Absinthe: History in a Bottle

I first heard about absinthe from my parents, who were trained in fine arts (and were among bohemian circles in Berkeley, California, my home town, in the 1950s and 1960s). They mentioned the intense Impressionist painters and others who drank it. The defining ingredient is Artemisia absinthium, a common decorative and medicinal herb since ancient times and one of a group of similar plants known as wormwoods or mugworts. Ive tasted modern commercial absinthes in the last 20 years from two countries, as well as an extract of the A. absinthium plant, which has a lingering, wretchedly bitter taste not soon forgotten. The anise and other sweet spices that flavor absinthe liquor are there to make it palatable. The stuff has a considerable mystique, due in part to the colorful figures who drank so much of it, as Conrad details with gusto. It is said to be psychoactive in its own right; maybe or maybe not, but it unquestionably has a lot of alcohol, and that was the psychoactivity I noticed when I tried it. Of course, I didnt take the 10 or 20 shots a day for ten years that Conrads 19th-century bohemians did, so I cant say Ive had the full experience. In any event the main principle, thujone, is also prominent in sage, and the wormwood plants are used in flavoring vermouths, according to Conrad and other sources. The true absinthe liquor was an early casualty of the Prohibition movement and remains illegal in many countries on (disputed) health grounds.

The following may interest readers curious about absinthe. While there is a minor industry in importing allegedly genuine absinthe into the US, at high prices, from countries where it can be legally manufactured, about the beginning of 2000 specialty importers began bringing into the US a fully legal French product called Versinthe (from the Liquoristerie de Provence, whose Web site includes English documentation). According to the manufacturers literature and to one of the importers I spoke to directly, this product contains just the limit of A. absinthium permitted by law in France and the US, but also contains supplemental extracts of closely related mugworts of genus Artemisia, with similar chemical makeup but not covered by the very specific absinthe prohibition. In any event the flavor resembles those of classic absinthes much more than do any of the numerous substitutes such as Muse Vert. The product is sweetened, unlike classic absinthe where the ritual of pouring water over a sugar cube on a slotted spoon was part of the mystique.

Her book is a much more detailed history, but its in French and hard to find, so this is a quality English guide to a legendary vice. If you get to Paris, though, go see the museum for more.