Absinthe - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Absinthe is historically described as a distilled

Distillation

Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

, highly alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

ic (45–74% ABV

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

/ 90-148 proof

Proof (alcohol)

Alcohol proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage. The term was originally used in the United Kingdom and was defined as 7/4 times the alcohol by volume . The UK now uses the abv standard instead of alcohol proof. In the United States, alcoholic proof is defined...

) beverage. It is an anise

Anise

Anise , Pimpinella anisum, also called aniseed, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. Its flavor resembles that of liquorice, fennel, and tarragon.- Biology :...

-flavoured spirit

Distilled beverage

A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...

derived from herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium is a species of wormwood, native to temperate regions of Eurasia and northern Africa....

, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise

Anise

and sweet fennel

Fennel

Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...

. Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the "green fairy" in French).

Although it is sometimes mistakenly called a liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

, absinthe is not bottled with added sugar and is therefore classified as a spirit. Absinthe has a very high level of alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

but is normally diluted with water when consumed.

Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel

Canton of Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel is a canton of French speaking western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...

in Switzerland. It achieved great popularity as an alcoholic drink

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Owing in part to its association with bohemian

Bohemianism

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...

culture, consumption of absinthe was opposed by social conservatives and prohibitionists. Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...

, Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine

Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...

, Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...

, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...

, Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...

, Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...

, Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

, Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

and Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....

were all known drinkers of absinthe.

Absinthe has been portrayed as a dangerously addictive

Substance use disorder

Substance use disorders include substance abuse and substance dependence. In DSM-IV, the conditions are formally diagnosed as one or the other, but it has been proposed that DSM-5 combine the two into a single condition called "Substance-use disorder"....

psychoactive drug

Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants

This general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...

. The chemical thujone

Thujone

Thujone is a ketone and a monoterpene that occurs naturally in two diastereomeric forms: -α-thujone and -β-thujone. It has a menthol odor. Even though it is best known as a chemical compound in the spirit absinthe, recent tests show absinthe contains only small quantities of thujone, and may or may...

, present in small quantities, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries including France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although absinthe was vilified, it has not been shown that it is any more dangerous than ordinary spirits. Its psychoactive properties, apart from those of alcohol, have been much exaggerated.

A revival of absinthe began in the 1990s, when countries in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale. As of February 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries, most notably in France, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic.

Etymology

The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

word absinthe can refer either to the alcoholic beverage or, less commonly, to the actual wormwood plant (grande absinthe being Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium is a species of wormwood, native to temperate regions of Eurasia and northern Africa....

, and petite absinthe being Artemisia pontica). The Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

name artemisia comes from Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

, the ancient Greek

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

goddess of the hunt. Absinthe is derived from the Latin

Latin

absinthium, which in turn is the latinisation

Latinisation (literature)

Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...

of the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion), "wormwood". The use of Artemisia absinthium in a drink is attested in Lucretius

Lucretius

Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...

' De Rerum Natura (I 936–950), where Lucretius indicates that a drink containing wormwood is given as medicine to children in a cup with honey on the brim to make it drinkable. This was a metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

for the presentation of complex ideas in poetic form.

Some claim that the word means "undrinkable" in Greek

Greek language

, but it may instead be linked to the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

root spand or aspand, or the variant esfand, which meant Peganum harmala
Harmal
Harmal is a plant of the family Nitrariaceae, native from the eastern Mediterranean region east to India. It is also known as Wild Rue or Syrian Rue because of its resemblance to plants of the rue family....

, also called Syrian Rue—although it is not actually a variety of rue

Rue

Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus...

, another famously bitter herb. That Artemisia absinthium was commonly burned as a protective offering may suggest that its origins lie in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Indo-European language

The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...

root *spend, meaning "to perform a ritual" or "make an offering". Whether the word was a borrowing from Persian into Greek, or from a common ancestor of both, is unclear. The Greek word is underlain by a pre-Greek Pelasgian word, marked by the non-Indoeuropean consonant complex νθ.

Variant spellings of absinthe are absinth, absynthe, and absenta. In English it is ; in French, absɛ̃t. Absinth (without the final e) is a spelling variant used by central European distillers. It is the usual name for absinthe produced in the Czech Republic and in Germany, and has become associated with Bohemian style absinthes.

History

The precise origin of absinthe is unclear. The medical use of wormwood dates back to ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

and is mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus

Ebers papyrus

The Ebers Papyrus, also known as Papyrus Ebers, is an Egyptian medical papyrus dating to circa 1550 BC. Among the oldest and most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt, it was purchased at Luxor, in the winter of 1873–74 by Georg Ebers...

, c. 1550 BC. Wormwood extracts and wine-soaked wormwood leaves were used as remedies by the ancient Greeks

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

. Moreover, there is evidence of the existence of a wormwood-flavoured wine, absinthites oinos, in ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

.

The first clear evidence of absinthe in the modern sense of a distilled spirit containing green anise and fennel

Fennel

Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...

, however, dates to the 18th century. According to popular legend, absinthe began as an all-purpose patent remedy

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

created by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

doctor living in Couvet

Couvet

Couvet was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is claimed that Couvet was the birthplace of absinthe at the end of the 18th century and it is now the home of La Clandestine Absinthe. It was also the home to Edouard Dubied & Co...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, around 1792 (the exact date varies by account). Ordinaire's recipe was passed on to the Henriod sisters of Couvet, who sold absinthe as a medicinal elixir

Tincture

A tincture is an alcoholic extract or solution of a non-volatile substance . To qualify as a tincture, the alcoholic extract is to have an ethanol percentage of at least 40-60%...

