Absinthe or Absinth (pronounced ab-sinth)
(1) A green, aromatic liqueur (alcohol content 45-74%),
made with wormwood and other herbs, it has a bitter, liquorice flavour; has
from time-to-time been banned in many Western countries. Technically, because of the high wormwood content, it’s a gin. The colloquial
name was green fairy.
(2) An alternative name for the herb Artemisia absinthium (grande wormwood); essence
of wormwood which correctly should be spelled only absinth).
(3) Bitterness; sorrow (archaic except for poetic
use).
(4) A shade (a spectrum from yellow-green to a quite bright hue),labeled on color charts as “absinthe green”.
(5) A rare alternative name
for the sagebrush (US).
1350-1470: From the French absinthe (essence of wormwood (short for extrait d'absinthe)), from the Latin absinthium (wormwood and a doublet of absinthium), from the Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion) (wormwood) of uncertain origin although its speculated the source may be a Persian root (spand or aspand, or the variant esfand) which meant Peganum harmala, also called Syrian Rue which, while not actually a variety of rue, is another famously bitter herb. The alternative etymology is that the genus was named after Queen Artemisia, the wife and sister of Mausolus, ruler of Caria 377–353. When Mausolus died, he was buried in the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and traces of the ruins can still be seen at Bodrum in modern-day Turkey. In the Hellenic myths, Ἄρτεμις (Artemis) was goddess of the hunt, and protector of the forest and children; her equivalent in Roman mythology was Diana. Absinthe & absinthism are nouns and absinthic is an adjective; the noun plural is absinthes.
The highly alcoholic, anise-flavored liquor originally made from grande wormwood, anise, and other herbs was first distilled in 1842, lending its name to the yellow-green color which became commercially available in the late 1800s. The early spelling was absinth (which survived longer than absynthe and absenta) and although extinct in English use, absinth is the spelling variant most commonly applied to varieties of the spirit produced in Central and Eastern Europe and is specifically associated with Bohemian-style absinthes. The wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) plant itself has long been figurative of "bitter" sorrow and was known in English as absinth in English from circa 1500; the earlier tradition, drawn from the Old English, used the word in the Latin form. The drink first gained popularity in Europe after being consumed in some abundance by French soldiers in Algiers. In North Africa, there was a long fascination with absinthe, historians noting it had been associated with “magical properties” as far back as ancient Egypt.
Death in the afternoon
Death in the Afternoon, also called The Hemingway or Hemingway Champagne, is a mix of absinthe and Champagne, invented by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) himself. The concoction shares its name with a novel from his “bullfighting, bull-slinging, & bullshit” period (Death in the Afternoon (1932)), the recipe published in a 1935 anthology of cocktails with contributions from noted authors.
(1) Pour one jigger of absinthe
into a Champagne glass.
(2) Add iced Champagne
until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness.
(3) Drink three to five
of these, slowly.
Traditional French Method
(1) Pour a shot
(1oz/30ml) of absinthe into a tall, wide rimmed glass.
(2) Rest specially
slotted absinthe spoon across top of the glass.
(3) Place a sugar cube atop
absinthe spoon.
(4) Slowly drizzle ice-cold
water over sugar cube so water is evenly displaced into absinthe until drink is
diluted to a ratio between 3:1 and 5:1.
(5) Stir gently and enjoy.
Bohemian Method
(1) Pour a shot
(1oz/30ml) of absinthe into a tall, wide rimmed glass.
(2) Put lump of sugar on a
spoon and dip it in the absinthe until cube is saturated.
(3) Hold spoon over glass
and set the cube alight; it will bubble and caramelize.
(4) When flame has died
down, stir sugar into absinthe.
(5) Add iced-water until
drink is diluted to a ratio between 3:1 and 5:1.
(6) Stir gently and enjoy.
French purists disapprove
of these Bohemian ways, claiming the caramelizing of the sugar impairs the true
flavor of absinthe.
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t the only one fond of the green fairy. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) is claimed to have said “After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.” He applied his empirical research into the spirit’s psychoactive and degenerative properties in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890-1891) in which the eponymous protagonist takes those staples of decadent Victorian hedonism, opium and absinthe, in seedy places among London's Docklands.
The French poet Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) was famously fond of absinthe, his lust for the spirit shared with his lover and fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), the pair having a drunken tiff during which Rimbaud was shot, sustaining a minor wound. After that, Verlaine’s alcoholism worsened and he died in poverty, on his deathbed damning as “the green witch” which governments should ban. Rimbaud may have been more open-minded, one of his works containing the line: “Wise pilgrims, let us reach / The Absinthe with its green pillars.” Shortly after being shot, he renounced poetry, briefly serving in the military before deserting to take up a life in commerce.
Absente Absinthe Refined.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) was known to drink absinthe, not anything unusual at the time and while he suffered from what would now be called “mental health issues” (then it was simply “went mad”), what part the drink played in his breakdown isn’t known although in letters to friends, he did note the effect it had on his work. The mere connection however was enough for Crillon Importers to collaborate with Absente to produce the Van Gogh themed packaging for Absente Absinthe Refined when in 1999 it was the first brand to offer the green fairy in the US since it was banned in 1912. Absente made much of its spirit being “authentic” by which they meant it was distilled from wormwood and therefore contained thujone, the fabled and allegedly psychoactive substance naturally present in the herb and the reason for the original ban although cautiously, when permitting sales in 1999, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives limited the thujone content to 10 milligrams per liter.
Lindsay Lohan in absinthe green, 2019.
Once one of France’s most famous poets and essayists, Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was probably no more fond of absinthe than any other strong drink but he certainly didn’t avoid the green fairy, even writing the poem Enivrez-vous (Get drunk) in which its mentioned. For years he drank heavily and used a variety of opioids before suffering a massive stroke in 1866, lingering in a semi-paralysis for almost a year before dropping dead.