What Is Absinthe?
ABSINTHE (from French, from Latin absinthium, ancient Greek apsinthion, "wormwood") is a high-alcohol anise-flavored liquor derived from herbs including the flowers and leaves of the medicinal plant Artemisia absinthium, also called wormwood. Nicknamed la Fée Verte ("The Green Fairy"), absinthe has a lightly bitter taste similar to other anise-flavored liqueurs, with a subtlety imparted by the use of herbs, and is traditionally a pale or emerald green in color.
Absinthe is especially known for its popularity in France—particularly its romantic associations with Parisian artists and writers—in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, until its prohibition in 1915. The most popular brand of absinthe worldwide at the time was Pernod Fils.
At the height of its popularity, absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously addictive, psychoactive drug and similarly banned in other European countries and in the United States. In fact, high alcohol content and a suggestive reputation are now considered to be its most active ingredients. A modern-day absinthe revival began in the 1990s, as countries in the European Union began to reauthorize its manufacture and sale.
Absinthe Constituents
Absinthe contains anise (often partially substituted with star anise), Florence fennel, hyssop, melissa, and Roman wormwood (Artemisia pontica). Various recipes also include angelica root, sweet flag, dittany leaves, coriander, veronica, juniper, nutmeg, and various mountain herbs.
A simple maceration of wormwood without distillation produces an extremely bitter drink, due to the presence of the water-soluble absinthine, one of the most bitter substances known. Authentic recipes call for distillation after the primary maceration and before the secondary or "coloring" maceration. The distillation of wormwood, anise, and Florence fennel first produces a colorless alcoholate which leaves the alembic at around 82% alcohol. It can be left clear, called a la Bleue or la Blanche, or the well-known green color of the beverage can be imparted either artificially or with chlorophyll by steeping Roman wormwood, hyssop, and melissa in the liquid. After this process, the resulting product is reduced with water to the desired percentage of alcohol. Over time and exposure to light the chlorophyll will break down, causing the drink to go from emerald green to yellow green to brown.
Inferior varieties are made by cold-mixing herbs, essences or oils in alcohol, with the distillation process omitted.
Alcohol makes up the majority of the drink and is extremely high, between 45% and 85%, though there is no historical evidence that any commercial vintage absinthe was higher than 74%. Given the high strength and low alcohol solubility of many of the herbal components, absinthe is usually not imbibed "straight," but consumed after a fairly elaborate preparation ritual.
Historically, there were five grades of absinthe: ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, supérieure and Suisse (which does not denote origin), in order of increasing alcoholic strength. The best absinthes contain 60% to 74% alcohol. It is said to improve materially with storage. In the 19th century, absinthe was occasionally adulterated by profiteers with copper, zinc, indigo plant, or other dyes to impart the green color, but this was not done by the best distilleries.
Absinthe History
The precise origin of absinthe is unclear. According to popular legend, absinthe began as an all-purpose patent remedy created by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living in Couvet, Switzerland, around 1792 (the exact date varies by account). Ordinaire's recipe was passed on to the Henriod sisters of Couvet, who sold absinthe as a medicinal elixir. In fact, by other accounts, the Henriod sisters may have already been making the liqueur before Ordinaire's arrival. In either case, one Major Dubied in turn acquired the formula from the sisters and, in 1797, with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the first absinthe distillery, Dubied Père et Fils, in Couvet. In 1805, they built a second distillery in Pontarlier, France, under the new company name, Maison Pernod Fils
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