. By other accounts, the Henriod sisters may have been making the elixir before Ordinaire's arrival. In either case, a certain Major Dubied acquired the formula from the sisters and in 1797, with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the first absinthe distillery, Dubied Père et Fils, in Couvet

Couvet

. In 1805 they built a second distillery in Pontarlier, France

Pontarlier

Pontarlier is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-History:...

, under the new company name Maison Pernod Fils. Pernod Fils remained one of the most popular brands of absinthe up until the drink was banned in France in 1914.

Rapid growth of French consumption

Absinthe's popularity grew steadily through the 1840s, when absinthe was given to French troops as a malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

treatment. When the troops returned home, they brought their taste for absinthe with them. It became so popular in bars

Bar (establishment)

A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

, bistro

Bistro

A bistro, sometimes spelled bistrot, is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. Home cooking with robust earthy dishes, and slow-cooked foods like cassoulet are typical...

s, cafés

Café

A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

, and cabaret

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

s that, by the 1860s, the hour of 5 p.m. was called l'heure verte ("the green hour"). Absinthe was favored by all social class

Social class

Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...

es, from the wealthy bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

to poor artists and ordinary working-class people. By the 1880s, mass production had caused the price of absinthe to drop sharply. By 1910, the French were drinking 36 million litres of absinthe per year (compared to their consumption of almost 5 billion litres of wine).

International consumption

Absinthe has been popular outside of France, including Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, New Orleans and the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. Absinthe was never banned in Spain

Spain

or Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, and its production and consumption has never ceased. During the early 20th century it gained a temporary spike in popularity corresponding with the French influenced Art Nouveau and Modernism aesthetic movements.

New Orleans also has a historical connection to absinthe consumption. The city has a prominent landmark called the Old Absinthe House, located on Bourbon Street. Originally called the Absinthe Room, it was opened in 1874 by a Catalan

Catalan people

The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...

bartender named Cayetano Ferrer. The building was frequented by many famous people, including Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

, Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

, Franklin Roosevelt, Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

and Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

.

Absinthe has been consumed in the Czech Republic (then part of Austria–Hungary) since at least 1888, notably by Czech artists, some of whom had an affinity for Paris, frequenting Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

's famous Cafe Slavia. Its wider appeal in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

itself is uncertain, though it was sold in and around Prague

Prague

. There is evidence that at least one local liquor distillery in Bohemia was making absinthe at the turn of the 20th century.

Bans

Spurred by the temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

and the winemakers' associations, absinthe was publicly associated with violent crimes and social disorder.

A critic said that:
Edgar Degas'

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...

1876 painting L'Absinthe
L'Absinthe
L'Absinthe is a painting by Edgar Degas. Some original title translations are A sketch of a French Café, then Figures at Café, the title was finally changed in 1893 to L’Absinthe...

, which can be seen at the Musée d'Orsay

Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...

, epitomized the popular view of absinthe addicts as sodden and benumbed. Although Émile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

mentioned absinthe only once by name, he described its effects in his novel L'Assommoir
L'Assommoir
L'Assommoir is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. Usually considered one of Zola's masterpieces, the novel—a harsh and uncompromising study of alcoholism and poverty in the working-class districts of Paris—was a huge commercial success and established...

.

In 1905, it was reported that Jean Lanfray

Jean Lanfray

Jean Lanfray was a Swiss laborer convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two children in a drunken rage on the afternoon of August 28, 1905. It was later revealed by police that he had drunk an excessive amount of wine and hard liquors that morning, along with two ounces of absinthe...

murdered his family and tried to kill himself after drinking absinthe. The fact that Lanfray was an alcoholic who had consumed much more than his usual two glasses of absinthe in the morning was either overlooked or ignored; the murders were blamed solely on absinthe. The murders were the last straw, and a petition to ban absinthe in Switzerland was signed by more than 82,000 people. The prohibition of absinthe was then written into the Swiss constitution

Swiss Federal Constitution

The Federal Constitution of 18 April 1999 is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of 26 cantons , contains a catalogue of individual and popular rights , delineates the responsibilities of the...

in 1907.

In 1906 Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

and Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

banned the sale and distribution of absinthe, although they were not the first. Absinthe had been banned as early as 1898 in the colony of the Congo Free State

Congo Free State

The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

. The Netherlands banned absinthe in 1909; Switzerland in 1910; the United States in 1912, and France in 1914.

The prohibition of absinthe in France led to increased popularity of pastis

Pastis

Pastis is an anise-flavored liqueur and apéritif from France, typically containing 40–45% alcohol by volume, although alcohol-free varieties exist.-Origins:...

(and of ouzo

Ouzo

Ouzo is an anise-flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus, and a symbol of Greek culture.-History:Traditionally, tsipouro is said to have been the pet project of a group of 14th century monks living in a monastery on holy Mount Athos. One version of it is flavored with anise...

, to a lesser extent), anise-flavoured spirits that do not contain wormwood. The Pernod brand resumed production at the Banus distillery in Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain, where absinthe was still legal, but slow sales in the 1960s eventually caused them to shut it down. In Switzerland, the ban drove absinthe underground. Clandestine home distillers produced absinthe, focusing on la Bleue, which was easier to conceal from the authorities. Many countries never banned absinthe, notably Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, where it had not been as popular as in continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

Modern revival

In the 1990s an importer, BBH Spirits

George Rowley (entrepreneur)

George Rowley is a British entrepreneur who is credited with starting the absinthe revival in the popular market.Rowley was born in England, started his career within insurance and moved to Prague in the early 1990s to assist run a local subsidiary.It was in Prague that he first experienced both...

