History of Absinthe
No drink has inspired as much awe and allure as has absinthe. With a rich history that spanned centuries and helped to define entire cultural movements, the history of absinthe is filled with intrigue. Green Fairy absinthe became trendy during the glittering Parisian Belle Epoque (Beautiful Era), especially in the cafes of Montmartre and the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. It was further made famous by its creative impact on bohemian artists and writers like Vincent van Gogh, Henri Toulouse Lautrec, Oscar Wilde, and Ernest Hemingway.
From the ferocious anti-absinthe campaign that resulted in its prohibition in the early 1900s, to its remarkable rebirth nearly a century later, the origins of the drink actually lie far from the City of Light. Absinthe was first produced near Couvet in Switzerland, and Pontarlier in the Doubs region of France. This largely forgotten part of rural France, nestled in the wooded foothills of the Jura mountains, is still regarded as the true home of absinthe. The inventor of the drink is said to have been Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, who in 1792, shortly after the French revolution, produced the first commercial absinthe as an all-purpose cure-all. It was recommended for the treatment of epilepsy, gout, kidney stones, colic, headaches and to ease the pain of childbirth.
From the ferocious anti-absinthe campaign that resulted in its prohibition in the early 1900s, to its remarkable rebirth nearly a century later, the origins of the drink actually lie far from the City of Light. Absinthe was first produced near Couvet in Switzerland, and Pontarlier in the Doubs region of France. This largely forgotten part of rural France, nestled in the wooded foothills of the Jura mountains, is still regarded as the true home of absinthe. The inventor of the drink is said to have been Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, who in 1792, shortly after the French revolution, produced the first commercial absinthe as an all-purpose cure-all. It was recommended for the treatment of epilepsy, gout, kidney stones, colic, headaches and to ease the pain of childbirth.
The Many Uses and Users of Green Fairy Absinthe
Learn the History of Absinthe
Ordinaire’s recipe of wormwood, anise, fennel, hyssop and various other herbs distilled in an alcoholic base eventually found its way into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who established the Pernod fils dynasty when he opened his first distillery in 1805, and very soon ‘Extrait d’absinthe’ stopped being a medical cure and started on its route to becoming a national phenomenon in France. By the end of the 19th century, it had been embraced by the Bourgeoisie and common man alike. The popularity of absinthe spread as a fever preventative by French troops fighting in Algeria from 1844 to 1847. Mixed with wine or water and jokingly referred to as "absinthe soup" it was believed to kill germs and fend off dysentry. When the troops of the Bataillon d'Afrique returned to France, they brought with them their taste for the refreshingly bitter drink, and green fairy absinthe became a hit in bars and bistros all over France.
The reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870) was something of a golden age for absinthe. Still relatively expensive, it was primarily a fashionable drink for the wealthy. It was supposed to sharpen the appetite for dinner, and in the early evening, the smell of absinthe wafted over the Parisian boulevards. By the 1870s, it had become common practice to begin a meal with an aperitif, and of the 1,500 liqueurs available at that time, absinthe accounted for 90% of the apéritifs drunk. Rituals for drinking absinthe made the drink even more alluring.
Licensing laws were relaxed during the 1860s, which resulted in a proliferation of new cabarets and cafés - more than 30,000 existed in Paris by 1869, and 5 p.m. signified l'Heure Verte (the Green Hour) in almost every one. The cafés were an extremely popular place to socialize, and nowhere was this cafe culture more vibrant than in the Parisian district of Montmartre, which was a favorite haunt of the bohemian literary and artistic set. Visionaries like Van Gogh, Picasso and Degas embraced its unique effects and regularly reached for green fairy absinthe as their source of inspiration. Authors like Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway wrote some of their greatest works under the influence of absinthe and it's believed that Mary Shelley wrote most of "Frankenstein" in the midst of an absinthe binge.
Belle Epoque (Beautiful Era)
The Parisian Belle Epoque began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. The "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" for the upper class. Exotic feathers and furs were more prominently featured in fashion than ever before, and "haute couture" was invented in Paris. The Belle Époque was an era of great scientific and technological advancement in Europe and the world in general as well. Inventions that either are associated with this era or became common then include the automobile, airplane, phonograph, telephone, underground railway and others. It was also during this period in history that biologists and physicians finally came to understand bacteria and the true origins of illnesses. Albert Einstein, Niola Tesla, and Niels Bohr initiated modern physics. To recognize many of the great advances made in science, the Nobel Prizes were established for physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine.
The reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870) was something of a golden age for absinthe. Still relatively expensive, it was primarily a fashionable drink for the wealthy. It was supposed to sharpen the appetite for dinner, and in the early evening, the smell of absinthe wafted over the Parisian boulevards. By the 1870s, it had become common practice to begin a meal with an aperitif, and of the 1,500 liqueurs available at that time, absinthe accounted for 90% of the apéritifs drunk. Rituals for drinking absinthe made the drink even more alluring.
Licensing laws were relaxed during the 1860s, which resulted in a proliferation of new cabarets and cafés - more than 30,000 existed in Paris by 1869, and 5 p.m. signified l'Heure Verte (the Green Hour) in almost every one. The cafés were an extremely popular place to socialize, and nowhere was this cafe culture more vibrant than in the Parisian district of Montmartre, which was a favorite haunt of the bohemian literary and artistic set. Visionaries like Van Gogh, Picasso and Degas embraced its unique effects and regularly reached for green fairy absinthe as their source of inspiration. Authors like Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway wrote some of their greatest works under the influence of absinthe and it's believed that Mary Shelley wrote most of "Frankenstein" in the midst of an absinthe binge.
Belle Epoque (Beautiful Era)
The Parisian Belle Epoque began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. The "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" for the upper class. Exotic feathers and furs were more prominently featured in fashion than ever before, and "haute couture" was invented in Paris. The Belle Époque was an era of great scientific and technological advancement in Europe and the world in general as well. Inventions that either are associated with this era or became common then include the automobile, airplane, phonograph, telephone, underground railway and others. It was also during this period in history that biologists and physicians finally came to understand bacteria and the true origins of illnesses. Albert Einstein, Niola Tesla, and Niels Bohr initiated modern physics. To recognize many of the great advances made in science, the Nobel Prizes were established for physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine.
By the 1870s, EVERYONE was drinking absinthe.
 The history of absinthe is fascinating!
Absinthe hit its peak during the years from 1880-1910, when it fell dramatically in price, becoming accessible to all parts of society and rivalling wine as the most popular drink in France. By then EVERYONE drank green fairy absinthe— society ladies, gentlemen-about-town, businessmen and politicians, artists, musicians, ordinary working men. Absinthe was the quintessential part of Belle Epoque French society. Naturally, absinthe soon found its way to the "Little Paris" of North America, New Orleans, where it quickly became extremely popular. The Old Absinthe House with its beautiful and time-worn green marble absinthe fountain, is one of New Orlean’s most famous sights.
Back in its heydey, absinthe was produced in many different grades and was sold at widely varying prices, to cater for all parts of the market— from an expensive and fashionable cabaret like the Moulin Rouge, down to the ordinary working man and below him even, to the desperate alcoholics feeding their addiction. All high quality absinthes were distilled, naturally colored, and in the case of the very best brands like Pernod Fils, made from a base of grape alcohol. Cheap brands were made from herbal essences, usually artificially colored, and used cheaper grain or beet alcohols. But high quality absinthes were usually aged in large oak vats for at least 6 months, and sometimes as long as several years. Absinthe and Alcoholism Absinthe was the affordable, and far more alcoholic, alternative to wine. This was both a major reason for its enormous popularity, and ultimately the root cause of its downfall. Seeking to recover the market share they had lost, politically well-connected grape growers began to lobby for the prohibition of what they termed “unnatural” products like absinthe. Chronic use of absinthe was claimed to produce a syndrome called "absinthism" which was characterized by addiction, hyperexcitability, epileptic fits, insomnia, trembling, and hallucinations. In fact, France, together with many western countries, was under pressure from various temperance movements and their constituents to curb alcohol consumption on a governmental level, as it was seen to morally corrupt its citizens. In the midst of this prohibitionist excitement, the word "absinthism" came to lose its specific meaning. Absinthism and alcoholism were confused, and an alcoholic was simply deemed a "green fairy absinthe drinker." This confusion of meaning seems to have been deliberately encouraged by the prohibitionist movement. Wine was believed to be healthy and natural, since it came from the land and was a time-honored tradition, not to mention a major source of revenue. Absinthe, however, was made with industrial alcohol, and was by far the most alcoholic of all liquors. And the