What Is Absinthe ?
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. Absinthe is flavored with herbs and essential oils along with wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), aniseed and fennel and 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. 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 which gave amazing results.
During the 19th century, Henri-Louis Pernod was using the Absinthe recipe to distill Absinthe in Couvet and under the name of Pernod Fils in the French town of Pontarlier. By the middle of the 19th century, the Pernod company were producing 30,000 liters of Absinthe each day!
Absinthe was a popular drink of various countries along with France, La Belle Epoque. The popularity of Absinthe was more in comparison to wine in France. Health and the effects of Absinthe was also considered at the same time. The liquor was 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.
Absinthe was thought to be the cause for Van Gogh’s insanity and his suicide, for the murder of a family and for 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. Several people were influenced with the proves given by studies and research.
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 EU has legalized Absinthe with up to 10mg/kg of thujone and in 2007 USA has legalized certain brands of Absinthe that 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. One can get Absinthe with up to 5mg per liter of fenchone in France.
One can now get Absinthe from online or from a liquor shop.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.