, realized that there was no UK law prohibiting the sale of absinthe, as it had never been banned there. They began to import Hill's Absinth (not a true Absinthe) from the Czech Republic, which encouraged a modern resurgence in absinthe's popularity. Absinthe had also never been banned in other European countries where it was never popular; it is in these countries where absinthe first began to reappear during the revival in the 1990s. These absinthes—mostly Czech, Spanish, and Portuguese brands—are generally of recent origin, typically consist of Bohemian-style

Bohemian-style absinth

Bohemian-style absinth is more accurately described as a wormwood bitters...

products, and are therefore considered by absinthe connoisseurs to be of inferior quality.

La Fée Absinthe

La Fée Absinthe

La Fée Absinthe is a brand of absinthe; it is a highly alcoholic, anise-flavored, distilled spirit containing the herb wormwood...

, released in 2000, was the first brand labelled absinthe distilled and bottled in France since the 1914 ban, initially for export from France, but now one of roughly 50 French-produced absinthes available in France. French absinthes now must be labelled as boissons spiritueuse aux plantes d'absinthe to be sold within that country per the most recent guidelines. Absinthes produced in other countries must be relabelled to meet these same guidelines to be legally imported and sold within France.

In the Netherlands, restrictions on the manufacture and sale of Absinthe were successfully challenged by the Amsterdam wine seller Menno Boorsma in July 2004, making absinthe legal once again. Belgium, as part of an effort to simplify its laws, removed its absinthe law on 1 January 2005, citing (as did the Dutch judge) European food regulations as sufficient to render the law unnecessary and in conflict with the spirit of the Single European Market

European Economic Community

The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...

. In Switzerland, the constitutional ban on absinthe was repealed in 2000 during an overhaul of the national constitution, although the prohibition was written into ordinary law instead. Later that law was repealed, so from 1 March 2005, absinthe was again legal in its country of origin. Absinthe is now not only sold but is once again distilled in its Val-de-Travers

Val-de-Travers (district)

Val-de-Travers District is a district in the canton of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. It is famous for its clock industry. It is also famous for being the historical birthplace of absinthe which is now once again being distilled in the region...

birthplace, with Kübler

Kübler Absinthe

Kübler Absinthe Superieure is a brand of absinthe, distilled in the Val-de-Travers region of Switzerland also known as the birthplace of absinthe'. Kübler Absinthe was first produced in 1863 and was the first brand to be sold legally in Switzerland after the national ban on absinthe was lifted in...

and La Clandestine Absinthe

La Clandestine Absinthe

La Clandestine Absinthe is a Swiss La Bleue, or clear, absinthe brand produced by Artemisia-Bugnon distilleries. It is an anise-flavored, distilled liquor containing the herb wormwood , and when prepared with cold water will louche.La Clandestine Absinthe comes in four main styles, as detailed...

among the first new brands to re-emerge.

Absinthe has a deep history in the Northern Catalan region of Spain encompassing Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Tarragona

Tarragona

Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...

, Lleida

Lleida

Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...

, and a section of the Pyrenees mountains

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

. While the drink was never officially banned in Spain, it fell out of favor from the early 1940s to present day. Since 2007 it has enjoyed a significant resurgence in the region and has at least one major export brand.

Absinthe has never been illegal to import or manufacture in Australia. Importation requires a permit under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulation 1956 due to a restriction on importing any product containing oil of wormwood. In 2000 there was an amendment by Foods Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) as part of a new consolidation of the Food Code across Australia and New Zealand. This made all wormwood species prohibited herbs for food purposes under Food Standard 1.4.4. Prohibited and Restricted Plants and Fungi, however it was found to be inconsistent with other parts of the pre-existing Food Code. The proposed amendment was withdrawn in 2002 during the transition between the two Codes, thereby continuing to allow absinthe manufacture and importation through the existing permit-based system. These events were erroneously reported by the media as Australia having reclassified it from a prohibited product to a restricted product. There is now an Australian-produced brand of absinthe called Moulin Rooz.

In 2007 the French Lucid brand

Lucid (Absinthe)

Lucid Absinthe Supérieure is a traditional, French-made absinthe verte , whose formula was first approved in 2006. It was granted a COLA in the United States on March 5, 2007, making it the first genuine absinthe to gain approval for legal distribution in the U.S...

became the first genuine absinthe to receive a COLA (Certificate of Label Approval) for importation into the United States since 1912, following independent efforts by representatives from Lucid and Kübler to topple the long-standing U.S. ban. In December 2007, St. George Absinthe Verte, produced by St. George Spirits of Alameda

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, became the first brand of American-made absinthe produced in the United States since the ban. Since that time, other micro-distilleries have started making small batches of high-quality absinthe in the US.

Production

Currently, most countries have no legal definition of absinthe, whereas spirits such as Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...

, brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

, and gin

Gin

Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...

generally have such a definition. Manufacturers can label a product "absinthe" or "absinth" without regard to any legal definition or minimum standard.

Producers of legitimate absinthes use one of two processes to create the finished spirit: either distillation, or cold mixing. In the few countries which have a legal definition of absinthe, distillation is the sole permitted process. An online description of the distillation process (in French

French language

) is available.

Distilled absinthe

Distilled absinthe is produced in a form similar to high quality gin. The botanicals are macerated in the already distilled alcohol before being redistilled one or more times with the herbal ingredients to impart complexity and texture to the beverage.

The distillation of absinthe first produces a colourless distillate that leaves the alembic

Alembic

An alembic is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube...

at around 72 percent ABV

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

. The distillate can be bottled clear, to produce a Blanche or la Bleue absinthe, or it can be coloured using artificial or natural colouring. Traditional absinthes take their green colour from chlorophyll

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...

