Absinthe

It's a myth that Absinthe isn't being made any more. It's available again now in Europe, and in America.

Absinthe is a yellowish-green Swiss liqueur made from angelica root, aniseed, fennel, hyssop, liquorice, star aniseed and wormwood.

It has a bitter taste and turns cloudy when mixed with water.

Genuine Absinthe gets its coloration naturally from the herbs in the recipe.

It is usually served with water or in mixed drinks. To serve it, a special spoon with a hole or slots in it is placed over a glass with some Absinthe already in it. A sugar cube is placed on the spoon, then water is dripped slowly over the sugar cube through the spoon holes into the glass. The sugar helps to offset the bitterness. In Britain, it is preferred as an ingredient in cocktails. The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) by Harry Craddock included Absinthe in over 100 cocktail recipes.

One of the components of wormwood is a compound named "thujone" (also present in the herb Yarrow, and in Sage.) It is thujone that gives Absinthe its somewhat "evergreen bush" aroma. Thujone, and other of the ingredients in Absinthe, are soluble in alcohol, so Absinthe is clear in the bottle. They aren't soluble in water (or wine), though, so when either of those is added, those ingredients clump together, reflecting light away, and in doing so causing the characteristic cloudy appearance.

It came to be believed by most medical authorities in the later 1900s that thujone was present in original Absinthe brands in large enough quantities to cause hallucinations and eventual brain damage. A Food Chemist and Toxicologist, Dr. Dirk W. Lachenmeier, who has published extensively on the topic, says that now, however, there is a growing consensus that amounts of thujone in Absinthe were vastly insufficient to cause such damage; that instead, the effects of Absinthe were owing to either plain, old-fashioned alcohol poisoning (some brands were up to 70% alcohol) or by toxic adulterants in some of the cheaper brands.

Despite that, versions of Absinthe being made now have controlled limits on the amounts of thujone in them. In the EU, the maximum legal limit of thujone allowed in Absinthe is 35 mg per litre; in Canada and in America, the maximum legal limit of thujone allowed in Absinthe is 10 mg per litre.

A company in the Czech Republic called "Logan fils" claims (as of 2004) to make a full-strength version of Absinthe in the original way. It is 68% proof. This version, called "Extrait d'Absinthe", retails for about $200 US (2004 prices), and can't be sold in the EU. With the Czech Republic having joined the EU, it's not known if or how Logan fils will be able to continue making and selling its version of Absinthe.

The topic of Absinthe is one that men in particular seem fascinated with.

History Notes for Absinthe

A Major Dubied in Switzerland purchased the recipe in 1797 from the Henriod sisters of Couvet in the Val-de-Travers, Neuchâtel region of Switzerland. Stories vary whether it was their own recipe, or if they had acquired it from a doctor named Pierre Ordinaire.

Dubied opened an absinthe distillery called "Dubied Père et Fils" in 1797 with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod. In 1805, the men founded a second distillery in Pontarlier, France, giving it the company name of Maison Pernod Fils. Their original recipe used Petite Wormwood, aka Roman wormwood (Artemesia Pontica.)

Absinthe became known as the "Green Fairy" and was beloved by artists precisely because it caused hallucinations. Oscar Wilde was very fond of it. As health side-effects became suspected, it was banned in Belgium in 1906, in Switzerland in 1908, in The Netherlands in 1909, in America in 1912, in Italy in 1913, in France in 1915 and then in German in 1923. It was never banned in Britain.

Studies published in the 1980's and 1990's said that Absinthe had contained thujone amounts up to 260mg per litre. Later, actual analysis of surviving bottles showed that the range between brands was actually between .5 and 48.3 mg / litre, with a median of 33 mg a litre. [1]

Reduced-thujone Absinthe was allowed back into the EU in 1981. The Swiss ban was lifted in June 2004. The Belgian and Dutch bans were lifted in 2005. In 2007, America began allowing the sale of Absinthe with no more than 10 mg thujone per litre. The first Absinthes (legally) back on the market in America in 2007 included St. George Absinthe Verte (made in Alameda, California), Kübler Absinthe Supérieure, and Lucid.

The liqueur Pernod was developed as an alternative.

Literature & Lore

"The first stage is like ordinary drinking, the second when you begin to see monstrous and cruel things, but if you can persevere you will enter in upon the third stage where you see things that you want to see, wonderful curious things." Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

Language Notes

Nicknames for Absinthe have included "The Green Fairy", "L'atroce sorcière", "The Green Deity."

Acknowledgements

[1] "Thirteen samples of authentic absinthe dating from the preban era (i.e., prior to 1915) were analyzed for parameters that were hypothesized as contributing to the toxicity of the spirit, including naturally occurring herbal essences (thujone, pinocamphone, fenchone), methanol, higher alcohols, copper, and antimony. The total thujone content of preban absinthe was found to range between 0.5 and 48.3 mg/L, with an average concentration of 25.4 20.3 mg/L and a median concentration of 33.3 mg/L. The authors conclude that the thujone concentration of preban absinthe was generally overestimated in the past. The analysis of postban (1915–1988) and modern commercial absinthes (2003–2006) showed that the encompassed thujone ranges of all absinthes are quite similar, disproving the supposition that a fundamental difference exists between preban and modern absinthes manufactured according to historical recipes. Analyses of pinocamphone, fenchone, base spirits, copper, and antimony were inconspicuous. All things considered, nothing besides ethanol was found in the absinthes that was able to explain the syndrome “absinthism”." -- Chemical Composition of Vintage Preban Absinthe with Special Reference to Thujone, Fenchone, Pinocamphone, Methanol, Copper, and Antimony Concentrations. Lachenmeier, Dirk W., David Nathan-Maister, Theodore A. Breaux, Eva-Maria Sohnius, Kerstin Schoeberl, and Thomas Kuballa. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, April 2008.

Jarvis, Alice-Azania. Absinthe minded: The ruin of bohemians is back in all the best bars. London: The Independent. 31 March 2011.

McGee, Harold. Trying to Clear Absinthe’s Reputation. New York Times. 3 January 2007. Page F6.

Wells, Pete. A Liquor of Legend Makes a Comeback. New York Times. 5 December 2007. Page 1.

Also called:

Absinto (Spanish); Absinto (Portuguese)

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