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english novelist marie corelli author of the popular 1886 novel a romance of two worlds
once wrote let me be mad mad with the madness of absence the wildest most luxurious madness in the
world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries few vices exemplified the spirit of lebella park
and the ideals of the bohemian revolution like the drinking of absinthe the potent dark green
spirit was embraced by a whole generation of romantic painters novelists poets and philosophers
from edgar de gar and vincent van gogh to oscar wilde and ernest hemingway featuring prominently
in dozens of classic paintings and works of literature touted as an artistic muse in a bottle
absinthe was said to produce a pleasant lucid intoxication and vivid hallucinations earning
it the nickname of the green fairy but while the artistic community sang the praises of absinthe
more conservative factions of society condemned the drink blaming its consumption for all manner
of social ills including idleness poverty epilepsy madness and even murder the growing
hysteria ultimately led to absinthe being banned across most of europe a ban that would remain in
place for nearly a century but was the green fairy really the powerful mind-altering drug of bohemian
legend and did it really lead its users as one critic put it straight to the mud house or the
courthouse fill up your glasses as we dive into the mysterious and romantic history of absinthe
absinthe gets its name from armisia absinthium or grand wormwood a small herbaceous plant native to
eurasia and parts of north africa first mentioned in the ebers papyrus and ancient egyptian medical
treatise from 1550 bc wormwood has been used throughout history for medicinal purposes such
as treating malaria and expelling parasitic worms from the body however the first use of the herb in
alcoholic beverages dates to the late 18th century according to one account absinthe originated in
1792 as a pattern metanal tonic created by dr pierre ordonaire a french physician living in
the town of cuvee in switzerland ordinaire's recipe was purchased by the oreo sisters who
produced the elixir commercially before selling it in 1797 to one major duby in 1805 along with his
son marcelle and his son-in-law ori louis panneau dubai opened the world's first absence distillery
in pontalier france this was under the company name maysaw panorfis per northeast would go on
to become one of the most popular manufacturers of absinthe and survives to this day under the name
purnadry car traditional absinthe is flavored with a variety of herbs the principle or
holy trinity of flavorings being wormwood green and ease and sweet fennel additional flavorings
vary from manufacturer to manufacturing can include hyssop melissa starnes angelica peppermint
coriander and veronica the dominant flavor however typically comes from the anise giving absinthe a
pronounced licorice taste similar to related spirits like greek oozo italian sambuca and
french pastis red or pink absinthes flavored and coloured with rose or hibiscus flowers have also
been recorded absinthe manufacture begins with a neutral spirit derived from distilling wine in
which the chosen botanicals are steeped to extract their flavor the resulting macerated spirit is
then run through a still producing a colorless spirit known as white absinthe or le blue it is
sometimes bottled straight but more often the distillate is steeped again in botanicals to
produce absinthe's traditional green color while distillation is the preferred manufacturing method
cheaper absinthes are sometimes produced via cold mixing in which the botanicals are simply steeped
in plain commercial alcohol and the resulting infusion filtered and bottled with no intermediate
distillation whatever the method absinthe is typically bottled at extremely high proof ranging
from 45 percent alcohol by volume to as high as 90 though often described as a liqueur traditional
absinthe is bottled without added sugar and is thus more properly classified as a spirit
absence popularity took off in the 1840s when french troops serving in algeria began drinking
the spirit in order to stave off malaria by the 1860s absinthe had become so popular in french
cafes bistros and cabarets that the hour of 5 to 6 pm became widely known as le ver or the green
hour in the 1880s mass production caused the price of absence the plummet and by 1910 the french were
drinking some 36 million liters of absinthe every year compared to their annual wine consumption
of well 5 billion liters the drink soon spread to other countries including switzerland spain great
britain czechoslovakia and even the united states where it was especially popular in french-speaking
new orleans and formed the basis of one of the us's oldest cocktail recipes the sazerac
by this time the drink had also acquired its own set of elaborate preparation rituals traditionally
a glass of absinthe is served with a sugar cube a specially slotted spoon and a carafe of ice water
to prepare the drink the drinker balances the spoon over the mouth of the glass places the sugar
cube on the spoon and pours the ice water over the cube diluting the spirit to a drinkable proof and