, which is present in some of the herbal ingredients during the secondary maceration

Maceration (wine)

Maceration is the winemaking process where the phenolic materials of the grape— tannins, coloring agents and flavor compounds— are leached from the grape skins, seeds and stems into the must. Maceration is the process by which the red wine receives its red color, since 99% of all grape juice is...

.

The natural colouring process is considered critical for absinthe ageing, since the chlorophyll remains chemically active. The chlorophyll plays the same role in absinthe that tannins do in wine or brown liquors.

This is done by steeping

Steeping

Steeping or weltering may mean:# Saturation in a liquid solvent to extract a soluble ingredient, where the solvent is the desired product. Tea is prepared for drinking by steeping the leaves in heated water to release the flavor and nutrients...

petite wormwood, hyssop, and melissa

Melissa (plant)

Melissa is a genus of five species of perennial herbs native to Europe and Asia. The name Melissa is derived from a Greek word meaning bee, owing to the abundance of nectar in the flowers which attracts bees. The stems are square, like most other plants in the mint family...

(among other herbs) in the liquid. Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll

from these herbs is extracted giving the drink its famous green colour. This process also provides the herbal complexity that is typical of high quality absinthe. This type of absinthe is known as a verte. After the colouring process, the resulting product is diluted with water to the desired percentage of alcohol. Historically, most absinthes contain between 50 and 75 percent alcohol by volume. It is said to improve materially with storage, and many pre-ban distilleries aged their absinthe in neutral barrels before bottling.

Cold mixed

Many modern absinthes are produced using the cold mix system. This process is forbidden in countries with formal legal designations of absinthe. The beverage is manufactured by mixing flavouring essences and artificial colouring in strong alcohol, and is similar to a flavoured vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

or "absinthe schnapps

Schnapps

Schnapps is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage. The English word schnapps is derived from the German Schnaps , which can refer to any strong alcoholic drink but particularly those containing at least 32% ABV...

". Some modern Franco–Suisse absinthes are bottled at up to 82.3 percent alcohol and some modern bohemian-style absinthes contain up to 89.9 percent. Because of the lack of a formal legal definition of absinthe in most countries, many of these lesser brands claim their products to be "distilled" (since the alcohol base itself was created through distillation) and sell them at prices comparable to more authentic absinthes that are distilled directly from whole herbs.

Ingredients

Absinthe is traditionally prepared from a distillation of neutral alcohol, various herbs, and water. Traditional absinthes were redistilled from a white grape spirit (or eau de vie

Eau de vie

An eau de vie is a clear, colorless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation...

), while lesser absinthes were more commonly made from alcohol from grain, beets, or potatoes. The principal botanicals are grande wormwood, green anise, and florence fennel, which are often called "the holy trinity." Many other herbs may be used as well, such as petite wormwood (Artemisia pontica or Roman wormwood), hyssop

Hyssop

Hyssop is a genus of about 10-12 species of herbaceous or semi-woody plants in the family Lamiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to central Asia. They are aromatic, with erect branched stems up to 60 cm long covered with fine hairs at the tips. The leaves are narrow oblong, 2–5 cm...

, melissa

Lemon balm

Lemon balm , not to be confused with bee balm, Monarda species, is a perennial herb in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean region....

, star anise

Star anise

Illicium verum, commonly called Star anise, star aniseed, or Chinese star anise, is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of northeast Vietnam and southwest China...

, angelica

Angelica

Angelica is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far North as Iceland and Lapland...

, sweet flag

Sweet Flag

Acorus calamus, commonly known as Sweet Flag or Calamus and erroneously as "rush" or "sedges", is a plant from the Acoraceae family, in the genus Acorus. It is a tall perennial wetland monocot with scented leaves and more strongly scented rhizomes...

, dittany

Origanum dictamnus

Origanum dictamnus , known in Greek as Δίκταμο or in Cretan dialect Έρωντας , is a tender perennial plant that grows 20–30 cm high...

, coriander

Coriander

Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...

, veronica

Veronica (plant)

Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species; it was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae...

, juniper

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...

, and nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

Alternative colouring

Absinthe can also be naturally coloured red using hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world...

flowers. This is called a rouge or rose absinthe. As of now, only one historical rouge brand has been discovered.

Adding to absinthe's negative reputation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unscrupulous makers of the drink were said to have used toxic copper compounds to create the legendary green "verte" colour instead of using the traditional "colouring" phase of manufacture. This may have caused some of the added toxicity associated until recently with this beverage. And, in recent times, some home-makers have used store-bought food colouring to simulate the green colouration of verte absinthe when their process did not produce a proper verte colouration. In addition, antimony trichloride

Antimony trichloride

Antimony trichloride is the chemical compound with the formula SbCl3. The soft colorless solid with a pungent odor was known to the alchemists as butter of antimony.-Preparation:...

was reputedly added to enhance the louching effect.

Kits

The interest in absinthe has spawned a rash of "absinthe kits", which are claimed to produce homemade absinthe (not to be confused with hausgemacht absinthe, despite "hausgemacht" translating as "homemade" in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

). Kits often call for soaking herbs in vodka

Vodka

or alcohol or adding a liquid concentrate to the same to create an ersatz

Ersatz

Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement...

absinthe. Such practices usually yield a harsh substance that bears little resemblance to the genuine article, and are considered to be inauthentic by any practical standard. Some concoctions may even be dangerous, especially if they call for supplementation with potentially poisonous herbs, oils and/or extracts. One case has been described in which a person suffered acute renal failure

Acute renal failure

Acute kidney injury , previously called acute renal failure , is a rapid loss of kidney function. Its causes are numerous and include low blood volume from any cause, exposure to substances harmful to the kidney, and obstruction of the urinary tract...

after drinking 10 ml of pure wormwood oil, a dose much higher than that found in absinthe.

