Ok, so Roux’s explanation makes the danger clear. Mixing wormwood and a high concentration of cheap alcohol, you can make poison.” Which makes it quite easy to understand why regulators were anxious to put a stop to the dangerous trend. So without regulations, people were making absinthe with the cheapest ingredients possible. However, as Michel Roux, the late spirits innovator and founder of a modern Absinthe brand called Absente explained to me, “You can make alcohol with anything you can distill or ferment.
Was this popular spirit of the Belle Époque actually responsible for the hallucinations, wild rollicking and even murder for which it was blamed? It is likely that the wormwood in absinthe, the ingredient most commonly blamed for this spirit’s ill effects, caused little to none of the pain for which this legendary spirit was held responsible. A version from the Czech Republic sometimes called Bohemian-style absinthe or absinth, is made with little to no anise flavor. It is made by a few American craft distillers although the majority of absinthe production remains in Europe. But unlike drinks like Scotch, absinthe is not regionally protective and can be made by distillers anywhere.Īround the height of the spirit’s popularity, much of the absinthe available was made in back yards and cellars with little control over the proportions of ingredients. The drink was invented in Switzerland and popularized in neighboring France in the late 1800s. RELATED: What makes Absinthe an aphrodisiac? Where is this spirit made?Įarly absinthe was the moonshine of its time.
(I’ll get to why the wormwood is so significant later in this article.) Today, only absinthes with a low level of wormwood are acceptable for import and sales. However, the absinthes of today are distributed under strict guidelines, which make them a bit different from “La Fee” of the Belle Époque. repealed its ban on this historically controversial drink. It was not until 2007 – more than 95 years later – that the U.S. Then it was banned in the United States in 1912. However, I’ve sampled absinthes that were more yellow than green as well as some that are more of a pale and pretty blue.)Ībsinthe was banned in parts of Europe and Africa in conjunction with the temperance movement.
(This distilled beverage is typically a glowing green color, which explains the name. So then why can you walk into any well-stocked liquor store and buy yourself what has been known until recent years as bootleg hooch?Ībsinthe enjoyed a revival in Europe in the 1990s, when many western countries repealed their bans against La Fee Verte, or the Green Fairy, as absinthe is affectionately called. You may have heard that absinthe isn’t legal today. In order to understand absinthe, you really have to look at this drink’s history and how it fell out of fashion not to mention the dark years as an illicit substance. Like gin, absinthes can vary wildly in flavor depending on the botanicals.īut absinthe is so much more than a recipe. However, the distillation can include any number of herbs and spices like coriander, peppermint or hyssop. The first part of the answer is that absinthe is a distillation of alcohol with botanicals, such as anise, fennel and wormwood. This is a very condensed answer to the complex question, “What is absinthe?” What about the flaming sugar cube? What is absinthe?.The significance of wormwood in absinthe alcohol.
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