No. This is a myth. In short, absinthe has never been dangerous – nor has drinking vodka or firing fireballs. While you can`t temper how ridiculous BTT is, you can moderate your alcohol consumption. Absinthe, when consumed responsibly, is certainly a treat. Spend time with the green fairy today. It was the Czech Republic that popularized all the flaming sugar cube you`ve probably seen somewhere in a movie. While it certainly has a cinematic effect and is especially exciting for those who feel like they`re doing something illegal while drinking absinthe, it`s by no means traditional. On March 27, 1923, a ban on absinthe was issued in Germany. In addition to banning the production and trade of absinthe, the law went so far as to prohibit the distribution of printed matter containing details of its manufacture.
The original ban was lifted in 1981, but the use of Artemisia absinthium as a flavouring substance remained banned. On September 27, 1991, Germany adopted the 1988 European Union standards, which effectively relegalized absinthe. [118] Switzerland Absinthe was banned in its country of origin for nearly a century, from 1910 to 2005. The only laws that currently regulate the production and sale of absinthe in Switzerland stipulate that absinthe must be distilled and not dyed. If Swiss absinthe is coloured, it should not be artificially dyed. You can buy absinthe today, which is identical to the absinthe they made when Van Gogh cut his ear. That said, you can also buy absinthe, which Edgar Allen Poe would probably have considered sacrilege. A gift is often color, but more on that later. A study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol[107] concluded that high doses (0.28 mg/kg) of thujone in alcohol had negative effects on attention performance in clinical settings. This delayed reaction time and caused subjects to focus their attention on the central field of vision.
Low doses (0.028 mg/kg) showed no significantly different effect from that of pure alcohol control. Although the effects of the high-dose samples were statistically significant in a double-blind test, the subjects themselves could not reliably identify which samples contained thujone. For humans weighing an average of 65 kg (143 lbs), the samples exposed to the high dose in the study would correspond to 18.2 mg thujone. The EU limit value of 35 mg/l thujone in wormwood means that this person has about 0.5 litres of resistant alcohol (e.g. 50% + ABV) before thujone can be metabolized to show clinically detectable effects, resulting in a potentially fatal blood alcohol level of >0.4%. [108] The main ingredient is wormwood or Artemisia absinthium, the scientific name. Absinthe is the source of “thujone”. Technically, the government has never banned absinthe, but it has banned thujone in absinthe. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for enforcing federal regulations on absinthe crossing U.S. borders. If you`re a diehard fan of European absinthe and want to bring something from abroad, remember that CBP can confiscate anyone: the traditional French preparation involves placing a sugar cube on a specially designed slit spoon and placing the spoon on a glass filled with one measure of absinthe.
Ice water is poured or drained over the sugar cube to mix the water with wormwood. The finished preparation contains 1 part wormwood and 3 to 5 parts water. Since water dilutes the mind, components with low water solubility (mainly anise, fennel and star anise) come out of the solution and darken the drink. The resulting milky opalescence becomes shady (Fr. opaque or shaded, IPA [luʃ]). The release of these dissolved essences coincides with a scent of vegetal aromas and aromas that “bloom” or “bloom”, bringing out subtleties that are otherwise attenuated in the cultivated mind. This reflects perhaps the oldest and purest method of preparation and is often referred to as the French method. The French word absinthe can refer to either the alcoholic beverage or, more rarely, absinthe.