Preparation

Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon

Slotted spoon

A slotted spoon is an implement used in food preparation. The term can be used to describe any spoon with slots, holes or other openings in the bowl of the spoon which let liquid pass through while preserving the larger solids on top...

and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe, typically 1 part absinthe and 3 to 5 parts water. During this process, components not soluble in water (mainly those from anise

Anise

, fennel

Fennel

Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...

, and star anise

Star anise

) come out of solution and cloud the drink

Ouzo effect

The ouzo effect is a phenomenon observed when water is added to ouzo and other anise-flavored liqueurs and spirits, such as pastis, raki, arak and absinthe, forming a milky oil-in-water microemulsion...

. The resulting milky opalescence

Opalescence

Opalescence is a type of dichroism seen in highly dispersed systems with little opacity. The material appears yellowish-red in transmitted light and blue in the scattered light perpendicular to the transmitted light. The phenomenon is named after the appearance of opals.There are different degrees...

is called the louche (Fr. "opaque" or "shady", IPA [luʃ]). Releasing these components allows herbal aromas and flavours to "blossom" or "bloom" and brings out subtleties originally over-powered by the anise. This is often referred to as "The French Method."

"The Bohemian Method" is an alternative method that uses fire. Like the French method, a sugar cube is placed on a slotted spoon over a glass containing one shot of absinthe. The difference is that the sugar is pre-soaked in alcohol, usually more absinthe, and then set ablaze. The flaming sugar cube is then dropped into the glass igniting the absinthe. Finally, a shot glass full of water is added to douse the flames. This method tends to produce a stronger drink than the French method. A variant of "The Bohemian Method" is to allow the fire to burn itself out. This variant, called "Cooking the Absinthe" or "Flaming Green Fairy," removes much but not all of the alcohol. The origins of this burning ritual may come from a coffee and brandy drink that was served at Café Brûlot, in which a sugar cube soaked in brandy was set aflame.

Originally a waiter would serve a dose of absinthe, ice water in a carafe

Carafe

The carafe , is used for serving wine and other drinks. Unlike the related [decanter], carafes do not include stoppers.Coffee Pots included in coffee makers are also referred to as carafes....

, and sugar separately, and the drinker would prepare it to his or her preference. With increased popularity, the absinthe fountain, a large jar of ice water on a base with spigots, came into use. It allowed a number of drinks to be prepared at once, and with a hands-free drip, patrons were able to socialize while louching a glass.

Although many bars served absinthe in standard glasses, a number of glasses were specifically made for absinthe. These had a dose line, bulge, or bubble in the lower portion denoting how much absinthe should be poured in. One "dose" of absinthe is around 1 ounce (30 ml), and most glasses used this as the standard, with some drinkers using as much as 1½ ounces (45 ml).

In addition to being drunk with water poured over sugar, absinthe was a common cocktail ingredient in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and continues to be a popular ingredient today. One of the most famous of these is Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...

's "Death in the Afternoon

Death in the Afternoon

Death in the Afternoon is a non-fiction book by Ernest Hemingway about the ceremony and traditions of Spanish bullfighting. It was originally published in 1932. The book provides a look at the history and what Hemingway considers the magnificence of bullfighting...

" cocktail, a concoction he contributed to a 1935 collection of celebrity recipes. His directions are as follows: "Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly."

Styles

Most categorical alcoholic beverages have regulations governing their classification and labelling, while those governing absinthe have always been conspicuously lacking. According to popular treatises from the 19th century, absinthe could be loosely categorized into several grades (ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, and Suisse—which does not denote origin), in order of increasing alcoholic strength and quality. Many contemporary absinthe critics simply classify absinthe as distilled or mixed, according to its production method. And while the former is generally considered far superior in quality to the latter, an absinthe simply classified as 'distilled' makes no guarantee as to the quality of its base ingredients or the skill of its maker.

Blanche, or la Bleue: Blanche absinthe (also referred to as la Bleue in Switzerland) is bottled directly following distillation and reduction, and is uncoloured (clear). The name la Bleue was originally a term used for bootleg Swiss absinthe, but has become a popular term for post-ban-style Swiss absinthe in general.

Verte ("green" in French) absinthe begins as a blanche. The blanche is altered by the "colouring step," by which a new mixture of herbs is placed into the clear distillate. This confers a peridot green hue and an intense flavour. Vertes are the type of absinthe that was most commonly drunk in the 19th century. Artificially coloured green absinthe is also called "verte," though it lacks the herbal characteristics.

Absenta ("absinthe" in Spanish) is a regional variation and differs slightly from its French cousin. Absentas are sweeter due to their use of Alicante anise, and contain a characteristic citrus flavour.

Hausgemacht (German for home-made, often abbreviated as HG) is a type of absinthe that is home-distilled by hobbyists. It is often called clandestine absinthe. It should not be confused with the Clandestine brand, nor should it be confused with absinthe kits. Produced mainly in small quantities for personal use and not for sale, hausgemacht absinthe enables experienced distillers to select the herbs personally and to fine-tune each batch. Clandestine production increased after absinthe was banned, when small producers went underground, most notably in Switzerland. Although the Swiss had produced both vertes and blanches before the ban, clear absinthe (also known as la Bleue) became more popular after the ban because it was easier to hide. Although the ban has been lifted, many clandestine distillers have not made themselves legal. Authorities believe that high taxes on alcohol and the mystique of being underground are likely the reason for this. Those hausgemacht distillers who have become legal often place the word clandestine on their labels.

