Absinthe Was Popularized as The Green Fairy Absinthe became increasingly popular during the late 1800s and early 1900s, drawing artists and writers in search of its hallucinogenic properties, not to mention its unique green hue. Absinthe even earned itself its own hour (l’heure verte) set aside for sipping it! Absinthe also played an integral part of bohemian artistic life during this period; paintings often depicting absinthe drinkers and books and poems extolling its powers to enhance creative flow.
Absinthe was a potency distilled beverage made by redistilling neutral alcohol with botanicals such as the “Holy Trinity”: wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and anise (Pimpinella anisum). These botanicals along with star anise, hyssop and lemon balm gave this spirit its distinct hue; during its second distillation phase chlorophyll extracted from these botanicals produced its emerald hue.
Absinthe’s purported hallucinogenic properties have long since been disproven, yet its high alcohol content and associated risk of drunkenness made it popular with 19th century drinkers, particularly artists working in the arts, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain Oscar Wilde and Pablo Picasso – to name but a few!
After World War I, temperance movements gained prominence and absinthe was banned worldwide. Although its ban lasted nearly 100 years, its suspension has since been lifted and absinthe is once more popular with connoisseurs.
