Absinthe Facts

The word absinthe is derived from the Greek absinthion, meaning "undrinkable."

Wormwood is mentioned in the bible a dozen times, including the Revelation of St. John: "And the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they became bitter."

The Russian word for absinthe is chernobyl.

Leaves of the absinthe plant are an effective deterrent to vermin. Thomas Tusser, in his 1577 book July's Husbandry, notes "Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strown, no flea for his life dare abide to be known."

Pliny the Elder reported that the champions of Roman chariot races were given a cup of absinthe soaked in wine as a reminder that even victory has its bitter side.

The "Purl" of Tudor England was a drink comprised of hot ale and wormwood. Samuel Pepys mentions drinking it in his diaries.

At the turn of the century, the Pernod Fils distillery in Pontarlier, France produced 30,000 liters of absinthe a day, and shipped it around the world.

The Pernod plant was struck by lightning in 1901, causing an alcohol fire that raged out of control for four days. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of burning absinthe were discharged into the Doubs River, flavoring it with anise for miles downstream.

Celebrated absinthe drinkers included the painters Lautrec, Gauguin, Manet, Van Gogh and Picasso, along with the writers Rimbaud, Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe and Jack London.

Absinthe was banned by most countries in a fit of anti-alcohol hysteria earlier this century. Today it remains legal in Spain, Portugal and Japan.

Thujone, the principal active ingredient in absinthe, is chemically similar to THC, and is thought to attach to the same receptors in the brain.

Source: Absinthe, History in a Bottle, by Barnaby Conrad III (1988, Chronicle Books)

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