So what’s the deal with absinthe, anyways? Am I gonna trip my balls off or what?  Am I gonna find myself chasing dragons and horned demons through the nether world?  Well, absinthe (and its supposed hallucinogenic qualities) is thick with folklore and now certainly back on the world stage in a flourish and this after a long respite…almost a century’s worth.  But let’s start at the beginning.  Just what is absinthe and how did it get this infamous reputation?

Absinthe is a high-alcohol, anise-flavored spirit made from herbs, flowers and leaves of a medicinal plant known as wormwood.  It can often sport an alcohol level of 70%…that’s 140 proof!  Often times it has a natural green color but can also be clear.

It was the bell of the ball in Paris during the 1800′s, and was a favorite among artists and high-class ladies of the night.  Images of the troubled 18th century artist in some slummy Parisian apartment come to mind, riding some hallucinogenic wave of insanity. It was shunned by many as risky and unrefined, but the likes of Oscar Wilde and Vincent Van Gogh were huge fans.

It all came to a head in the early 1900′s, and was banned in America in 1915 because it contained the chemical, thujone.  Absinthe was thought of as a hallucigenic, and thujone was thought to be the culprit. But how did we end up this association with the drink as a rocket shot to the moon?  Well, that’s the rub.  Absinthe use was misunderstood and due to a rather gruesome murder that I’d rather not go into involving a man who drank two glasses of absinthe (followed by an exorbitant amount of liquor and beer), a powerful campaign was set up to ban it and it quickly became a scapegoat for all sorts of evils (which mostly turned out to be the ravages of alcoholism).

It was painted as being a psychoactive drug.  I mean, have you seen Johnny Depp in ‘From Hell’?  He sips the stuff like a heroin addict and then disappears into gruesome vision quests in pursuit of Jack the Ripper.  But modern day science shows that thujone appears in drastically less proportions than originally predicted, and therefore is not capable of inducing any sort of a hallucinogenic reaction.  But have we focused on the wrong chemical?  Some aren’t so sure, and the mask of uncertainty remains…

On a geeky level, the whole drinking of the stuff is a detailed ritual.  A series of intricate steps expand the experience by employing a sugar cube, a slotted spoon, and a bit of spring water poured from an ornate tap.  The slotted spoon is rested over the top of the glass with the sugar cube at the ready, and then slowly drizzled with water till dissolved.  This is said to release the “green fairy” hiding in the liquor, which turns the liquid cloudy and releases a blast of herbal aromas.  The whole thing is very elaborate, and has recently been decriminalized.  Today’s newly-liberated-from-the-law brands are playing on the mystique of absinthe and its reputation as an elixir that takes you to wonderland.  Who knows…maybe one day you’ll have your own green fairy visit you…