Absinthe is derived from the Latin absinthium, which in turn comes from the Greek ἀψίνθιον apsínthion, “absinthe”. [10] The use of Artemisia absinthium in a drink is attested in Lucretia`s De Rerum Natura (936-950), where Lucretia states that a drink with wormwood is given as medicine to children in a cup with honey on the edge to make it drinkable. [11] Some claim that the word means “inedible” in Greek, but it could rather be found with the Persian root Spand or Aspand or the variant that meant Peganum harmala, also called Syrian street – although it is not really a variety of street, another famous bitter herb. The fact that Artemisia absinthium was usually burned as a protective gift may indicate that its origins lie in the root of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language *spend, which means “to perform a ritual” or “to offer a sacrifice”. It is not clear whether the word was borrowed from Persian to Greek or from a common ancestor of both. [12] Alternatively, the Greek word may come from a pre-Greek substratum word characterized by the non-Indo-European consonant complex νθ (-nth). Alternative spellings for absinthe are absinthe, absynthe and absenta. Absinthe (without the last e) is a variant of the writing most commonly used for absinthes produced in Central and Eastern Europe, and is specifically associated with bohemian-style absinthes. [13] Most countries (with the exception of Switzerland) currently do not have a legal definition of absinthe (as opposed to Scotch whisky or cognac). As a result, manufacturers are free to label a product with “absinthe” or “absinthe,” whether or not it resembles the traditional spirit drink. [ref.
British importer BBH Spirits began importing Hill wormwood from the Czech Republic in the 1990s, as the UK had never officially banned it, triggering a modern resurgence of its popularity. It began to reappear during a revival in the 1990s in countries where it was never banned. The forms of absinthe available at that time consisted almost exclusively of Czech, Spanish and Portuguese brands, of recent origin and usually composed of bohemian style products. Connoisseurs considered them inferior and not representative of the spirit of the 19th century. [33] [34] [35] [36] In 2000, La Fée Absinthe became the first commercial absinthe distilled and bottled in France since the 1914 ban,[37][38][39][40][41] but it is now one of dozens of brands produced and sold in France. Do you remember the scene at the Moulin Rouge where Ewan McGregor and his team of poets are visited by the “green fairy” aka absinthe? After a few sips, Ewan and his bohemian friends are overwhelmed, their heads filled with psychedelic visions of a dancing and singing neon Kylie Minogue. When I first saw the scene, I immediately thought, “I`d like to drink this.” When I tried absinthe many years later, I was very disappointed to learn that the results of my consumption were not much different from a typical night of drinking. What`s there? I thought. It turns out absinthe doesn`t get you high, but there`s a pretty interesting reason why people thought it was. In addition to the requirement that a product be “thujone-free”, TTB applies the following guidelines when approving labels and reviewing advertisements: Theoretically, it can be said that European wormwood can be made with more wormwood (thujone) than in the United States. However, it depends on the specific recipe.
Not all absinthes in Europe have 35 mg, as it is not the goal of all distillers to produce the strongest absinthe legally possible. And thujone is released only during the distillation process. It is not allowed to “add” it afterwards if the limit is not reached. If you want to know more about absinthe and thujone and which brands are the strongest, visit our information page: Absinthe and Thujone. But generally speaking, wormwood has much more to offer than thujone. It is a cultured drink with a very rich history. You should appreciate this uniqueness of the liquor and drink responsibly. Whether it contains 10 mg or 35 mg of thujone. An absinthe renaissance began in the 1990s after modern European Union food and drink laws were passed, removing long-standing barriers to its production and sale. At the beginning of the 21st century, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were produced in a dozen countries, mainly in France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic.
In 2000,[133] a product called Absente was legally sold in the United States under the marketing slogan “Refined Absinthe”, but because the product contained sugar and was made from southern wood (Artemisia abrotanum) rather than large wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) (prior to 2009),[134] the TTB classified it as a liquor. The drink “listens” when the water drips into the wormwood and creates a cloudy, milky texture. False. Again, there is no definition of “true absinthe,” but absinthe has never been technically illegal in the United States. While you can`t call it absinthe, most could have been sold under a different name (but no manufacturer realized that). Traditional wormwoods get their green color exclusively from chlorophyll from whole herbs extracted from plants during secondary maceration. In this stage, plants such as delicate wormwood, hyssop and lemon balm (among other herbs) are soaked in the distillate. The chlorophyll of these herbs is extracted and gives the drink its famous green color. Two famous artists who helped popularize the idea that absinthe has powerful psychoactive properties were Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh.