About Absinthe
Absinthe
Absinthe is a liquor which is between 45 and 75% ABV (alcohol by volume), about twice as strong as other types of alcoholic beverages such as whisky and vodka.
Often known as “The Green Fairy” or “La Fee Verte”, Absinthe was the drink associated with La Belle Epoque and Bohemian Paris. It was given to French soldiers in the 1840s to treat malaria and they brought the drink home with them. Absinthe bars began opening all over Paris and special Absinthe hours or “L’heure verte” took place daily. In the middle of the 19th century Pernod who were the distillers of Absinthe, were making almost 30,000 liters of this drink every day for the French people to buy!
Absinthe The History of Absinthe
Legend says that Dr Pierre Ordinaire created Absinthe in the town of Couvet in the 18th century as a tonic for his patients. The Absinthe recipe eventually got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who first distilled Absinthe in Couvet and then later in Pontarlier, France under the name of Pernod Fils.
Pernod used a wine base with various herbs including common wormwood (artemisia absinthium), aniseed, fennel, lemon balm, hyssop, angelica, dittany, star anise, nutmeg and juniper.
Among famous drinkers of the Green Fairy were van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway.
Absinthe eventually became more popular than wine in France, and the prohibition movement campaigned to get Absinthe banned because:-
- Thujone, in wormwood, was thought to be very similar to THC in cannabis and considered to be psychoactive.
– Absinthe was linked with the loose morals of the artists and courtesans of Montmartre.
– Absinthe was thought to cause hallucinations, convulsions and to drive people insane.
It was claimed that an Absinthe drinker murdered his whole family – which was just the excuse that the prohibition movement were looking for to persuade the government to ban Absinthe. The selling, buying and consumption of Absinthe in France was made illegal in France in 1915 and in many other countries around this same time.
Many studies done by different researchers have shown that Absinthe, including vintage Absinthe, only contains very small amounts of thujone and is perfectly safe to drink. Legalized in most all countries since the 1990s, there has been an Absinthe revival in many countries, including the USA which has recently allowed a few brands to go on sale.
All About Absinthe About the Essences in Absinthe
To enjoy Absinthe, you can either order bottles of Absinthe online or you can make your own Absinthe using essences from AbsintheKit.com. These essences are used by the Absinthe industry and are made using traditional herbal ingredients such as aniseed, wormwood, and fennel. Your own Absinthe can be simply be made by mxing with either Everclear. Essence is available in four different types.
Preparing Absinthe
The proper way to prepare Absinthe is to follow this interesting ritural:-
– Pour 25-50ml Absinthe into an Absinthe glass.
– Slotted Absinthe spoon can be rested on top of the glass.
– Put a sugar cube on the spoon.
– Drip iced water over sugar using an Absinthe fountain or pour slowly from a carafe.
– Watch for the Absinthe louche.
– Drink this wonderful Absinthe drink.
I hope you have now learned all about Absinthe, the mysterious drink with a very interesting past and a great taste.