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Absinthe (from French, from Latin absinthium, ancient Greek apsinthion, "wormwood") is a high-alcohol anise flavored-liquor derived from herbs including the flowers and leaves of the medicinal plant Artemisia absinthium, also called wormwood. (See Artemisia (plant) for its relationship to the Book of Revelation, Chernobyl and other associations in human culture.)

Nicknamed "La Fée Verte" ("The Green Fairy"), absinthe's lightly bitter taste is similar to other anise-flavored liqueurs but with a subtler flavor due to the many herbs used.

It is especially known for its popularity in France—particularly its romantic associations with Parisian artists and writers—in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until its prohibition in 1915. The most popular brand of absinthe worldwide was Pernod Fils.

Constituents

In addition to wormwood, absinthe contains anise (often partially substituted with star anise), Florence fennel, hyssop, melissa, and Roman wormwood (Artemisia pontica). Various recipes also include angelica root, sweet flag, dittany leaves, coriander, veronica, juniper, nutmeg, and various mountain herbs.

A simple maceration of wormwood without distillation produces an extremely bitter drink, due to the presence of the water-soluble absinthine, one of the most bitter substances known. Authentic recipes call for distillation after the primary maceration and before the secondary or "coloring" maceration. The distillation of wormwood, anise, and florence fennel first produces a colorless "alcoholate" which leaves the alembic at around 82 percent alcohol. This can be left clear, called a La Bleue or La Blanche, or the well-known green color of the beverage can be imparted either artificially or with chlorophyll by steeping roman wormwood, hyssop, and melissa in the liquid. After this process, the resulting product is reduced with water to the desired percentage of alcohol. Over time and exposure to light the chlorophyll will breakdown causing the drink to go from emerald green to yellow green to brown.

Inferior varieties are made by means of herbs, essences or oils cold-mixed in alcohol, the distillation process being omitted.

Alcohol makes up the majority of the drink and is extremely high, between 45 percent and 85 percent, though there is no historical evidence that any commercial vintage absinthe was higher than 74 percent. Given the high strength and low alcohol solubility of many of the herbal components, absinthe is usually not imbibed "straight," but consumed after a fairly elaborate preparation ritual.

Historically, there were five varieties of absinthe: ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, supérieure or Suisse (which does not denote origin), the latter of which was of a higher alcoholic strength than the former. The best absinthes contain 60 percent to 74 percent alcohol. It is said to improve materially with storage. In the 19th century absinthe, like much of the food and drink of the time, was occasionally adulterated by profiteers with copper, zinc, indigo plant, or other dyes to impart the green color, but this was never done by the best distilleries.

Preparation

Traditionally absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed, slotted spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then deposited in the bowl of the spoon. Ice cold water is poured or dripped over the sugar until the drink is diluted 3:1 to 5:1. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water come out of solution and cloud the drink; that milky opalescence is called the "louche" (Fr. "opaque" or "shady").

A modern, more dramatic and potentially very hazardous "fire" ritual was invented by a Czech manufacturer, in which the sugar cube is drenched in absinthe then set on fire. Water is then added to drown the fire and dissolve the caramelized sugar. Generally less water is added than the traditional method.

History

Absinthe started as an all-purpose patent remedy in Switzerland. A man named Major Dubied saw its potential as a spirit and bought the recipe from two sisters. In 1805 he started the Pernod Fils distillery, which was run by his son-in-law Henry-Lewis Pernod. Absinthe's popularity grew steadily until the 1840's when absinthe was given to French troops as a fever preventative. When the troops returned home they brought their taste for absinthe with them and it became popular at bars and bistros.

By the 1860s it had become so popular that in most cafés and cabaret 5 p.m. signaled "l'heure Verte" (the green hour). Although absinthe was popular, it was expensive and thus consumed mainly by the bourgeoisie and eccentric bohemian artists. By the 1880s, however, the price dropped significantly, opening the market to many more people. Absinthe had become the drink of France; by 1910 France consumed 36 million liters of absinthe per year.

Spurred by the temperance movement and winemakers' associations, absinthe was publicized in connection with several violent crimes supposedly committed under the direct influence of the drink, along with a general tendency toward hard liquor consumption due to the wine shortage in France during the 1880s and 1890s, effectively targeting absinthe's popularity as a social menace. Its critics said that it makes people crazy and criminal, it turns men into brutes and threatens the future of our times. Edgar Degas's 1876 painting, L'absinthe (The Absinthe Drinkers) (now at the Musée d'Orsay) epitomized the popular view of absinthe "addicts" as sodden and benumbed; Emile Zola described their serious intoxication in his novel L'Assommoir. Absinthe was banned from sale and production in most countries by 1915.