softening its bitter herbal flavor eventually bars and cafes began providing large communal absinthe
fountains to dispense ice water allowing patrons to socialize as they prepared their drinks the
dilution of absinthe causes the drink to turn cloudy a phenomenon known as luch or the uzo
effect this effect is the result of essential oils from the botanical flavorings especially
trans-antagonal from a knees being soluble in alcohol but not water diluting the spirit with
water causes these compounds to come out of the solution producing the characteristic cloudiness
another preparation technique known as the bohemian method involves soaking the sugar
cube in high-proof alcohol lighting it on fire and tipping it into the glass imparting the drink with
a smoky caramel flavor while widely performed in specialty bars today the bohemian method is not
actually a traditional technique and it dates back only to the 1990s during the late 19th and early
20th centuries the period traditionally known as the gilded age or labella park absinthe was widely
consumed by all social classes from the wealthy bourgeoisie to ordinary working-class people and
especially artists writers and other members of the emerging bohemian movement the drink appears
in dozens of paintings by leading artists as well as the writings of several famous authors
much of absent's appeal among the bohemian set lay in its purported ability to induce a
pleasant lucid intoxication or even full-blown hallucinations properties which along with the
spirit's distinctive color led it to acquiring the immortal nickname the green fairy absinthe's
supposed psychoactive properties were vividly described by authors like oscar wilde who wrote
the first stage is like ordinary drinking the second stage 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 one night i was left sitting drinking alone
and very late in the cafe royal and i just got into this third stage when a waiter came in with
a green apron and began to pile the chairs on the tables time to go sir he called out to me he then
brought in a watering can and began to water the floor time's up sir i'm afraid you must go now sir
waiter are you watering the flowers i asked but you didn't answer what are your favorite flowers
waiter i asked again now sir i must really ask you to go time's up he said family i'm sure that
tulips are your favorite flowers i said and as i got up and passed out into the street i felt the
heavy tulip heads brushing against my shins french poet berlair even ranked the effects of absent the
head of wine and opium writing in his 1857 poem poison none of which equals the poison welling up
in your eyes that show me my poor soul reversed my dreams throng to drink to those green distorting
pools but with the increasing association between absinthe and artists writers revolutionaries and
other misfits came the inevitable backlash and social reformers began blaming the green fairy
for all manner of social ills one of the drink's fiercest opponents was dr valentin manion chief
psychiatrist at paris's st asylum between 1864 and 1874 manion conducted a study of 250 cases
of alcoholism and concluded that those who abused absinthe suffered more severe symptoms
including rapid onset hallucinations than those who drank other forms of alcohol this observation
led him to propose a syndrome known as absenthism whose effects were distinct from those of regular
alcoholism quote in absentism the hallucinating delirium is most active most terrifying sometimes
provoking reactions of an extremely violent and dangerous nature another more grave
syndrome accompanies this all of a sudden the absinthe cries out pales loses consciousness
and falls the features contract the jaws clench the pupils dilate the eyes roll up the limbs
stiffen a jet of urine escapes gas and waste material abrustly expulsed in just a few seconds
the face becomes contorted the limbs twitch the eyes are strongly convulsed the jaws gnash and
the tongue projected between the teeth is badly nored a bloody saliva covers the lip the face
grows red becomes purplish swollen the eyes are bulging tearful their respiration is allowed and
then the movements cease the whole body relaxes the sphincter releases the evacuations soil the
sick man suddenly he lifts his head and casts his eyes around him with a look at bewilderment
coming to himself after a while he doesn't remember one thing that has happened thanks
to manion's research absentism became a cause celeb among reform-minded conservative groups
in france firebrand ori schmidt rallied against the drink writing absinthe makes you crazy and
criminal provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis and has killed thousands of french people it makes a
ferocious beast of a man a martyr of a woman and a degenerate of the infant it disorganizes and ruins
the family and menaces the future of the country the cause was especially popular among members of
the growing temperance movement who saw absinthe as an easy target and a stepping stone to the
eventual banning of all alcohol another supporter was the french wine industry which had nearly been
