Absinthe (pronounced ab-sant) is the French
word for wormwood, which is a bitter aromatic herb of the genus Artemisia.Originally wormwood was a medicinal plant,
so named because it was used to cure intestinal worms. It was also used
to repel fleas and moths - and in brewing! For instance, the aperitif
vermouth (from the German word Wermut: "wormwood") is a wine
flavored with aromatic herbs, but originally with wormwood.
Eventually this medicinal drink became so
greatly appreciated in France and Switzerland in the 18th and 19th centuries
that people took to drinking it for pleasure. That elixir, a distillate
of wormwood and other herbs in alcohol, was called "extrait d'absinthe"
(wormwood extract), or, less formally, absinthe.
So absinthe is...? Today we refer to absinthe as a highly alcoholic anise-flavoured, distilled liquor containing the herb wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). Green in colour, it turns into a cloudy, opalescent white when mixed with water.
What does absinthe taste like? Absinthe is an anise-based drink, as anise makes up the greatest portion of its herbal ingredients. Absinthe therefore has an anise flavor, sometimes described by the less perceptive as licorice-flavoured. Once diluted, a glass of absinthe (and especially La Fée!) is a long chilled drink with a very smooth anise flavour, reminiscent of long summer days in the south of France!
Why was absinthe banned? Basically prohibitionists in France claimed to prove that absinthe was harmful to human health. The foremost of the researchers who carried out these studies was one Dr. Valentin Magnan, whose specialties were alcoholism and insanity. The Lanfray murders in Switzerland in 1905 contributed to sealing the drink's fate, as this incident was blamed on absinthe. It was consequently banned in 1910, with USA (1912) and France (1915) following suit shortly after.
Will absinthe make me high? Apart from its high alcoholic content, the ingredient wormwood contains a chemical called thujone, which is very similar to the active chemical in cannabis. Some people claim to experience "secondary effects" from absinthe, although it is not comparable to the effects of a potent hallucinogen such as LSD. Normally absinthe contains extremely low levels of Thujone and well within the 10mg/l norm allowed by EU regulations.
Why is absinthe sometimes spelt without an 'e'? Absinth spelt withouth an 'e' usually refers to a brand that comes from Eastern Europe and is likely to be "Bohemian style". Bohemian absinth does not louche when water is added, due to the little to no anise used compared to the traditional Swiss / French style.
Why is absinthe associated with so many famous artists? Absinthe was romanticized and captured in artwork and writings by countless artists, playwrights and authors at the end of the 19th Century. All these artists were celebrated not just for their work, but also for their often outrageously bohemian lifestyles. Some even went mad, or at least behaved as if they were. Absinthe might not have been what made them famous, but they certainly made absinthe infamous!