The prohibition of absinthe in France led to the growing popularity of pastis and ouzo, other aniseed-flavored liquors that do not use wormwood.

Although some Czech manufacturers claim the Czech Republic has been producing absinthe since the 1920s, no evidence has been found to support these claims.

In the 1990s Hill's company discovered absinthe had never been banned in many countries and began producing it, however because it is lacking anise and other herbs it bears little resemblance to the traditional drink. Since then commercial and private groups have fostered an emergence of absinthe appreciation worldwide.

Controversy

It was thought that excessive absinthe-drinking led to effects which were specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol — which is bound to have been true for some of the less-scrupulously adulterated products, creating the condition absinthism. Undistilled wormwood essential oil contains a substance called thujone, which is an epileptic (and can cause renal failure) in extremely high doses, and the supposed ill effects of the drink were blamed on that substance in 19th century studies.

The effects of absinthe have been described by artists as mind opening, and even hallucinogenic and by prohibitionists as turning good people mad and desolate. Both are exaggerations. Sometimes called "secondary effects", the most commonly-reported is a "clear headed" drunk feeling and thujone was said to be the cause. The placebo effect and individual reaction to the herbs makes these secondary effects very subjective and minor compared to the psychoactive effects of alcohol.

More recent studies have shown that very little of the thujone present in wormwood actually makes it into a properly distilled absinthe, even one re-created using historical recipes and methods, so much so that a recent French distiller has had to add pure essential oil of wormwood to make a "high-thujone" variant of his product. It can remain in higher amounts in oils produced by other methods than distillation, or when wormwood is macerated and not distilled, especially when the plant stems are used, where thujone content is the highest.

A study in the "Journal of studies on Alcohol" concluded that a high dose of thujone in alcohol has negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time and subjects concentrated their attention in the central field of vision. Medium doses did not produce a noticeable effect from plain alcohol. The high dose of thujone in this study was larger than what one can get from current "high thujone" absinthe before becoming too drunk to notice and because most people describe the effects of absinthe as a more lucid and aware drunk this suggests that thujone alone is not the cause of these effects.

The non-French spelling of "Absinth" has been adopted for wormwood-based drinks produced in Central Europe since the beginning of the 1990s. Although not always the case, these products bear very little resemblance to absinthe (with an 'e'): they are usually bitter and contain little anise, but are marketed to ride the coattails of the historical French product's romantic associations and psycho-active reputation. Typically, the low herbal content of these drinks means that they do not produce the louche effect, and as thujone is still associated with the myth of absinthe as a psycho-active drink, many of them are touted to have "higher thujone content".

Modern culture

The legacy of absinthe as an eccentric, mysterious and addictive drink continues to this day. Absinthe has been seen or featured in movies, video, music and literature.

In the 1994 movie "Interview With the Vampire" Tom Cruise’s character Lestat mistook Laudanum for Absinthe, which in turn nearly caused his death. Paul Verlaine is shown drinking absinthe in the 1995 film "Total Eclipse." A collaboration between Blood Axis and Les Joyaux De La Princesse produced the 2001 concept album Absinthe: La Folie Verte, followed up with the live album Absinthia Taetra. In the 2001 movie "From Hell," a character mixes opium with absinthe to make a very addictive drink. Also produced in 2001, "Moulin Rouge!" portrayed absinthe as the drink of the Bohemian revolution. It was used indirectly as the subject of an American independent neo-noir film "Bitters and Blue Ruin." In the beginning of the 2002 movie "XXX," the villians can be seen drinking a green liquid that they set on fire before ingesting. In the 2004 movie "EuroTrip," several teenagers purchase a bottle of absinthe in a club in Eastern Europe. In the 2004 movie "Van Helsing," Van Helsing carries a bottle of absinthe on his person. Absinthe also made an appearance in the HBO television series "Carnivàle," imbibed by a mysterious blind seer. It appeared in the Nine Inch Nails video "The Perfect Drug" and Mustis, the keyboardist from the band Dimmu Borgir, is pictured often with a bottle of Absinthe, most notably in their 2004 album, "Death Cult Armageddon." The black metal band, Cradle of Filth released a song on 2004's 'Nymphetamine', called "Absinthe with Faust". It's opening line is, "Pour the emerald wine into crystal glasses", which is directly linked to Absinthe. The frontman of industrial band Marilyn Manson (of the same name) boasts of having written an entire album on absinthe. In "Bram Stoker's Dracula" starring Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, Prince Vlad (Oldman) drank Absinthe with Mina/Elizabeta (Ryder) in a London restaurant. In the movie Alfie (2004 film), the main character (Jude Law), is plied with absinthe by Liz (Susan Sarandon), using the the modern way of preparing the drink (lighting the sugar cube on fire).

