Absinthe is a spirit. Less reputable sources sometimes refer to it as a drug, a narcotic, an hallucinogen or – an especially popular claim on the internet – an aphrodisiac. That absinthe is a psychoactive drug, or at least similar to one in effect is not true. The hysteria surrounding absinthe in the early 20th century fuelled the misconception that absinthe was a powerful intoxicant. It was said to cause psychotic episodes and epileptic fits. The truth however, is both more interesting and less sensational: Absinthe differs from almost all other drinks in containing a higher percentage of alcohol – up to 72% – and of course in containing extract of wormwood, or Artemisia absinthium. As we shall see it is these two factors which have had a major impact on its reputation.
Although medical potions and decoctions made from wormwood date back to at least Roman times, the invention of absinthe as we now know it – a mildly bitter green-coloured distilled drink based on wormwood, anise and fennel – is traditionally credited to the romantic figure of Pierre Ordinaire, a Hugenot doctor who fled France for Switzerland in the mid 1700’s and plied his trade in the remote Val de Travers near Neuchâtel.
Absinthe – because of its beautiful and ever-changing green colour, its air of danger and seduction, and above all because of its allegedly psychoactive properties – was romanticized and captured in artwork and writings by countless artists, playwrights and authors.
Absinthe was originally fairly expensive, and largely a drink of the upper-middle classes. It became increasingly popular amongst all classes of French society, and began to displace wine as the standard drink of the French working class. During this period the French wine industry was struggling with the crippling effects of both oidium (a kind of mildew) and phylloxera (an incurable aphid infestation deadly to vines). Almost all the French national vineyard had to be replanted, a process that took decades and resulted in a prolonged shortage of wine, and a consequent rise in wine prices.
Increasingly, 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. When the wine industry began to recover in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the politically well-connected grape growers, seeking to recover the market share they had lost, began to agitate for the prohibition of what they termed “unnatural” products like absinthe.
During the late 19th & early 20th centuries 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, fanned by the chief French temperance organisation, the Ligue National Contre L’Alcoolisme (or the Croix Bleue as it was colloquially known), the word absinthism came to lose its specific meaning. Absinthism and alcoholism were confused, and an alcoholic was simply deemed an “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-honoured tradition, not to mention a major source of revenue. Absinthe, however, was made with industrial alcohol, and was moreover by far the most alcoholic of all liquors. It’s not surprising, that by the 1890’s, absinthe had become the primary target for the French temperance movement.
In 1907 the Croix Bleue gathered 400 000 signatures on a petition which declared:
“Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.”
This narrow focus on absinthe was of course 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 the “bad” rule? After a series of temperance rallies in Paris, the June 15th 1907 headline of Le Matin read: “Tous pour le vin contre l’absinthe”. The leading anti-absinthe firebrand in the Chamber of Deputies, Henri Schmidt, told the assembly that studies “proved” that absinthe was 246 times more likely to cause insanity than wine, and was three times more guilty than other distilled alcohols like cognac. Schmidt went on to argue: “The real characteristic of absinthe is that it leads straight to the madhouse or the courthouse. It is truly ‘madness in a bottle’ and no habitual drinker can claim that he will not become a criminal.”
In 2007, after 95 years of prohibition, absinthe with less than 10ppm of thujone was finally authorised for sale in the United States.
Although medical potions and decoctions made from wormwood date back to at least Roman times, the invention of absinthe as we now know it – a mildly bitter green-coloured distilled drink based on wormwood, anise and fennel – is traditionally credited to the romantic figure of Pierre Ordinaire, a Hugenot doctor who fled France for Switzerland in the mid 1700’s and plied his trade in the remote Val de Travers near Neuchâtel.
Absinthe – because of its beautiful and ever-changing green colour, its air of danger and seduction, and above all because of its allegedly psychoactive properties – was romanticized and captured in artwork and writings by countless artists, playwrights and authors.
Absinthe was originally fairly expensive, and largely a drink of the upper-middle classes. It became increasingly popular amongst all classes of French society, and began to displace wine as the standard drink of the French working class. During this period the French wine industry was struggling with the crippling effects of both oidium (a kind of mildew) and phylloxera (an incurable aphid infestation deadly to vines). Almost all the French national vineyard had to be replanted, a process that took decades and resulted in a prolonged shortage of wine, and a consequent rise in wine prices.
Increasingly, 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. When the wine industry began to recover in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the politically well-connected grape growers, seeking to recover the market share they had lost, began to agitate for the prohibition of what they termed “unnatural” products like absinthe.
During the late 19th & early 20th centuries 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, fanned by the chief French temperance organisation, the Ligue National Contre L’Alcoolisme (or the Croix Bleue as it was colloquially known), the word absinthism came to lose its specific meaning. Absinthism and alcoholism were confused, and an alcoholic was simply deemed an “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-honoured tradition, not to mention a major source of revenue. Absinthe, however, was made with industrial alcohol, and was moreover by far the most alcoholic of all liquors. It’s not surprising, that by the 1890’s, absinthe had become the primary target for the French temperance movement.
In 1907 the Croix Bleue gathered 400 000 signatures on a petition which declared:
“Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.”
This narrow focus on absinthe was of course 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 the “bad” rule? After a series of temperance rallies in Paris, the June 15th 1907 headline of Le Matin read: “Tous pour le vin contre l’absinthe”. The leading anti-absinthe firebrand in the Chamber of Deputies, Henri Schmidt, told the assembly that studies “proved” that absinthe was 246 times more likely to cause insanity than wine, and was three times more guilty than other distilled alcohols like cognac. Schmidt went on to argue: “The real characteristic of absinthe is that it leads straight to the madhouse or the courthouse. It is truly ‘madness in a bottle’ and no habitual drinker can claim that he will not become a criminal.”
In 2007, after 95 years of prohibition, absinthe with less than 10ppm of thujone was finally authorised for sale in the United States.
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