Celebrate with The Green Fairy as it is National Absinthe Day!

It’s March 5, and National Absinthe Day is celebrated in various countries to mark the day when the ban of Absinthe was lifted.

Absinthe is one of those spirits that has a bit of a reputation. Also called The Green Fairy (la fée verte) because of its color, absinthe was the defining drink of the fashionable and intellectual elite in late 19th century France, and its popularity spread across Europe. It was also rumored to cause hallucinations and was banned from production a few decades later. Why is this green liquid, that captivated the late 1800s drinking crowd, surrounded by such controversy? 

Mistakenly referred to as a liqueur, absinthe is a high-proof spirit that derives its distinct herbal, anise flavor from botanicals, including flowers and leaves of wormwood, green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. The ingredients are soaked in alcohol and then distilled. The result produces a green drink that has a strong licorice note and a high alcohol content.

Compared to the serious shades of brown that most colored spirits have, absinthe’s green color looks downright fun. The bottle designs are also quite fancy, inspired by art nouveau aesthetics that was the most popular art movement during absinthe’s heyday. But don’t be fooled. Something that looks so dainty should not be underestimated. Absinthe has a relatively high ABV (alcohol by volume) of around 45-74% (some modern ones go up to 83.2-89.9%). In contrast, whisky has around 40% ABV. So this delicate-looking drink in a fancy glass will definitely knock you down if you’re not careful. 

The Great French Wine Blight that virtually destroyed the wine industry in the late 1800s was instrumental in making absinthe popular. French imbibers turned to The Green Fairy when the wine supply ran low. 

Absinthe was the drink of choice of the art and literature set of the 19th century. Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Oscar Wilde are some of the many artists and writers who liked to have a few tipples of absinthe, and derive inspiration from The Green Fairy for their work. 

Absinthe was banned in most of Europe and the US in the early 1900s amidst allegations that drinking it can cause hallucinations or even death. It’s like The Green Fairy was a victim of fake news. The French wine industry, whose sales were affected by absinthe’s popularity, and the temperance movement, which blamed society’s ills on the consumption of high-proof spirits, banded together to use absinthe as a scapegoat and promote their respective agendas. These accusations were unfounded, as numerous studies have proven that thujone, the chemical pointed at as the culprit for absinthe’s hallucinogenic properties, is present in such minute quantities that you would die from alcohol poisoning long before you felt its effects. Even though that rumor has been debunked, it’s still the most enduring myth surrounding absinthe. 

The ban didn’t just crush absinthe production; it also had a similar outcome as that of The Prohibition in the US. Opportunistic manufacturers sold adulterated versions of absinthe, like bootleggers, and that caused problems. (Read more about the Prohibition era here)

There are various vessels used to serve Absinthe, but it is often served with ice, a sugar cube placed on a special spoon over the glass, and water poured slowly over the sugar. The clear green spirit turns a milky Midori-green color (a transformation called louching). Mixologists also play with the green liquor and use it in various cocktail recipes like Sazerac (rye whiskey, a sugar cube, Peychaud’s Bitters, and absinthe) and Corpse Reviver #2 (gin, Lillet Blanc, Cointreau, lemon juice, and absinthe).

Absinthe service provides a drinking experience like no other. The traditional French method for louching absinthe – the same method used in the Parisian cafes of the 19th century – is a ritual that takes time. Cold water flows ever so slowly from the faucets jutting from traditional Belle Époque or modern fountains, and dissolve the waiting sugar perched on intricately designed absinthe spoons onto the clear absinthe that transforms into a cloudy green mixture right before your eyes. Part ritual and part chemistry lesson, absinthe service is an exercise in patience and the payoff is a libation and drinking experience that will take you back in time. 

The Bohemian-style absinth does not louche, so the traditional method does nothing for it. The Bohemian-style ritual entails pouring some absinthe on the sugar cube and lighting it up, letting the sugar fall into the absinth and have it catch fire before extinguishing it with cold water. This fire ritual, which was credited to the Czechs, was invented in the 1990s, and have no connection to the historical absinthe tradition.

There are some modern takes on consuming absinthe, like the Slipstream absinthe pipe glass, which allows the user to prepare absinthe without the traditional spoons, glasses, or fountains of the French method. The Teeter Totter, or Absinthe Balancier, is a device that is put on top of an absinthe glass on top of the sugar cube and slotted spoon. It disperses the cold water slowly, dripping through a small hole at the bottom and falls onto the lever that does a seesaw motion as it drops the water onto the sugar cube.

It may no longer be the go-to drink of the literati and the art crowd, but its sordid history, intricate serving ritual, and quaint apparatus used, and it’s unmistakable flavor still entices people. This forbidden elixir has since been legalized, but its reputation lingers, making it the bad boy in the liquor cabinet that everyone wants to try.