The modern absinthe revival has had an effect on its portrayal. Often shown as an unnaturally glowing green liquid which is set on fire before drinking even though traditionally neither is true.

Legal status

Currently most countries do not have laws defining what is and isn't absinthe or absinth. So unlike scotch whisky, cognac or other liquors absinthe producers can label a product "absinthe" or "absinth" even if it does not match the traditional definition.

France

France never repealed the 1915 law, but in 1988, a law was passed to clarify that only beverages that do not comply with European Union regulations with respect to thujone content, or beverages that call themselves "absinthe" explicitly, fall under that law. This has resulted in the re-emergence of French absinthes, now labelled "spiritueux à base de plantes d'absinthe." Interestingly, as the 1915 law regulates only the sales of "absinthe" in France but not its production, some of these manufacturers also produce variants destined for exports plainly labeled "absinthe."

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, a law dating from 1909 prohibited the selling and drinking of absinthe, but this law was successfully challenged by Amsterdam wineseller Menno Boorsma in July 2004, making absinthe once more legal. Subsequently, the government in May 2005 repealed this law.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the prohibition of absinthe was even written into the constitution in 1907, following a popular initiative. In 2000 this article was repealed during a general overhaul of the constitution, but the prohibition was written into ordinary law instead. Later that law was also repealed, so from March 2, 2005, absinthe is again legal in its country of origin, after nearly a century of prohibition. Evidence suggests absinthe has never stopped being produced in Switzerland and clandestine home distillers have produced it since the ban. To be legally sold, absinthe must be distilled and either uncolored or naturally colored.

Canada

In Canada, all liquor laws are the domain of the Province, not the Federal government. British Columbia has no limits on thujone content, limits in other provinces are unknown. In Saskatchewan you can purchase any liquor available in the world provided you buy a minimum of 1 case (usually 12 bottles x 750ml or 8x 1L). The individual liquor boards must ok each product before it may be sold on shelves and currently only Hill's absinth and in limited release LaFee absinthe are approved. Other brands may be appear in the future.

United States

According to the United States Customs office, "The importation of Absinthe and any other liquors or liqueurs that contain Artemisia absinthium is prohibited."

The prevailing consensus of interpretation of United States law among American absinthe connoisseurs is that:

• It is probably illegal to sell items meant for human consumption which contain thujone derived from Artemisia species. This derives from an FDA regulation (as opposed to a DEA regulation).
• It is probably illegal for someone outside the country to sell such a product to a citizen living in the US, given that customs regulations specifically forbid the importation of "absinthe."
• It is probably legal to purchase such a product for personal use in the US.
• Absinthe can be and occasionally is seized by United States Customs, if it appears to be for human consumption.

A faux-absinthe liqueur called Absente, made with southern wormwood (Artemisia abrotanum) instead of regular wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), is sold legally in the United States. However, the FDA prohibition extends to all Artemisia species, including even, in theory, Artemisia dracunculus, tarragon. However, Absente is sold in US retail liquor stores because the export version made for the United States does not contain wormwood.

Countries without bans

In the 1990s an importer, BBH Spirits, realized that there was no UK law about its sale (it was never banned there) — other than the standard regulations governing alcoholic beverages — and it became available again in the UK for the first time in nearly a century (though with a prohibitively high tax reflecting the high alcohol content). It had also never been banned in Spain or Portugal, where it continues to be made. Likewise, the former Spanish and Portuguese New World colonies, especially Mexico, allow the sale of absinthe and it has retained popularity through the years. Recent European Union laws have allowed absinthe and absinthe-like liquors to once again be made commercially; however, regulations place strict controls on the thujone level.

External links

• Feeverte.net - Forums, reviews and information
• Oxygenee's FAQ - The most comprehensive Absinthe FAQ on the internet.
• Oxygenee's Virtual Absinthe Museum
• The Wormwood Society - An independent organization founded to help promote accurate, current information about absinthe; to aid in reforming laws and regulations impacting absinthe in the US. It does not sell absinthe.
• Absinthe.se - A comprehensive collection of Absinthe reviews and information.
• Absinthe: The Green Goddess by Aleister Crowley
• The Mystery of the Green Menace - A WIRED Magazine article about a New Orleans man who has researched the chemical content of Absinthe and now distills it in France.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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