Absinthe Blog

Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic, anise-flavored spirit derived from herbs including the flowers and leaves of the medicinal plant Artemisia absinthium, also called grand wormwood. Absinthe is much talked about because wormwood is one of the main ingredients in the liquor. Wormwood has a naturally occurring chemical called thujone that it contains. This chemical has much mysticism about it, and has interesting effects in itself. This chemical in absinthe, thujone, is said to affect the same area of the brain as THC, the main active chemical in marijuana. People have been know to hallucinate under the influence of absinthe, or the thujone chemical. Much of this is myth and much of it has to do with the high alcohol by volume content of absinthe.Absinthe was originally made in Switzerland as an elixir. However, it became popular in the early 19th century in France, specifically in Paris, where it was drunk by many painters, writers, and artists. Absinthe is traditionally a green color and has been given the nickname The Green Fairy. However, due to the high concentration of alcohol and oils it has, it is usually mixed with three-to-five parts water and sugar is usually added with an absinthe spoon.

Recently absinthe has been pushed in vogue again as many countries in the European Union have legalized its distillation and sale since 1990. There has been a great modern revival in the recent years that is celebrating absinthe as a drink. In the 1990s an importer, BBH Spirits, realized that there was no UK law prohibiting the sale of absinthe (as it was never banned there) other than the standard regulations governing alcoholic beverages.

Hill’s Liquere, a Czech Republic distillery founded in 1920, began manufacturing Hill’s Absinth, a Bohemian-style absinth, which sparked a modern resurgence in absinthe’s popularity.

There’s many places where Absinthe has been banned, but it has never been banned in Spain or Portugal, where it continues to be made today. Likewise, the former Spanish and Portuguese New World colonies, especially Mexico, allow the sale of absinthe and it has retained popularity through the years.