There had been other incidences of crazed behavior following the drinking of absinthe, but this one took the cake.Ī worldwide push was made toward banning the spirit, led by winemakers and activists of the Temperance Movement. This horrendous act would be dubbed as “The Absinthe Murders,” which, as you can imagine, didn’t help the marketing of the drink at all. According to him, “the absinthe made him do it.” In late August of 1905, in a humble Swedish village named Commugny, a man brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two children. The rumors surrounding absinthe were escalated by a huge crime story in the 20th century. The skepticism about this drink isn’t completely misplaced, though. French winemakers were the biggest opponents of the absinthe industry. This was when winemakers began to be pitted up against absinthe producers. While absinthe spiked in demand, the wine industry was being ravaged by a worldwide grape shortage. He frequently mixed the drink with opium and laudanum, which was a consistent topic in his writing. It was also more affordable.Ībsinthe gradually became a household name, as important cultural figures like Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and of course, Vincent van Gogh, advocated for the drink.įrench poet and essayist Charles Baudelaire is one of the many famous creatives during this period who struggled with his addiction to absinthe. People liked it because it was a stronger alternative to wine.
By the mid-1800s, the spirit had grown in popularity significantly. Absinthe’s Bumpy HistoryĪbsinthe was originally distilled in Switzerland in the late 1700s as a tonic. It is extremely ironic that the same spirit used as a health supplement for thousands of years would later be mislabeled as a drug that causes hallucinations. To this day, this is how absinthe is served. But it would really start to be appreciated for its recreational value when bartenders started serving it with a fountain of cool water dripped over a flaming sugar cube. Sometimes, absinthe would be mixed with wine and enjoyed as a cocktail. It was believed that the absinthe helped prevent malaria, as well as fever and the spread of water-dwelling bacteria.
The drink was used medicinally all the way through 1844, when the bitter spirit was given to French soldiers fighting in Algeria. The earliest records of wormwood consumption date back to 3100 BC in ancient Egypt, when it was used to prevent malaria. Like a few other spirits, absinthe wasn’t traditionally drunk for pleasure.
#ABSINTHE DRINK HOW TO#
One reason that the negative stigma surrounding absinthe exists is that a lot of people have no clue how to drink it. With a little bit of background knowledge, you can make great use out of this classic drink. It just contains a lot of alcohol.Īll in all, absinthe is grossly underappreciated. After a sip, it begins to make a bit more sense why people would think this drink causes hallucinations.īut don’t be fooled! The effects of this spirit are essentially no different than any other bottle. When you taste absinthe, you’ll notice how potent this alcohol really is. Most of the time, it’s bottled between 110 and 144 proof. To further intensify the flavor and color, the absinthe is usually infused a second time before it’s bottled. Afterward, it’s diluted down until it reaches its desired strength. This mixture is drenched in a neutral spirit, then distilled. There are numerous recipes for the drink, most of which include additional botanicals for flavoring and coloring. Traditional absinthe is produced from a blend of anise, fennel, and wormwood. With all of these crazy, baseless claims behind us, we can begin to analyze absinthe for the spirit it really is. This infamous event actually occurred when van Gogh got into an argument with fellow artist Paul Gauguin.Ī ton of rumors surround this spirit, though much of them have no evidence behind them. Van Gogh had a well-documented history of mental illness, and it was quite common for him to experience hallucinogenic episodes where he’d lose consciousness.
This storied spirit has even been blamed for Vincent van Gogh cutting his ear off. This drink has a reputation for being banned in many countries and is rumored to be a hallucinogen. Absinthe is probably the most misunderstood spirit in the entire industry.
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