Absinthe, also known as la fee verte or ‘the green fairy,’ is a controversial drink from Switzerland that has figured in many artworks and literary creations over the years and yet remains to be untested by a large percentage of the population. This is because the green-colored (or colorless, and rarely, red) drink had been banned in the United States in 1912. It was only after nearly 100 years – in 2007 – that the ban had been lifted.

The ban was enacted after several reports came out about people committing crimes after having the drink. It is believed to have large amounts of a hallucinogen called thujone (banned by the FDA), so the US Agriculture Department promptly made it illegal right after it was outlawed in other countries. Its taste is dominated by the flavor its component anise or licorice.

The irrepressible Oscar Wilde writes of this green concoction: “It first is like normal drinking, but then you start to see unbelievably grueling things…but if you don’t give up then you reach the third phase, and you see wonderful and amazing things.”

More than just an ordinary drink, this powerful, wormwood-based liquid was once used as a medicinal elixir and even as a cure for malaria. However, it didn’t take long before absinthe was brought to frequented bistros bars and embraced by people of all social classes.

There is no incontestable evidence that it could temporarily sharpen one’s intelligence or give the drinker an extraordinary clear-headedness at some point, but some of the greatest names in literary and art circles have given it unparalleled importance.

Absinthe in culture

In the mid-19th century, French impressionist painter Edouard Manet created the disturbing The Absinthe Drinker. In it he featured a solitary man, looking stoic in a dingy backstreet in Paris, a glass of absinthe beside him and an empty bottle at his feet. Needless to say, the work was not well-received by critics.

Edgar Degas, another great painter of the 19th century, in turn came up with Dans Un Café, portraying a man and a woman sitting in front of a restaurant table on top of which are coffee and absinthe. The critics then were also scandalized, perhaps by the woman’s ‘spaced out look’ which is assumed to be absinthe-induced. The now-hailed painting was renamed L’ Absinthe in 1893 to take advantage of the powerful liquor’s increasing popularity at the time.

Even eccentric Vincent Van Gogh painted a masterpiece entitled Glass of Absinthe and a Carafe before the turn of the century, purposefully using various shades of green in the artwork. It was believed that Van Gogh drank a lot of absinthe in his time (was it the reason behind the infamous ear-cutting incident?), just like novelist Ernest Hemingway who reportedly hoarded bottles of absinthe even after its ban in several countries. He was said to consume the drink prior to joining the traditional bull runs in Pamplona, Spain and writes about absinthe in his classic works, Death in the Afternoon and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Movies such as the 2001 Moulin Rouge also contained snippets of scenes with absinthe to evoke the feeling of Paris’ decadence during that era.

Absinthe components

Its production involves three important herbs: grande wormwood, florence fennel, and green anise. Again, to give absinthe an ethereal aura, the three herbs were collectively called ‘the holy trinity’. Other herbs can also be used, such as coriander, juniper, nutmeg, melissa, hyssop, star anise, angelica root, dittany leaves, Sweet Flag, and more. The distillate is colorless, and color is added by using natural or artificial chlorophyll.

Those that are artificially colored are generally stable, but for naturally colored absinthe, the chlorophyll breaks down and gives rise to an undesirable change in color – from emerald green to greenish-yellow to brown – when exposed to sunlight. This is why the latter should only be stored in UV-resistant bottles at room temperature.

Although absinthe comes out of the distillation process with a heady 60-75% alcohol by volume, it is taken in diluted form after an elaborate preparation process.

The art of drinking absinthe

The items needed for absinthe-drinking are a special glass, a slotted spoon, a sugar cube, and ice-cold water. Ordinary glasses were first used, but soon, special glasses were used. These have a dose line – specifically, a bulge at the bottom of the glass – which served to indicate how much of the liquor should be poured.

The spoon is placed on the glass’ rim and the sugar cube, in turn, is placed on the spoon. Next, ice-cold water is slowly poured over the cube. After achieving a dilution ratio of around 3:1 to 5:1, the liquid goes through “louching,” or the process of clouding the drink. This is caused by the coming out of solution of the components which aren’t soluble in water, such as the star anise and fennel.

An absinthe fountain has also been designed to make it easy to dilute several absinthe glasses at the same time. This is similar to an oversized jar and is filled with the ice-cold water. It is equipped with spigots radiating from it, allowing people to leave their drinks to louche while they chatted.

Woud-be absintheurs can buy nearly all the accessories that a beginner needs, from online sources such as www.absinthiana.com. Purchasing accessories this way is fine, but one has to be careful about buying the drink itself. There are many fakes invading the market today and you should only buy from trusted dealers.

Absinthe should remain in a room with cool temperatures of about 13-18 degrees Centigrade. A bottle can be stored on its side and regularly rotated to keep the cork clean. Keep it away from sunlight and store in a vibration-free part of the house.

Absinthe Back in the U.S.A.

Today, a federal agency has allowed two European dealers to supply Stateside – but only because they’ve agreed to bring in the thujone-free kind of absinthe. A bottle costs around $50-$60, and potential buyers are a bit skeptical whether the experience would even come close to the fabled experiences of the artists of yore.