Summary:
This article traces the history of absinthe. It includes the banning of absinthe by several countries and the re-emergence of the drink after the bans were lifted.

Details or Sample:
Absinthe, known as the Green Fairy, or la Fée Verte in French, has long been veiled in mystery and myth. The liquor’s color is usually either a natural or artificial pale emerald green, and is why it became known as the Green Fairy. The natural green color is obtained by steeping, or maceration of, green anise, grande wormwood, and florence fennel in alcohol. It is then distilled, with a second maceration afterward; this causes the green hue. Other herbs may be used also, including hyssop, melissa, star anise and petite wormwood. Steeping the herbs produces chlorophyll, causing the green color. This drink has a high alcohol content, and may be another reason for the mysterious properties. The bitterness of absinthe comes from absinthine found in the wormwood. It is one of the most bitter substances known. Wormwood, used as a medicinal remedy for many years, is the ingredient that has caused the myths to abound.

Historically, the use of wormwood for medicinal purposes can be traced to 1550 Egypt. The ancient Greeks were also known to use wormwood leaves soaked in wine. Legend has it that absinthe was created and used as a remedy by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living in Switzerland, somewhere between 1789 and 1792. His version of wormwood and herbs such as green anise and fennel, soaked in alcohol, produced a bitter tasting 136 proof liquor. It is unsure whether it was Dr. Ordinaire’s recipe, or one of their own making, but the Henriod sisters eventually ended up with it. Later, a man by the name of Major Dubied bought the formula from the sisters. He and his son Marcellin, as well as his son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened Dubied Père et Fils, an absinthe distillery, in Couvet, Switzerland in 1797. In 1805, the newly named Maison Pernod Fils distillery, a larger factory, opened in Pontarlier, France.

Producing 30,000 liters per day at the height of production, the absinthe was distributed worldwide. The original recipe of the Pernod Fils distillery contained aromatic herbs such as wormwood, Roman wormwood, hyssop, lemon balm, fennel and anise. Later, other herbs were included such as angelica, dittany, juniper, nutmeg and star anise.

Absinthe became popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in France. Famous artists and writers romanticized the drink, including Oscar Wilde, Gauguin, Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Allen Poe, Toulouse-Lautrec and Ernest Hemingway. It was reputed to tap into the more creative side and considered a muse. Absinthe appears in works by Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. At the end of the 19th century, absinthe was the spirit of choice – the cocktail hour being known as the green hour.

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