Bohemian-style absinth
Bohemian-style absinth
Bohemian-style absinth is more accurately described as a wormwood bitters...

(also called Czech-style absinthe, anise-free absinthe, or just "absinth" (without the "e")) is best described as a wormwood bitters. It is produced mainly in the Czech Republic, from which it gets its designations as "Bohemian" or "Czech," although not all absinthe from the Czech Republic is Bohemian-style. It contains little or none of the anise, fennel, and other herbs that are found in traditional absinthe and bears very little resemblance to historically produced absinthes. Typical Bohemian-style absinth has only two similarities with its authentic, traditional counterpart: it contains wormwood and has a high alcohol content. In the 1990s Czech Absinth producers introduced the method of lighting the sugar cube on fire. This type of absinth and the associated "fire ritual" are modern creations and have little to no relationship with the historical absinthe tradition.

Storage

Absinthe that is artificially coloured or clear is relatively stable and can be bottled in a clear container. If naturally coloured absinthe is exposed to light, the chlorophyll

Chlorophyll

breaks down, changing the colour from emerald green to yellow green to brown. Pre-ban and vintage absinthes are often of a distinct amber colour as a result of this process. Though this colour is considered a mark of maturity in vintage absinthes, it is regarded as undesirable in contemporary absinthe. Due to this fragility, naturally coloured absinthe is typically bottled in dark UV resistant bottles. Absinthe should be stored in a cool, room temperature

Room temperature

-Comfort levels:The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers has listings for suggested temperatures and air flow rates in different types of buildings and different environmental circumstances. For example, a single office in a building has an occupancy ratio per...

, dry place away from light and heat. It should also be kept out of the refrigerator and freezer as anethole

Anethole

Anethole is a phenylpropene, a type of aromatic compound that occurs widely in nature, in essential oils...

can crystallize inside the bottle, creating a "scum" in the bottle which may or may not dissolve back into solution as the bottle warms.

Effects

Absinthe has been frequently and incorrectly described in modern times as being hallucinogenic. In the 1970s, a scientific paper mistakenly reported thujone was related to THC

Tetrahydrocannabinol

Tetrahydrocannabinol , also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol , Δ1-THC , or dronabinol, is the main chemical psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant. It was first isolated in 1964. In pure form, it is a glassy solid when cold, and becomes viscous and sticky if warmed...

, the active chemical in cannabis

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

. Ten years after his 19th century experiments with wormwood oil, Valentin Magnan

Valentin Magnan

Valentin Magnan was a French psychiatrist who was a native of Perpignan.He studied medicine in Lyon and Paris, where he was a student of Jules Baillarger and Jean-Pierre Falret...

studied 250 cases of alcoholism and claimed that those who drank absinthe were worse off than those drinking ordinary alcohol, and that they experienced rapid-onset hallucinations. Such accounts by absinthe opponents were embraced by its most famous users, many of whom were bohemian artists or writers.

Two famous painters who helped popularize the notion that absinthe had powerful psychoactive properties were Toulouse Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

. In one of the best-known accounts of absinthe drinking, Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

described the feeling of having tulips on his legs after leaving a bar. Today it is known that absinthe does not cause hallucinations. Thujone, once thought to be the active chemical in absinthe, is a GABA

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

γ-Aminobutyric acid is the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. It plays a role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system...

antagonist; and while it can produce muscle spasms in large doses, there is not enough evidence that it causes hallucinations. It has been speculated that reports of hallucinogenic effects of absinthe may have been due to poisonous chemicals being added to cheaper versions of the drink in the 19th century, to give it a more vivid colour.

However, the debate over whether absinthe produces effects on the human mind in addition to those of alcohol has not been conclusively resolved. The effects of absinthe have been described by some as mind opening. The most commonly reported experience is a "clear-headed" feeling of inebriation—a form of "lucid drunkenness". Chemist, historian and absinthe distiller Ted Breaux has claimed that the alleged secondary effects of absinthe may be caused by the fact that some of the herbal compounds in the drink act as stimulants, while others act as sedatives, creating an overall lucid effect of awakening. Long term effects of low absinthe consumption in humans remain unknown, although the herbs in absinthe have both painkilling and antiparasitic properties.

Controversy

It was once thought that excessive absinthe drinking had worse effects than those associated with overindulgence in other alcoholic drinks, a belief that led to diagnoses of the disease of "absinthism". One of the first vilifications of absinthe was an 1864 experiment in which a certain Dr. Magnan exposed a guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

to large doses of pure wormwood vapour and another to alcohol vapours. The guinea pig exposed to wormwood experienced convulsive seizures, while the animal exposed to alcohol did not. Magnan would later blame the chemical thujone

Thujone

, contained in wormwood, for these effects.

Past reports estimated thujone levels in absinthe as being high—up to 260 mg/kg of absinthe. More recently, published scientific analyses of samples of various original absinthes have disproven earlier estimates, showing that very little of the thujone present in wormwood actually makes it into a properly distilled absinthe when using historical recipes and methods. Most proper absinthes, both vintage and modern, are within the current EU limits.

Tests on mice showed an of about 45 mg thujone per kg of body weight, which is much more than could be consumed in absinthe. The high percentage of alcohol in absinthe would kill a person before the thujone would become life-threatening. In documented cases of acute thujone poisoning as a result of oral ingestion, the source of thujone was not commercial absinthe, but rather non-controversial sources such as common essential oils, which can contain as much as 50% thujone.

