![]() Valentin Magnan, a physician at the asylum of Sainte-Anne in Paris. In 1912, the French consumed 221,897,000 liters per year.Īs early as 1864, scientists began studying the effects of absinthe on health. However, in France, absinthe remained legal and popular up until World War I. Belgium outlawed absinthe in 1905 and Holland followed suit in 1910. A petition quickly circulated resulting in the Swiss government banning absinthe in 1908. The notoriety of the crime and another absinthe-related murder a few days later incited public opinion against the liqueur. In 1905, a sensational quadruple murder in Switzerland was blamed on the perpetrator’s supposed addiction to absinthe. It has the distinction of being the only alcoholic drink singled out for prohibition. Five years later, on July 25, 1912, absinthe was banned in America. A popular bar at the corner of Bourbon Street and Bienville became known as the “Old Absinthe House.” The history of absinthe in the New World was brief, however, since by 1907, Harper’s Weekly reported that the “green curse of France” was under investigation by the U.S. The popularity of the drink grew rapidly, resulting in the Pernods producing 20,000 liters daily by the mid-century.Ībsinthe made its way to North America, probably first appearing in New Orleans in the 1830s. When they returned to France after the war, they brought their taste for absinthe with them. The troops quickly acquired a taste for this high-octane drink. It was also thought to act as a health-preserving tonic when mixed with wine and water. The distillery got a major boost during the French-Algerian War, when French troops fighting in Algeria from 1844-47 were issued rations of absinthe as a fever preventative. By 1805, Pernod opened a large factory, Pernod Fils, the first distillery of an anise-based liqueur in France. The major’s daughter married a Swiss man named Pernod, who began producing absinthe based on Ordinaire’s recipe. The sisters then passed it on to a Frenchman, Major Dubied, in 1797. Upon Ordinaire’s death, he left his secret recipe, which likely included wormwood, anise, dittany, sweet flag, melissa, coriander, veronica, chamomile, parsley, and spinach to the Henriod sisters of Couvet. The concoction was known as La Fee Verte (the Green Fairy). He eventually produced a 136-proof elixir, which became a popular tonic in the area. Like many country doctors of the time, he prepared his own remedies and began experimenting with wormwood and other herbs. He discovered the wormwood plant growing wild on his frequent horseback journeys in the countryside. Ordinaire settled in Couvet, a small village in western Switzerland. Modern absinthe was probably invented in 1792 by a French physician, Pierre Ordinaire, who fled to Switzerland during the French Revolution. Wormwood had the reputation as a protection against the plague, and people slept with it in their pillows, hung it from the rafters, and burned it as a fumigant. In the Middle Ages, wormwood was used as a popular treatment for flatulence in dogs and was also known to kill intestinal worms. The Russian translation for wormwood is Chernobyl, the name of the city that was the site of a nuclear meltdown in 1986. Wormwood is mentioned 12 times in the Bible. It was prescribed by Hippocrates for jaundice, anemia, rheumatism, and menstrual pains. ![]() Wormwood is a shrub-like herb native to Europe and Asia. It is from wormwood that the terpene thujone is obtained, which has been identified as the hallucinogenic compound in absinthe. However, the real kick in absinthe is not the alcohol, but one of its principal herbs, wormwood. Absinthe has been described as similar in taste to Nyquil and similar in appearance to the mouthwash Scope. A green liqueur, it’s extremely bitter in taste, and, at 160 proof, has about twice the alcohol concentration of whiskey. The fans of absinthe praise both its hallucinatory and stimulatory effects. Consequently, they didn’t block the return of absinthe.Īmerican visitors flooding into Prague have helped make absinthe a popular drink, as it was for Hemingway, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and fin de siècle France. Czech officials were wary of restricting personal liberties in a way reminiscent of the old communist regime. The Wall Street Journal reported that Czech distiller Radomill Hill began producing absinthe and selling it in bars in Prague in 1990. The legalization of absinthe, a toxic liqueur fashionable in Europe at the turn of the 19 th century, may well be one of the more insidious evils of recent times. But with the flood of new freedoms, a few evils have slipped in as well. The fall of communism in Eastern Europe resulted in dramatic gains in civil rights and liberties.
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