Under current EU regulations, absinthe does not have to contain any thujone to justify the name, but also must not exceed a maximum of 35 milligrams of thujone per kilogram. The most famous of these is the herbaceous perennial called wormwood (or grand wormwood). Thujone, whose Latin name is Artemisia absinthium, is a toxin extracted from wormwood plants that some EU lawmakers worry is too harmful, especially in higher concentrations. At its most basic, absinthe is an anise flavored spirit, traditionally made from and flavored by botanicals. The discussion, which will come to a head at a meeting of the parliament in the French city of Strasbourg next week, focuses on the amount of the naturally occurring chemical thujone that must be present in the drink, if at all. Now the European Parliament is to debate a new, common definition of what constitutes it. The intensely alcoholic spirit, dubbed “la fee verte” (the green fairy) by Parisian writers in reference to its reputed psychoactive properties, has been a fixture amongst artists and Europe’s bohemians since the 1850s, with Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire among the famous devotees.Įfforts to regulate the concoction, blamed for causing intense drunkenness and visions, have come and gone over the decades and vary widely. A Negroni is a classic choice – much less potent than absinthe and, in our opinion, better suited to the contemporary palate.A customer at Buchans Bar in London takes a sip of Absinthe, December 10. If you enjoy drinks with an aromatic hit but are put off by absinthe’s intense aniseed flavour profile, you might find a vermouth-based cocktail more to your taste (vermouth is German for wormwood). Today, there’s a handful of specialist bars in London if you fancy a night on the town with the green fairy, while in continental cities like Paris, Prague and Barcelona, it’s practically a rite of passage. When drinking absinthe, it is recommended that you add cool or ice water to your glass. An intense docudrama that tells the history of. Contrary to popular opinion, absinthe was never actually banned in Britain – there’s was simply little appetite for it outside high-society circles and supply pretty much dried up in the wake of WWI. At first he said no, and then he brushed the sore spot on his lip again and texted her: Absinthe Megdidn't reply, and Sol didn't feel like chatting much. With Mindy Robinson, Richard Grieco, Roddy Piper, Manu Intiraymi. And, despite apocryphal tales of absinthe-fuelled debauchery and madness, it’s more likely that the drink’s historically high ABV (55-75%) is responsible for the dangerously taboo reputation that persists today.Ībsinthe is still a niche drink in the UK. The vibrant green, anise-flavored spirit first gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th. Although it’s true that absinthe incorporates extracts from the aromatic herb wormwood (artemisia), alongside anise and fennel, it contains only trace amounts of the potent chemical compound – thujone – believed to cause psychoactive symptoms. Absinthe: How the Green Fairy became literature’s drink By Jane Ciabattari 8th January 2014 Absinthe has inspired many great authors of the last 150 years and may have ruined some as well. Absinthe’s many names reflect its sordid past and questionable reputation. In fact, National Absinthe Day (yes, it is a thing) is celebrated on 5 March because it marks the precise date in 2007 when absinthe went back on sale in the US after being outlawed in 1912.Ībsinthe’s colourful history, while wonderfully entertaining, is built on a myth. Partly because of the arcane rituals around its preparation – the ‘louching’ process that involves drizzling iced water into a shot of absinthe over a sugar cube balanced on an ornate slotted spoon – and partly because of the alleged hallucinatory properties that saw it banned in many countries for much of the twentieth century. Perhaps surprisingly, absinthe retains its mystique more than a century later.
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