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. Herbs and essential oils including wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), aniseed and fennel is used for flavoring Absinthe liquor and it is usually made from a wine alcohol base. Hyssop, lemon balm, star anise, angelica, juniper, nutmeg, dittany, calamus root and mint are the other herbal ingredients used in the manufacture of Absinthe.
Information about Absinthe History
Absinthe has a very long and interesting history. Its main herbal ingredient, wormwood, has been used in medicine since ancient times 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. It was used on the patients as an elixir which gave astonishing results.
In Couvet Henri-Louis Pernod was using the Absinthe recipe to distill Absinthe and under the name of Pernod Fils in the French town of Pontarlier. Absinthe was produced upto 30,000 liters each day by the Pernod company!
Absinthe was a popular drink in most of the countries. Due to Absinthe the popularity of wine was affected in France. Simultaneously there were concerns related to health and the effects of Absinthe. One can also find the liquor to be connected with the Bohemian culture of Montmartre. According to the people’s thought thujone was a psychoactive resulting in psychedelic effects, convulsions, insanity, brain damage and death.
According to the people’s thought Absinthe was the cause behind Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, a man killing his family and the rising rate of alcohol abuse in France. Absinthe was unauthorized in the USA and in France in the year 1912 and 1915 respectively. 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. Studies and research proved that the claims made about Absinthe were not true.
As per research thujone in Absinthe cannot cause any harmful side effects and intaking Absinthe was not risky than intaking other alcoholic beverages.
In the late 20th century Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone was authorized in the EU and with up to 10 ppm it was legalized in the USA .
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. Absinthes is known as “spirit a base de plantes d’absinthe” in France and only 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.For further information about Absinthe essences one can go through the site AbsintheKit.com. They also sell replica Absinthe glasses and spoonslike a Pontarlier glass and Eiffel Tower spoon.