active ingredient in the wormwood — thujone — was said to have mind altering, hallucinogenic effects. It’s not surprising, that by the 1890’s, absinthe had become the primary target for the French temperance movement. This narrow focus on absinthe was entirely in the interests of the powerful wine industry lobby. After all, under the growing threat of Prohibition, how better to draw attention away from your own alcoholic product – wine - than to make people believe that it is the healthy, natural exception to alcoholic beverages. Adding to the political agitation against absinthe was its popularity not just with the working class, but also with the radical bohemian set - young artists like Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec, writers like Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Verlaine, to name just a few. Their scandalous lifestyles and debauched behaviour shocked and outraged the establishment, and green fairy absinthe, their drink of choice, came to encapsulate in the public mind everything that had gone wrong with conservative France. The last straw that led to a ban on absinthe was a series of particularly brutal family murders; a disturbed Swiss man, drunk on absinthe, murdered his entire family. Saying that absinthe made him do it is as logical as blaming Jack Daniel's for damage done after an already disturbed man had consumed too much whiskey. But regardless, the public opinion had shifted. Absinthe was believed to be an extremely addicting evil that caused people to hallucinate and go mad. Prohibition of Absinthe Absinthe was first banned in the Congo Free State in 1898, then in Brazil and in Belgium in 1906, in Holland in 1908, in Switzerland in 1910, in the USA in 1912 and finally in France. In many othere countries, absinthe was never formally prohibited, it just faded from sight. Absinthe has never been banned in the UK, nor in much of Southern and Eastern Europe. In fact, many places became magnets for tourists who sought out the allure of a forbidden fruit. Although absinthe continued to be made on a small scale in Spain, its modern revival really has its origins in the collapse of the Iron Curtain, and Czechoslovakia’s 1987 “Velvet Revolution” when sales of "absinth" took off in the early 1990's, especially in the United Kingdon where an innovative publicity campaign soon made absinthe a must-have drink in trendy nightclubs and bars. Manufacturers in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere soon followed, and today this style of "absinth" is made by many eastern European and German products. While some of these manufacturers present their products honestly, a regrettably high percentage sell their wares on the basis of dubious claims of drug like allure, or supposed aphrodisiac effects. Absinthe is Legal in the USA Recognizably authentic absinthe is however made by a few small French and Swiss firms - Claude Bugnon, Kubler, Matter-Luginbuhl and the old firm of Emile Pernot in Pontarlier. In 2007, the United States lifted its ban on green fairy absinthe, with the determination that spirits with less than 10ppm of thujone would be regarded as "thujone free. " Absinthes with more than 10mg but less than 35mg of thujone are legal in the European Union, but are not legal for sale in the US. But US citizens can buy online from another country any kind of absinthe they like. No drink has such an interesting and rich history as does absinthe. Nicknamed "La Fée Verte" or "The Green Fairy," the name for absinthe has stuck throughout history, so you can just ask for it by the same name even now, over a century after it first become popular. Buy authentic green fairy absinthe here. Many purists perfer a higher thujone content. You can easily and legally purchase absinthe with a higher than 10ppm thujone content from Europe. It is perfectly legal for US citizens to buy Absynthe from any online source, such an Alandia. Click the banner below to Buy Absinthe Now!
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  Drink Absinthe Responsibly |
Absynthe has always had an ambivalent and intriguing history. On one hand it was praised as "The Green Fairy" incorporating special rituals and accessories such as the absinthe spoon, yet on the other green fairy absinthe was condemned as a cause of madness and moral degeneracy. Is there any scientific or medical basis for either position? As with most accounts of history, the answer is both yes and no. Evidence of mind-altering effects is largely anecdotal and have come from artists and poets who you would expect to describe and depict events in a "creative" manner. But the active ingredient of wormwood which is thujone is certainly present in absinth, yet how much it effects someone would vary on an individual basis. After you buy green fairy absinthe yourself, draw your own conclusions. Either way, the stories and facts about those who drink absinthe are quite interesting, as is absinthe art the alcohol has influenced! Remember, absinthe is legal to possess it in the United States; you can legally buy it online from anywhere. Please use a breathalyzer for sale so you can drink responsibly and drive safely and legally after enjoying any alcoholic beverage.
