| Posted in absinth, absinthe, absinthe faq, absinthe history, degas, dubied, gauguin, grande wormwood, green fairy, history, la fee verte, louche, manet, ordinaire, oxygenee, pernod, picasso, van gogh, wormwood | Posted on 12/20/2007
The AbsintheMan blog would not be complete without a history of Absinthe. And what better way to write such an important piece than by actually drinking absinthe and then telling the story.
It was a dark and stormy night... no wait. Wrong story.
Absinthes history can be traced as far back as biblical times where the key herb, wormwood, was mentioned not only in the bible, but also in Egyptian and Syrian texts. In the 16th and 17th centuries wormwood helped protect against the plague. Its use has been noted throughout history as an herbal treatment for a number of ailments.
It was in 1792 that a Frenchman, Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, created a digestive tonic using wormwood and other medicinal herbs. Wormwood is a very bitter herb, and Dr. Ordinaire reduced the bitterness through the process of distillation.
Soon enough, this new tonic was nicknamed "La Fee Verte" or the Green Fairy and in no time caught the interest of a Mr. Dubied. The first full scale production of absinthe began when Mr. Dubied teamed up with his son in law, Henri-Louis Pernod.During the mid to late 1800s, French army doctors prescribed official rations of absinthe to help with fevers. Soldiers brought their love of absinthe home after battles in North Africa to the crazy passionate life of Paris.
Absinthe leaped into the hearts and minds of French society with notable artists like Van Gogh, Degas, Gauguin, Picasso and Manet partaking of the Green Fairy.
The rise of absinthe is well documented. Unfortunately so was its fall. Imitation absinthes came onto the market that were artificially colored and had other harmful products mixed in to improve the famous clouding effect. These harmful ingredients caused a number of deaths and led to mental illnesses and other physical problems. With absinthe now surpassing French wine production (seen as a threat by the wine industry) and with a series of murders blamed on absinthe, America banned absinthe in 1912 and France banned the drink in 1915, essentially nailing the lid on the proverbial absinthe coffin for the next 75+ years.
Thats it in a nutshell folks :)
This is by no means the end all, be all historical view of absinthe. You'll find more great info in the absinthe FAQs from other websites through my link HERE. We're not perfect, so if we screwed something up (like a name or a date) then so be it. Caveat Emptor, as the saying goes. If you happen to find this absinthe history completely error free, perfectly spelled, and award winning, then you, my friend, must be already drunk on absinthe.
By the way, how many fingers am I holding up? :)
By the way, how many fingers am I holding up? :)
Dear Absinthe Man,
I would like to share a short historic and artistic video with you and your viewers. It is about absinthe and the history behind the green fairy. Thank you very much!!!
Creative Absinthe Video about the Legend of the Green Fairy
Cheers,
Obsello Absinthe