imparted by the chlorophyll from the herbs)is making a comeback in the U.S. after being banned for nearly a century. Due to the dedication of several absinthe advocates, litigation was undertaken and new regulations were passed. The flight of the Green Fairy continues on and her story is as intriguing as ever...

Legend has it that absinthe was concocted in Switzerland sometime in the eighteenth century, but there is no certainty on who created the potion nor the exact year it came into existence. Some say a French doctor by the name of Dr. Ordinaire was the creator but others say it was made by two sisters with the last name of Henriod. There are even rumors that absinthe-like drinks were made in the Swiss region of Neuchatel around 1750, and that some years later the Henriod sisters took the basic recipe and doctored it up with fresh herbs from their garden. What is known is that Major Dubied purchased the recipe and opened the first large scale distillery with his son-in-law, Henri-Louis Pernod.

In a short period of time the drink evolved from an elixir (hailed by Dr. Ordinaire as a cure-all) to a common aperitif of the bourgeoisie and then to one of the most popular drinks throughout Europe and its colonies, and was especially a hit in Paris where Happy Hour was called L'Huere Verte (the Green Hour). The Green Fairy found her way into the hearts of the bohemians and inspired many works of art with her bewitching effect, such as Manet's "The Absinthe Drinker", Degas' "L'Absinthe" and Van Gough's "Still Life with Absinthe" to name a few.

Absinthe was the drink of choice during the Belle Epoque. Even in New Orleans (hence the French connection) absinthe was a beloved drink of the people and a landmark was erected on Bourbon St. called The Absinthe Room a.k.a., The Old Absinthe House. There was something about the high alcohol content and mixture of anise, wormwood, fennel and hyssop that people couldn't get enough of. And surely the ritual of placing a sugar cube onto a beautifully slotted spoon and placing it over a special absinthe glass, slowly pouring ice cold water over it to allow the melting sugar to drip into the liquor and watching it louche (turning from emerald green to off-white) had a sensual appeal to it.

However, at the height of The Green Fairy's popularity several factors came into play to ban her from society. Many say the owners of French wineries were one of the main causes for her demise. After a vine blight nearly destroyed most of the vineyards in France the ensuing wine shortage significantly increased the cost of wine, thus skyrocketing the demand for absinthe, resulting in an economy of scale for absinthe production. In addition, many of the absinthe distillers switched from grape based alcohol to more cost effective alcohols thus decreasing the cost of absinthe even more. As a result, absinthe was the favored drink in France.

Needing to recover losses, vineyard owners, who owned land and had strong political ties, began claiming wine as France's national drink, and the art of wine making as a proud national heritage. They also used propaganda to spread the idea that wine was healthy and natural and absinthe was terribly unhealthy (traditionally absinthe is an herbal drink but some distillers didn't hesitate to alter the recipe by substituting cheap and unsafe chemicals to achieve a similar result and to reduce cost). This fueled the fear of absinthism - a condition where an overconsumption of absinthe reportedly caused dangerous health problems, including insanity. Around the same time, a report was circulated by a prominent French psychiatrist, Dr. Magnan, stating wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium) one of the main ingredients in absinthe - or more precisely thujone (the active chemical in wormwood), caused a number of deleterious effects, particularly when combined with alcohol. Despite the fact that absinthe only contains a trace amount of thujone, and that the study was conducted using extremely high doses of wormwood extract, people began to regard absinthe as much more dangerous then other alcoholic beverages. And the bizarre behavior and suicidal tendencies of the artists and bohemians who imbibed a lot of absinthe seemed to confirm the report.

The propaganda, coupled with the Temperance Movement, created an anti-absinthe atmosphere. Then the Lanfray murders of 1905 occurred in Switzerland which sealed the fate of The Green Fairy who was blamed as the culprit that drove Mr. Lanfray to murder his pregnant wife and two children. Several countries, including France and the U.S., began to ban absinthe. It remained legal in Spain, Portugal and eastern Europe and was never officially banned in the U.K. but was never distilled on a mass scale in these countries. The Green Fairy slipped into obscurity, but only for a little while...

The Czech Republic, specifically a distiller named Radomill Hill, has been credited for spurring the resurgence of absinthe(or absinth as he labels it). Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, Hill decided to make absinthe in the distillery he inherited from his father and eventually began exporting his product to the U.K. However, some hard-core absinthuers do not consider Hill's or other versions of absinthe from Bohemia to be authentic. They also frown upon the Bohemian style of drinking absinthe where the sugar cube is set on fire (although this is the way absinthe drinking is depicted in movies, no evidence has been found that people originally prepared it this way). Regardless, absinthe is regaining international popularity.

In 2007, after several years of proceedings between the TTB, FDA and two companies, Kubler and Viridian Spirits, the ban on absinthe in the U.S. was loosened. A couple of stipulations were required - certain labeling restrictions as well as not allowing the level of thujone to exceed 10 ppm (parts per million)- which is considered thujone-free. This maximum amount is approximately equivalent to what the European Union allows. Apparently, original absinthe never contained very much wormwood, but it was the Magnan report that misinformed people, including authorities, to believe it contained high levels of thujone, thus relating it to psychoactive drugs such as laudanum.

To be sure, the life of The Green Fairy has been interesting, from being hailed an elixir and becoming a world famous liquor to being feared, condemned and banned, creating a mystique and allure around her. Who knows what's in store for her future but for now, after a tumultuous past, The Green Fairy has been welcomed back into society.

To watch a beautiful demonstration of how absinthe is prepared, click on the link.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=40k7SkXi3Rc