A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol concluded that high doses (0.28 mg/kg) of thujone in alcohol had negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time, and caused subjects to concentrate their attention in the central field of vision. Low doses (0.028 mg/kg) did not produce an effect noticeably different from plain alcohol. While the effects of this high dose were statistically significant

Statistical significance

In statistics, a result is called statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. The phrase test of significance was coined by Ronald Fisher....

in a double blind test, the test subjects themselves were unable to reliably identify which samples were the ones containing thujone. For the average 65 kg man, the high dose in the study would be 18.2 mg of thujone. The EU limit of 35 mg/L of thujone in absinthe means that about 0.5 liter of the highest legal thujone content absinthe would have to be drunk to reach the measured effects, a feat likely to cause alcohol poisoning.

Regulations

Currently, most countries do not have a legal definition of absinthe (unlike Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky

or cognac). Manufacturers can label a product 'absinthe' or 'absinth', whether or not it matches the traditional definition. Due to many countries never banning absinthe, not every country has regulations specifically governing it.

Australia

Bitters

A bitters is an alcoholic beverage that is flavored with herbal essences and has a bitter or bittersweet flavor. There are numerous brands of bitters that were formerly marketed as patent medicines but are now considered to be digestifs, rather than medicines...

can contain a maximum 35 mg/kg thujone, while other alcoholic beverages can contain a maximum 10 mg/kg of thujone. In Australia, import and sales require a special permit although absinthe is readily available in many bottle shops. Regulation 5H of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (Cth) (the Regulations) prohibits the importation of Absinthe (Schedule 8), unless the permission (in writing) of the Secretary or an authorised person has been granted permission to import the goods and the permission has been produced to the Collector. Item 12A of Schedule 8 of the Regulations, refers to "oil of wormwood, being an essential oil obtained from plants of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

Artemisia, and preparations containing oil of wormwood." The administrative arrangements include the Secretary and authorised officers (appropriately delegated TGA officers) of the Therapeutic Goods Administration

Therapeutic Goods Administration

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia . It is a Division of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing established under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 ...

may grant permission to import absinthe. The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service is the Collector for the importation of Schedule 8 goods. The domestic production and sale of Absinthe is regulated by State licensing laws.

Canada

In Canada, liquor laws are established by the various provincial

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

governments. As with any spirit, importation by individuals for personal use is allowed, provided that conditions for the individual's duration outside the country are satisfied. (Importation is a federal matter, and is enforced by the Canada Border Services Agency

Canada Border Services Agency

The Canada Border Services Agency is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border enforcement, immigration enforcement and customs services....

British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

: no established limits on thujone content
Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

: 10 mg/kg
Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

: 6–8 mg
Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

: 5 mg/kg
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

: absinthe sold in provincial liquor store outlets

Absinthe is not sold in some provinces, although, in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, an individual is permitted to import one case (usually twelve 750 ml bottles or eight one-litre bottles) of any liquor. Individual provincial liquor boards must approve each product before it may be sold.

Production of spirits in Canada is provincially regulated. Okanagan Spirits in British Columbia released the Taboo brand in 2007: this is possibly the first commercial absinthe crafted in Canada.

Brazil

Absinthe was prohibited in Brazil

Brazil

until 2000. Presently, absinthe sold in Brazil must abide by the national law that restricts all spirits to a maximum of 53.8% alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume

Alcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....

. While this regulation is enforced throughout channels of legal distribution, most major cities have large open air markets where contraband items, including absinthe containing alcohol in excess of the legal limit, are sold without interference from local police.

European Union

The European Union permits a maximum thujone level of 35 mg/kg in alcoholic beverages where Artemisia

Artemisia (plant)

Artemisia is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 to 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. It comprises hardy herbs and shrubs known for their volatile oils. They grow in temperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere, usually in dry or semi-dry...

species is a listed ingredient, and 10 mg/kg in other alcoholic beverages. Member countries regulate absinthe production within this framework. Sale of absinthe is permitted in all EU countries unless they further regulate it.

France

Despite adopting sweeping EU food and beverage regulations in 1988 that effectively re-legalized absinthe, a decree was passed that same year that preserved the prohibition on products explicitly labelled as "absinthe", while placing strict limits on fenchone (fennel) and pinocamphone (hyssop) in an obvious (failed) attempt to thwart a possible return of absinthe-like products. French producers circumvented this regulatory obstacle by labelling absinthe as spiritueux à base de plantes d'absinthe ('wormwood-based spirits'), with many either reducing or omitting fennel and hyssop altogether. A legal challenge to the scientific basis of this decree resulted in its repeal (2009), which opened the door for the official French re-legalization of absinthe for the first time since 1915. The French Senate voted to repeal the prohibition in mid-April 2011.

Republic of Georgia

It is legal to produce and sell absinthe in the Republic of Georgia, which has several absinthe production facilities.

Germany

A ban on absinthe was enacted in Germany on 27 March 1923. In addition to banning the production of and commercial trade in absinthe, the law went so far as to prohibit the distribution of printed matter that provided details of its production. The original ban was lifted in 1981, but the use of Artemisia absinthium as a flavouring agent remained prohibited. On 27 September 1991, Germany adopted the European Union's standards of 1988, which effectively re-legalized absinthe. Unlike Switzerland and France, there are no further restrictions.

New Zealand

Although the substance is not banned at national level, some local authorities have banned it. The latest is Mataura

Mataura

Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill....

in Southland

Southland Region

Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region and is also a district within that region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura...

