The end results of Absinthe are well known. Ask anyone about Absinthe and they’ll remember Absinthe as the green liquor which was famously banned around the world as it drove people to insanity. A number of these folks have never tried Asbinthe and can’t comment from personal experience.
Absinthe was originally developed being an elixir or tonic by a doctor in the Swiss town of Couvet. Dr Ordinaire managed to make it out of a selection of herbs recognized for their medicinal properties. His recipe ultimately got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who manufactured Absinthe from a wine base and added herbal ingredients like aniseed, wormwood, hyssop, fennel, star anise, angelica root, lemon balm, nutmeg, juniper and dittany. Other producers used various kinds of herbs together with Pernod’s recipe, herbs such as calamus root and mint.
The Green Fairy, or Absinthe, was handed to French soldiers in the 1840s to treat malaria and became favored by the troops who brought it home along where it grew extremely popular in bars in France. Some bars even had Absinthe hours – L’heure vert – the green hour.
The Absinthe Ritual was an essential part of the enjoyment of drinking Absinthe. Absinthe was provided in bars in unique Absinthe glasses using an Absinthe spoon, a sugar cube and ice cold water. The barman or waiter would work with a carafe or fountain to drip the water over the sugar on the spoon and the buyer would look at the Absinthe louche as the water combined with the liquor.
Absinthe became a popular drink amongst the artists and writers of the Bohemian part of Paris – Montmartre. Artists and writers, such as Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Degas, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Oscar Wilde as well as Gauguin, all claimed that Absinthe gave them their genius and creativity. Absinthe and Absinthe drinkers are featured in lots of works of art such as Albert Maignan’s “Green Muse” from 1895 showing an Absinthe drinker that has a fairy (the green fairy) and Degas’ “L’Absinthe” from 1876.
Oscar Wilde wrote “After the first glass of Absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
Others have described the effects of drinking Absinthe as a “clear headed” or “lucid” drunkenness and this could possibly be because Absinthe contains both sedatives and stimulants.
Effects of Absinthe as well as the Prohibition
Absinthe was famously banned in France in 1915 and several other countries around the world also banned it. The prohibition campaigners had managed to encourage the French government that Absinthe will bring about the country’s downfall and therefore prolonged drinking of Absinthe, Absinthism, caused the following effects:-
– Hallucinations
– Super excitability
– Decline of the intellect
– Insanity
– Brain deterioration
– Violence
The compound thujone, seen in one of many vital ingredients of absinthe, wormwood, was viewed as like THC within the drug cannabis. Thujone was speculated to be a neurotoxin, to be psychoactive and also to cause psychedelic effects. The wormwood in Absinthe was held responsible for Van Gogh’s suicide and then for a man killing his family.
Numerous studies have demostrated that thujone should be consumed in considerable amounts to result in such unpleasant effects so when Ted Breaux, Absinthe manufacturer and creator of the “Lucid” brand, screened bottles of vintage pre-ban Absinthe he found out that Absinthe only was comprised of minute amounts of thujone. Absinthe has consequently been legalized in many countries now.
Absinthe is principally alcohol and is an extremely strong spirit, about twice as strong as other types of spirits like whisky and vodka. It would therefore be essentially impossible to take in a great deal of thujone as you wouldn’t be capable of consume so much alcohol and still be capable to drink!
The effects of Absinthe really are just stories, part of the myth and legend that surrounds this glorious drink. Try some yourself by getting a bottle of real wormwood Absinthe on the internet or by developing your very own by making use of Absinthe essences via AbsintheKit.com.