wiped out in the 1860s by an aphid infestation and saw the growing absinthe industry as a threat the
anti-absinthe crusade reached its crescendo in 1905 thanks to a particularly grisly murder on
august 28 1905 jean lafrey a french laborer living in the town of comugne switzerland shot and killed
his pregnant wife and children in a drunken rage danfei an alcoholic had consumed that day no less
than seven glasses of wine six glasses of cognac two coffees laced with cognac two creme de menthe
and two ounces of absinthe however the court sent the popular press focused solely on the
absinthe with psychiatrist dr albert marheimer expert witness called for the defense arguing
that lanfray had suffered from a classic case of absinthe madness a moral panic ensued and a
subsequent petition to ban absinthe in switzerland collected more than 82 000 signatures a referendum
was held on the 5th of july 1908 and the ban on absinthe was written into the swiss constitution
banned another country soon followed including belgium in 1908 the united states in 1912
italy in 1913. france held out until 1915 when concerns over the potential effects of absinthe
on the fighting ability of french soldiers finally compelled the country to ban the drink these bans
forced major absinthe distillers like bernard fees to switch to making pastis uzo and other
wormwood free annie slickers absent production and consumption continued in countries like spain
where it was still legal while in switzerland it went underground with illegal distillers largely
producing colorless white absence in an attempt to conceal it from the authorities however the drink
never regained the popularity it had enjoyed in the late 19th century and by the 1960s absent that
albert disappeared from europe becoming little more than a mythical symbol of a bygone romantic
age but was absent really a powerful hallucigen as both its devotees and detractors claimed in a word
no the supposed psychoactive properties of absinthe have traditionally been blamed on
one key ingredient wormwood or more specifically a compound known as thujone naturally found in
wormwood oil this theory was first proposed in 1864 by absinthe's nemesis dr valentin manion
who in a series of experiments exposed guinea pigs to pure wormwood oil and alcohol vapor while the
animals exposed to wormwood vapor experienced violent convulsions those exposed alcohol vapor
did not however more recent studies have cast considerable doubt on mannion's findings revealing
that while fujon can induce convulsions in high doses such doses are almost impossible to attain
by drinking absinthe for example the average dose of thujone that produces convulsion in rats is
12.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight a typical bottle of absinthe by contrast contains
only about 10 milligrams of fujin per liter meaning that an average 90 kilogram male would
have to consume more than 100 liters of absinthe to reach these levels and given
that absinthe is typically bottled at an alcohol concentration of up to 74 even the most seasoned
drinker would succumb to alcohol poisoning long before the thujone even began to have
any effect indeed the only two confirmed cases of thujone poisoning one in 1862 and one in 1997 were
caused by the consumption not of absinthe but a pure wormwood oil which can contain up to fifty
percent thujone so what then was responsible for absence reportedly toxic side effects one possible
explanation is the practice among less scrupulous absinthe producers of using chemical shortcuts to
reduce manufacturing costs such as using toxic copper compounds to achieve the distinctive
green color or antimony trichloride to replicate the lotion or oozo effect however the consensus
among most historians and medical experts is that absinthe's legendary reputation as the
potent mind altering green fairy is nothing more than an overblown myth the product of artistic
hyperbole by its devotees and hysterical propaganda bias detractors indeed between
the years 1867 and 1912 some 16 500 patients were admitted to paris asylums suffering from chronic
alcoholism of which only one percent were found to exhibit the symptoms of absinthism given the high
rates of absinthe consumption in paris at the time it's more than likely that the most severe cases
of alcoholism were simply ascribed to dr manion's fictitious syndrome in the end absence's bad
reputation has far more to do with its association with artists poets philosophers and other bohemian
misfits than any actual psychoactive properties in 1988 the century-long ban on absinthe was
finally lifted when the european council passed a directive on the approximation
of the laws of the member states relating to flavorings for use in foodstuffs and to source
materials for their production which re-allowed the inclusion of wormwood and alcoholic beverages
since then absinthe has enjoyed something of a renaissance with hundreds of distilleries
large and small capitalizing on absinthe's almost mythical reputation and its association
with classic art and literature today this once maligned spirit is available in most liquor stores
allowing you to experience a taste of the romantic gilded age or more likely just a massive hangover