Drink Matron

Category: Booze of the Week – Absinthe

  • Why is Absinthe called the Green Fairy?

    GreenFairyThe Fee Verte, or the Green Fairy, has been the nickname of absinthe nearly since its invention. While the nickname is now more commonly associated with the myth that absinthe causes hallucinations, the origins of the nickname are less controversial.

    When Dr. Ordinaire invented absinthe in the late 1790’s, it was, as many spirits are, originally intended as a medicinal tonic. According to feeverte.net, “Artemisia absinthium was ‘from early biblical days. . .used in medicine and magic. . .to rouse a languid appetite and stimulate digestion'(Gibbons 45). It treated ‘epilepsy, gout, drunkenness, kidney stones, colic, headaches'(Lanier vii) and worms.”

    Because it seemed to be such a cure-all, the tonic became synonymous with a helpful, nurse-like spirit, or, a fairy. Since it was green, it simply became known as La fee verte, and later literally translated to the Green Fairy.

    While the nickname stuck, the reason behind it changed once absinthe became more popular as an intoxicant.

    As the spirit gained traction with artists and writers, it became clear that it inspired new and more magnificent ideas. Eventually the Green Fairy was seen as a muse to these great artists, including Vincent Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Ernest Hemingway.

    Recently a study done by researchers at Berkeley, the University of California and Northwestern University Medical School concluded that wormwood (with the help of other absinthe components) actually improves the cognitive function of the brain, giving not only credence, but actual proof that the Green Fairy may just be the perfect muse after all.

     

  • Classic absinthe advertisements

    One of the most interesting things to come out of the campaign against absinthe was the beautiful advertisements, both for and against the spirit.

    Pro-Absinthe

    On the pro-absinthe side, there are themes we see today, beautiful women, sometimes scarcely dressed, enjoying themselves while they hold the drink in their hand. Sometimes it’s a gentleman or two, having cocktails and laughing at a cafe or pub. And sometimes, our old friend, the green fairy herself, makes an appearance.

     

     

     

    Anti-Absinthe

    Anti-absinthe adverts often depict the drink as the devil or death. Skeletons and other deathly images are the central theme, and while occasionally a bit disturbing, they are quite neat. It’s no wonder their campaign succeeded.

     

  • Pouring absinthe properly

    small_absinthe-downshot-150x198The way absinthe is served and consumed is one of the most important parts of drinking it. There are specific instruments and procedures that should be followed. At Drink-Matron.com we are not experts and do not pretend to be. But the people at the Wormwood Society have a bevy of knowledge about absinthe that would impress even Pierre Ordinaire himself. Below I’ve included an excerpt as well as a link to their page entitled “The Proper Way to Pour Absinthe in Society.”

    “If you are using a carafe, begin by pouring a small amount of water onto the sugar, saturating it.  Allow it to sit for a minute or two so that the sugar begins to loosen and dissolve on its own….” see more at http://www.wormwoodsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=228

     

     

     

  • Why Does Absinthe Make You Hallucinate?

    8286Artemisia absinthium, more commonly known as wormwood, is the ingredient commonly blamed for the hallucinogenic properties of absinthe. Specifically, a byproduct of wormwood called thujone was considered to be the culprit. Throughout the years, this compound has been labeled as a hallucinogenic and psychoactive (said to affect the brain in a similar way as THC). The truth is – this is not the case.

    In the late 1800’s a man called Valentin Magnan conducted several experiments in order to prove that absinthe was a dangerous product and should be banned in France.  The first experiment was to put a guinea pig into a case with a saucer of alcohol, and another in a case with a saucer of wormwood oil.  The guinea pig with the alcohol simply got drunk, but the guinea pig with the wormwood oil went into convulsions and died.  He went on the study 250 “alcohol abusers” and noted that those who drank absinthe hallucinated and some even had seizures.  Modern science has deemed the conclusions from this experiment to be questionable at best because of a lack of understanding of or accounting for diseases that may have caused the hallucinations or seizures.

    It has been proven that thujone is lethal at high levels (45mg/kg) causing convulsions leading up to death, but there is no evidence of hallucinations as a symptom.  You can find thujone in any number of other products, none of which claims hallucinogenic properties.  Do they have as high of a concentration of thujone as absinthe?  Absinthe actually doesn’t have a very high concentration of thujone to begin with.  In fact, in the U.S. any food or beverage containing any Artemisia species must be thujone-free, which means by law it contains less than 10mg/kg of thujone.  Pre-ban absinthe doesn’t contain much more.  A 2008 study used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to survey the contents of 13 bottles of pre-ban absinthe and found that an average of 25.4mg/L of thujone was present.

    It was hypothesized until recently that thujone was psychoactive in a similar way to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC – the psychoactive agent found in marijuana).  However, recently it has been proven that THC stimulates the cannaboid neural receptor while thujone acts on the GABAα and 5-HT3 receptors, and though they cause some of the same symptoms, they are mostly different.

    It is certain that wormwood does not cause hallucinations by itself, but who’s to say that wormwood combined with something else does?  There isn’t enough evidence to say one way or another.  All we know is that modern absinthe isn’t hallucinogenic.