AbsintheMan.com

For more than 30 years, absinthe was just a local drink. It was first exported beyond the borders of France when the French army took part in the war of conquest in Algeria in 1830. The vessels, which transported the battalion over Africa to the coast of Algeria, also contained numerous crates of absinthe. It was used to sanitize contaminated water and to protect the soldiers from tropical diseases. However, its side effects (making life less monotone for the soldiers far away from home and their family) were much appreciated by the troops.

Absinthe was fully adopted by the military and was part of everyone's stradition. As this letter states:

"This drink is in a great place my dear Paul, in both the military and colonial life, but it's being used and abused, it must be the heat! Nobody cares what you usually call these drinks! They were all renamed: for example, here, they call wine with sugar syrup ”état-major“! Absinthe, they call a “bureau-arabic”.
(…) Nine hours and still counting, the sun is burning: we're so thirsty ; l more hour until we can have absinthe. ( …)

If you wish to read the rest of this letter and the full version of this chapter, click here.

• "Bureau-arabic", "Moorish" or "Vichy" to describe an absinthe mixed with almond sirup.
• "Alfa" or "syrup d'Alfa" for a classic absinthe.

After the military, the settlers started using absinthe, for the same therapeutic reasons. Quickly, the French and Swiss distilleries shipped their products all throughout the world. Some distilleries even opened banches abroad:

• Fritz Duval in Brussels and Cork
• Berger in Argentina
• Pernod Fils in Tarragona in Spain (the place absinthe was distilled until 1965) 

The golden age of absinthe was between 1880 and 1910 - it became accessible to all social classes, and because of the rising demand for absinthe, it became nearly as popular as wine. The “Green Hour” used to be from about 5pm to 7pm, and within that hour, the cafes were full of people, and all the chairs and tables along the main boulevards were overflowing. Everyone used to enjoy absinthe around that time. The passion for absinthe was widespread, there was a huge amount of advertising material, the artists claimed they got their inspiration from drinking absinthe – everyone was talking about it! The "Green Fairy" was found in all private homes as well, and represented 90% of all the aperitifs that were consumed. Another interesting aspect is, that it created jobs for thousands of people in both France and the rest of Europe, since distilleries opened one after another. During these years, absinthe had become the "national drink" of France.