National Absinthe Day '" Celebrate the End of the Ban of This Exotic Beverage

National Absinthe Day is March 5th. Absinthe drinkers around the United States will be celebrating the 4th anniversary of the lifting of the ban on importing, selling and drinking this historically famous alcoholic beverage. The ban lasted from 1912 to 2007, nearly a century.
This article will go over a brief history of absinthe and its ban, famous absinthe drinkers, the ingredients which make absinthe unique, the traditional recipe for "The Green Fairy" and a warning about absinthe making kits available on the internet.

History

Absinthe became very popular in Europe during the mid 1800's especially after the Phylloxera insect attacked and decimated the European wine vineyards starting in 1863. This tiny sap sucking insect left European wine drinkers with very little of their traditional wine beverages to drink. Many consumers of wine switched to absinthe as an alternative beverage leading to the extreme popularity of this beverage in the second half of the 19th century in France, Switzerland and other European countries. Absinthe remained very popular even after the twenty five years it took for Europe to import American grape producing root systems, resistant to Phylloxera, and re-grow production wine orchards.

The wine industry now back on its feet used various scare tactics to try to make people switch back from absinthe to wine. Jean Janfrey, while highly intoxicated on many types of alcohol, only a small fraction of which was absinthe, provided one of the horror stories the wine industry publicized after he murdered his pregnant wife and two children.The scare tactics and lobbying worked and absinthe was banned from France in 1912. This was followed by the United States in 1915.

In 2007, thanks to the work of Jared Gurfein, Ted Breaux and others as well as new chemical analysis techniques on pre-ban absinthe bottles, which survived, discovered that absinthe's so called active ingredient Thujone (from Grande Wormwood) contained usually less than 10 parts per million by weight and therefore could have no psychotropic effect on the beverage. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agreed and put out an advisory to lift the ban on Absinthe, whose import and sale took off in 2007. Four years later on March 5th 2011 we celebrate the 4th anniversary of the lifting of the absinthe ban.

National Absinthe Day Celebrations

There are many bars which serve absinthe and are having absinthe parties on March 5th. In fact there are several bars which have absinthe only days in New York, Florida, New Orleans and San Francisco. Perhaps the oldest and most famous establishment is the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. This bar has magnificent marble and brass fountains which are used to add cold water over a sugar cubes to sweeten the somewhat bitter taste of straight absinthe. The process turns the dark green absinthe into a light, pearlescent green color which has been called "The Green Fairy". They also serve tasty mixed drinks using absinthe as the base Liquor. Try the Absinthe Frappe or Lucid Garden cocktails.The Old Absinthe House is located on the corner of Bourbon Street and Bienville, right near the center of the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Other absinthe oriented bars and restaurants include:
Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, San Francisco
L'Absinthe Restaurant, NYC
White Star, NYC
Absinthe Lounge, Dallas
Absinthe House, Boulder, Co

Famous Absinthe Drinkers You May Have Heard of

The following is a small list of famous absinthe drinkers:
Edouard Manet, Painter
Vincent Van Gogh, Painter
Ernest Hemingway, Writer
Edgar Degas, Artist
Oscar Wilde, Writer
You may have heard of some of them.

Absinthe Ingredients

The main ingredient in absinthe is alcohol, 124 proof and higher. The herbs that should be blended into the brew during distillation include Grande Wormwood, European Green Anise and sweet Fennel.

Absinthe Making Kits

Kits to make absinthe, while sold on the internet, are in my opinion dangerous due to lack of quality control. In addition what you are likely to get from using them is not absinthe at all but a liquor which is neither consistent in taste nor guaranteed not to make you sick or worse. In other words buy absinthe at your local liquor store. Most individuals are not equipped to run a brewery operation.

My personal favorite is Lucid Absinthe due to the mellow flavor and adherence to pre-ban recipes. See my earlier article: "Review: LUCID French Absinthe '" Truly Absinthe, Truly Legal" published by Associated Content, May 22, 2008.