What is Absinthe and History of Absinthe

So prohibition officially ended last year when absinthe was finally made legal for sale in the US – but what is absinthe exactly, besides an alcoholic drink with a long and checkered resume?

In brief, absinthe is a high proof alcoholic drink which contains extracts of wormwood, a bitter herb used in both medicine and some other drinks. Distilled from a mixture of wormwood, fennel, and anise, it has a sharp green color and a bitter, liqorice-like flavor.

Absinthe has an alcohol level of between 60 and 75% - that’s 120 to 150 proof! - technically making it a spirit. But it is never drunk straight – both because of the high alcoholic content and because of its extremely bitter taste. Instead it is always diluted with water and sugar; so in practice it is more like a liqeur. Uniquely, this dilution is carried out by the drinker rather than by the distiller.

Absinthe dates back to ancient Greek times, when Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, recommended it as a treatment for rheumatism and jaundice. Throughout the middle ages it was recommended as a cure for everything from gout to flatulence. But its modern history begins in 1797, when Henri-Louis Pernod – yes, that Pernod – opened a distillery in Switzerland and began producing absinthe as an enjoyable tipple.

When France colonized Algiers in the 1840s, the army supplied its troops liberally with absinthe, not least to combat malaria and make drinking water safer. As soldiers returned home, they brought their newly-acquired taste for absinthe with them. Regular consumption of alcohol in the past was far more widespread than it is today, because water was rarely safe to drink.

Although France is usually associated with wine, it had become hugely expensive at that time, because a disease had blighted the grapes in most French vineyards: absinthe became an affordable substitute.

As absinthe grew in popularity, it acquired many devotees who preferred its effects to those of other drinks, especially poets and artists. Vincent van Gogh was an early fan, believing that a few sips of absinthe unleashed his creative potential. By mid-century, consumption of absinthe was so widespread that the ‘happy hour’ in France was commonly referred to as ‘the green hour’. By the end of the century, the French were drinking more absinthe than they were wine!

However, it couldn’t last. By the dawn of the 20^th century, temperance campaigners had singled out absinthe as the worst of all drinks, backed up by some hazy scientific research. Campaigners sought to ban it, and in 1907 the government of Switzerland obliged them. The USA followed suit in 1912, and only now, 95 years later, has the prohibition been lifted.