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Absinthe

La Fee Verte—the Green Fairy. No other nickname stuck so well as this one given by the French in the nineteenth century to the bright, pear-green liquor called absinthe.

Absinthe is a distilled, anise-flavored spirit derived from green anise, sweet fennel, botanicals such as Artemesia absinthium (or grand wormwood) and other herbs. It gets its brilliant coloring from chlorophyl. While many believed it to have hallucinogenic properties due to the chemical compound called thujone that was present in small traces from the wormwood, it was actually its high alcohol by volume (ABV) content, that gave absinthe its bad reputation.¹ Compared to both whiskey’s and vodka’s average ABV of 40% (or 80 proof), absinthe’s ABV is 45-74% (or 90-148 proof)! Absinthe rates among the world’s highest-proof liquors.

In the mid-to-late 1800s, drinking absinthe became the fashion in Paris. One reason for its popularity was because many assumed it could enhance creativity. Artists and writers such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Edouard Manet, Ernest Hemingway, Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, and Vincent Van Gogh believed the drink expanded consciousness and expressiveness through, what they thought were, its psychedelic properties. They called it “the Green Fairy” and “the Green Muse.” Absinthe was so popular in Parisian cafes between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. that the time became known as “the green hour.”

Another possible reason for the drink’s popularity could be that it was cheap. Insects destroyed two-thirds of the vineyards in Europe between 1870-1900, causing wine to become scarce and very costly—so absinthe became a less expensive alternative. A third reason for absinthe’s popularity was because it was one of the few drinks that women could consume and still be considered ladylike.

Both men and women enjoyed the presentation of absinthe, which was called the “French Method.” The ritual involved placing a sugar cube on a slotted spoon and laying it across a glass with a measured amount of absinthe. Icy cold water was then slowly poured over the sugar cube, allowing it to drip into the glass of the beautiful green liquid. The diluting of the absinthe caused the drink to release its botanical fragrance and its color to change to a pale milky-green. People enjoyed it so much that alcoholism became a serious problem in France. Absinthe was associated with illicit behavior and was blamed for loose morals, murder, and driving people mad. By 1915, France, along with the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria-Hungary, had banned the drink.

The Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), regularly drank absinthe while he lived in France. He is quoted as saying this about the green drink: “After the first glass of absinthe, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see them as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”

Absinthe was to remain illegal for almost a hundred years until much later testing proved its hallucinogenic properties to be exaggerated; however, its high alcohol content still makes absinthe a liquor to regard with caution.

The beautiful Turncoat Absinthe, however, poses no risk to you or your family. Enjoy as much as you like of your leather furniture sauced in Absinthe.