Absinthe

A bitter green high-proof liquor made from wormwood, anise and a variety of other herbs, called La Fée Verte in France, meaning The Green Fairy. This potent drink is traditionally served drizzled over a sugar cube, held in a special perforated spoon, over a glass of water, turning the liquid milky white. Absinthe was first bottled and promoted as a medicinal cure-all by the French physician Pierre Ordinaire, who fled the French Revolution in the 1790s and settled in Couvet, Switzerland, where wormwood grew wild. Ordinaire learned of absinthe from two sisters in Couvet, who were already making it before he arrived.

Popular in Europe in the 19th and early 20th century but banned in Switzerland (the ban was repealed in 2005), the aromatic liqueur was blamed for everything from gastrointestinal irritation to hallucinations to even death among habitual users. Many countries banned its sale including the U.S. in 1912 and France in 1915. It was no doubt a powerful liquor but many of the claims against absinthe were most likely a result of yellow journalism and the temper of the times. The active ingredient was said to be thujone, a neurotoxin, but modern studies of vintage absinthe show just trace amounts of it.

Absinthe enjoyed its greatest popularity in France in the late 1800s, with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Verlaine and Oscar Wilde among its most ardent imbibers. It also achieved great popularity in New Orleans, where it was widely consumed by artists, musicians and Storyville madams.

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