. The ban came in August 2008 after several issues of misuse drew public and police attention. One incident resulted in breathing difficulties and hospitalization of a 17-year-old for alcohol poisoning. The particular brand of absinthe that caused these effects contained 89.9% vol. alc.

Sweden

The sale and production of absinthe has never been prohibited in Sweden. However, the only store that may sell alcoholic beverages containing more than 3.5% alcohol by volume is the government-owned chain of liquor stores called Systembolaget

Systembolaget

Systembolaget is a government owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. It is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol. Systembolaget also sells non-alcoholic beverages. To buy alcoholic beverages at Systembolaget one has to be 20 years of age or...

. Systembolaget

Systembolaget

did not import or sell absinthe for many years.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the sale and production of absinthe was prohibited from 1910 to 2005; the ban was lifted on 1 March 2005. To be legally made or sold in Switzerland, absinthe must be distilled and must be either uncoloured or naturally coloured.

United States

In 2007, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, statutorily named the Tax and Trade Bureau and frequently shortened to TTB, is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury....

(TTB) effectively lifted the longstanding absinthe ban, and has since approved many brands for sale in the U.S. market. This was made possible partly through the TTB's clarification of the Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

's (FDA) thujone

Thujone

content regulations, which specify that finished food and beverages that contain Artemisia species must be thujone free. In this context, the TTB considers a product to be thujone-free if the thujone content is less than 10ppm (equal to 10 mg/kg). This is verified through the use of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry is a method that combines the features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample. Applications of GC-MS include drug detection, fire investigation, environmental analysis, explosives investigation,...

.

The importation, distribution, and sale of absinthe is permitted with respect to the following restrictions:

The product must be thujone-free as per TTB guidelines,
The word "absinthe" can neither be the brand name nor stand alone on the label, and
The packaging cannot "project images of hallucinogenic, psychotropic or mind-altering effects."

Absinthe imported in violation of these regulations is subject to seizure at the discretion of U.S. Customs.

Beginning in 2001, a product called Absente

Absente

Absente is a brand name of 110 proof anise liqueur that has been marketed under the tagline "Absinthe Refined" since circa 2001. "Absente" is a French word that translates as "absent" in English.-In the U.S.:...

was sold legally in the United States under the marketing tagline "Absinthe Refined", but as the product was made with southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum) and not grande wormwood (Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia absinthium is a species of wormwood, native to temperate regions of Eurasia and northern Africa....

) (prior to 2009), the TTB classified it as a liqueur.

Vanuatu

The Absinthe (Prohibition) Act 1915, passed in the New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

, has never been repealed, and is included in the 1988 Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

consolidated legislation, and contains the following all-encompassing restriction: The manufacture, importation, circulation and sale wholesale or by retail of absinthe or similar liquors in Vanuatu shall be prohibited.

Cultural influence

The legacy of absinthe as a mysterious, addictive, and mind-altering drink continues to this day. Absinthe has been seen or featured in fine art, films, video, music and literature. The modern absinthe revival has had an effect on its portrayal. It is often shown as an unnaturally glowing green liquid which is set on fire before drinking, even though traditionally neither is true. In addition, it is most portrayed in the media as causing over-the-top hallucinations.

Numerous artists and writers living in France in the late 19th and early 20th century were noted absinthe drinkers who featured absinthe in their work. These included Emile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

, Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh

, Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....

, Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani

, Arthur Rimbaud

Arthur Rimbaud

, Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....

, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

, and Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine

. Later artists and writers drew from this cultural well, including Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

, August Strindberg

August Strindberg

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...

, Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

, and Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

. Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley

was also known to be a habitual absinthe drinker.
Emile Cohl

Émile Cohl

Émile Cohl , born Émile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet, was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "The Oldest Parisian".-Biography:Émile's father Elie was a rubber salesman, and his mother, Emilie...

, an early pioneer in the art of animation, presented the effects of the drink in 1920 with the short film, Hasher's delirium.

The aura of illicitness and mystery surrounding absinthe has played into modern literature, movies, music and television. Such depictions vary in their authenticity, often applying dramatic license to depict the drink as anything from an aphrodisiac

Aphrodisiac

An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality and love. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable...

to poison

Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....

External links

The Wormwood Society—An independent organization supporting changes to the U.S. laws and regulations concerning absinthe. Provides articles, a forum and legal information.
Absinthe's second coming—An April 2001 article in Cigar Aficionado
Cigar Aficionado
Cigar Aficionado is an American magazine that is dedicated to the world of cigars. Published since September 1992, the magazine is known for its articles about different brands of cigars worldwide, and for the celebrities that have appeared on its cover. It is also noted for its opposition to the...

about the first absinthe commercially produced in France since the 1915 ban.
Swiss face sobering future after legalizing absinthe—A March 2005 Reuters article about the legalization of absinthe in Switzerland.
The Mystery of the Green Menace—A November 2005 WIRED
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...

magazine article about a New Orleans man who has researched the chemical content of Absinthe and now distills it in France.
The Return of the Green Faerie—A wine and spirit journal article about the history, ritual, and artistic cult of Absinthe.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Etymology

History

Rapid growth of French consumption

International consumption

Bans

Modern revival

Production

Distilled absinthe

Cold mixed

Ingredients

Alternative colouring

Kits

Preparation

Styles

Storage

Effects

Controversy

Regulations

Australia

Canada

Brazil

European Union

France

Republic of Georgia

Germany

New Zealand

Sweden

Switzerland

United States

Vanuatu

Cultural influence

See also

External links