Absinthe Blog

Anise is a particular herb cultivated mostly for aniseed. This fruit has flavor similar to that of licorice. Anise is grown in areas of southern Europe, southern parts of Russia, Middle East, China, United States and Mexico. Nevertheless anise basically belongs to Egypt and eastern Mediterranean places. This plant is almost two and half feet tall with long stem and leaves, also the fruit or seed is somewhat in form of ovoid.

Commonly aniseed is used in adding flavor to pastries. For example - It is a key ingredient of popular German bread known as Anisbrod. In addition aniseed is used as a flavor in wide dishes of vegetable and meat dishes, especially in Asia, as well as native Mediterranean region. Refreshing and relaxing forms of herbal tea is manufactured using aniseed since it has great medicinal properties. This is the reason why herbal ingredients present in absinthe liquors are more beneficial than other beverages. Moreover the essential oil content (about 2.5%) makes absinthe liquor elite and special.

Another type of absinthe ingredient is star anise. It is named as “star anise” due to its star-like structure or arrangement. It is chiefly a dried fruit, similar to anise with regard to flavor and uses. Star anise is originally from regions of south China and Vietnam. The essential oil content in this dried fruit is about three percent and the fruit’s diameter is nearly 0.1 to 0.2 inches.

Wormwood - Particularly from native Europe, this herb wormwood is the real reason behind bitterness of absinthe drinks. Wormwood plants have tiny or small yellow flowers which is green in color. The leaves or flowering part is collected when the plant gets blossomed. Further this herb is either dried naturally or artificially by additionally supplying heat. The active elements in wormwood herb are primarily thujone, silica and resin containing substances. Wormwood’s medicinal properties is said to cure indigestion troubles, gastric pain as well as, proves to be a good antiseptic. Also this herbs act as an effective pain reliever for pregnant women going through labor pain. Its aromatic properties (wormwood) made absinthe alcohol popular across the globe. However wormwood is a significant component of certain medicines along with exclusive absinthe beverages.

At last, you can make out the nature and great qualities of absinthe ingredients (wormwood and anise) that contain in every bottle of quality absinthe beverage. So it is purely a matter of benefit to buy absinthe alcohol.

Revival
It is important to mention here that absinthe was not banned in England since it was not considered a favored alcohol by the Englishmen and it was here that the story of the revival of absinthe began. A British entrepreneur, George Rowley, is credited with the revival story of absinthe. Rowley, a native of England, first tasted absinthe in Prague, where he had moved briefly for his job. He took an instant liking for absinthe and on returning back to England plunged head-on with the absinthe alcohol manufacturing venture.

Bohemia Beer House Ltd (which later became popular as BBH Spirits) was launched in 1998 that manufactured absinthe with taste similar to the Czech absinthe. Another brand, La F’e Absinthe, was commercially produced and launched in the year 2000 in France for the first time by BBH Spirits, after a long gap of 85 years since 1915, when France enforced a ban on absinthe. Hereafter, the journey of the revival of absinthe in various countries started in right earnest.

Although the ban on absinthe in France was not repealed, a clarification, in the form of a law, was issued in 1988 that only those alcoholic beverages that were known explicitly to be in the category of “absinthe” were banned as per the law of 1915. Moreover, since the ban of 1915 applied only to absinthe being sold in France and not on the production per se, the production of absinthe received a shot in the arm and today many variants of absinthe are being produced in France.

There is an interesting story behind some false reports of absinthe being banned by Australia. The Australian government never banned either the manufacture or the import of absinthe. What actually happened was that in 2000, to consolidate the Food Standards in Australia as well as in New Zealand, there was a mention of prohibiting the extracts from the wormwood plant being used in food items in the two countries. But this addition to the Food Code contradicted the permission mentioned in other parts of the existing Food Standard. This confusion ultimately resulted in the lifting of the restriction on the use of wormwood oils in 2002, which was the period of change, when the pre-existing Food Code gave way the new Food Standard. This incident was wrongly reported in some literatures as Australia banning the use of absinthe in the country, which was never the case.

Spain and Portugal too allowed the use of absinthe and did not ban its use as it was a popular drink in their countries. This resurgence in the use of absinthe by some countries saw the ban on absinthe in the Netherlands being challenged by a wine seller resulting in its use becoming legal in 2004. Belgium too followed suit and in 2005 removed the ban on absinthe as it was argued that the European Food Legislation rendered the absinthe ban unnecessary. Interestingly in the year 2000, when the constitution of Switzerland was revised, the ban on absinthe was lifted and ultimately in 2005, the use of absinthe was legalized in the country were absinthe first originated.

Thus the advent of the twenty first century saw the ban on absinthe being lifted in practically every country, barring the United States. Today absinthe is a perfectly legal alcoholic drink in most countries of Europe.

Ban
Absinthe, a hugely popular alcoholic drink of the nineteenth century in many European countries, resulted in substantial decrease in the consumption of wine in these countries, much to the dismay of the European wine makers association. They were desperate to find out ways and means of reducing the popularity of absinthe, to ensure that the plummeting sales of wines was arrested and encouraged by the temperance movement (related to societal attempts at reducing the consumption and in some cases also reducing the production of alcohol), they gave wide negative publicity, often hyped, to violent criminal actions that they attributed to consumption of absinthe.

What followed was a sustained campaign of criticism, with critics blaming absinthe for the savage behavior noticed in men who consumed it. Absinthe was also held responsible for people developing deadly diseases like tuberculosis and epilepsy that claimed the lives of many Frenchmen who were known to consume absinthe. Absinthe was held responsible for the sufferings inflicted on women and children by men under the influence of absinthe and seen to be responsible for destroying many families and thereby posing a grave danger to the future of countries were absinthe was being consumed.

L’Absinthe, a painting by Edgar Degas created in the year 1876, which is today exhibited in the Mus’e d’Orsay museum in Paris, depicts a man and a woman sitting in a café with a glass of absinthe placed before the woman having blank looks in her eyes, exemplified the intoxicating effect of absinthe on its drinkers, further catalyzing a call for banning absinthe.

Increased consumption of absinthe and alcohol due to the shortage in the supply of wine (due to the epidemic Phylloxera, that destroyed most of the vineyards) in France during the decade between 1880 to 1890 and the related ills committed in society under the influence of the drinks added fuel to fire and absinthe began to be considered as a menace to society.

These incidents saw a distinct dip in the popularity of absinthe and in the year 1905, absinthe was banned in Switzerland, when reports claimed that a person called Jean Lanfray, under the influence of absinthe tried to commit suicide after murdering his entire family in cold blood! However what the reports did not highlight was the fact that the man was a habitual alcoholic and he had drunk considerable alcohol on the day of committing the murders and absinthe had constituted only two glasses in the entire volume of his drink. Later in 1907, ban on absinthe found written mention in the constitution of Switzerland.

What followed thereafter was a series of countries enforcing a ban on absinthe with absinthe being banned in Brazil and Belgium in the year 1906, though the first country to do so was the Belgian Congo in 1898. The years 1909, 1912 and 1915 saw a ban being enforced on absinthe in the Netherlands, United States and in France respectively. These spate of bans slowly but surely resulted in the decreased consumption of absinthe and by 1960 it is reported that except for some undercover distillers operating from home, absinthe disappeared from the markets of most of mainland Europe.