60 Fun Facts About Absinthe

Absinthe is derived from the flowers and leaves of which plant, known as grand wormwood?

Green anise and sweet fennel complete the 'holy trinity' of botanicals.

What is absinthe's famous French nickname?

Despite being casually called a liqueur, it is not traditionally bottled with sugar.

What is the typical alcohol strength of absinthe?

It is normally diluted with water before drinking; some modern bottlings reach 83-90%.

Absinthe was created in the late 18th century in which Swiss canton?

French physician Pierre Ordinaire in Couvet is traditionally credited with the recipe around 1792.

Which sisters of Couvet sold the early recipe as a medicinal elixir?

Some accounts say they were making it before Dr Ordinaire even arrived.

In which French town did Henry-Louis Pernod and Major Dubied open a second absinthe distillery in 1805?

Maison Pernod Fils stayed among the top brands until France's 1914 ban.

Absinthe surged in the 1840s after French troops in which colony got it as a malaria preventive?

The soldiers brought their taste for it home to France.

By the 1860s, 5 pm in French cafés had acquired what nickname?

Absinthe was drunk by every class from the bourgeoisie to poor artists and workers.

How many litres of absinthe were the French drinking per year by 1910?

Mass production in the 1880s had made the price drop sharply.

Which US city is credited as the birthplace of the Sazerac, perhaps the earliest absinthe cocktail?

The Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street was frequented by Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Frank Sinatra.

Which 1905 crime by a Swiss farmer became the tipping point for banning absinthe?

He had drunk quantities of wine and brandy too, but blame fell on his two glasses of absinthe; 82,000 signed a petition.

How was the 1908 Swiss prohibition of absinthe enacted?

The constitutional ban was repealed in 2000 and absinthe became legal again on 1 March 2005.

Which territory banned absinthe as early as 1898, before any European country?

Belgium and Brazil followed in 1906, the Netherlands in 1909, the US in 1912 and France in 1914.

In which year did the United States ban absinthe?

France followed in 1914; the UK never formally banned it.

The French ban on absinthe led directly to the popularity of which anise-flavoured substitute?

Ouzo also benefited; pastis contains no wormwood.

Which two Iberian countries never banned absinthe, so production there never ceased?

Pernod Fils resumed production at Banus in Catalonia after the First World War until the 1960s.

What did clandestine Swiss distillers call the colourless absinthe they made to hide it from authorities?

The name is now used for post-ban Swiss-style absinthe in general.

Hill's Absinth, imported by BBH Spirits in the 1990s to spark the modern revival, came from where?

The UK had never formally banned absinthe, so it could be sold there legally.

Which brand in 2000 became the first commercial spirit of its kind distilled in France since the 1914 ban?

Dozens of French brands are now produced.

Which French brand in 2007 became the first genuine absinthe approved for import into the US since 1912?

St. George Spirits of California made the first US-produced absinthe since the ban that December.

In which year did France finally repeal its absinthe ban?

The Senate voted in April after petitions from the Fédération Française des Spiritueux.

Which Swiss village in the Val-de-Travers is home to the national Maison de l'Absinthe museum?

It occupies the former courthouse where absinthe distillers were once prosecuted.

Which is the only country with a legal definition of absinthe, permitting distillation alone?

Elsewhere, anyone may label a product 'absinthe' with no quality standard.

Traditional absinthe gets its green colour from what?

Petite wormwood, hyssop and melissa are steeped in the clear distillate.

Unscrupulous 19th-century makers tinted cheap absinthe green with what toxic substance?

Some also added antimony trichloride to boost the louche - possibly explaining much of absinthe's toxic reputation.

What is the milky opalescence that forms when water is added to absinthe called?

Anise, fennel and star anise oils come out of solution as the spirit is diluted.

In the traditional French preparation, what sits on the slotted spoon over the glass?

Iced water is dripped over it to reach 1 part absinthe to 3-5 parts water.

In the French method, roughly how much iced water is dripped in?

Café patrons in Paris mixed their own; sugar was a personal choice.

The 'Bohemian method' of serving absinthe involves what?

Invented by the Czechs in the 1990s, it is dismissed by connoisseurs as a fire-hazard gimmick.

What was an absinthe fountain?

It allowed hands-free louching so patrons could socialise.

Ernest Hemingway's absinthe cocktail 'Death in the Afternoon' tops a jigger of absinthe with what?

His instructions: 'Drink three to five of these slowly.'

What is a colourless absinthe bottled straight after distillation called?

Vertes go through a secondary herb maceration; rose or rouge absinthes are coloured with hibiscus or rose.

What was naturally coloured absinthe that had oxidised to brown historically called?

Pre-ban drinkers liked the change since it proved the colouring was natural, not chemical.

Why should absinthe not be stored in the fridge or freezer?

It should be kept cool, dry and out of the light, in dark glass if naturally coloured.

Which chemical in wormwood was long blamed for absinthe's supposed hallucinogenic effects?

It is a GABA antagonist that can cause muscle spasms in large doses, but there is no evidence it causes hallucinations.

A 1970s scientific paper revived absinthe's mind-altering reputation by likening wormwood's thujone to what?

In practice a drinker would die of alcohol poisoning long before thujone could act.

What maximum level of wormwood's key compound does the EU allow in drinks listing Artemisia?

Other alcoholic beverages are limited to 10 mg/kg.

Which French psychiatrist's wormwood-oil experiments underpinned the belief that absinthe caused hallucinations?

Famous absinthe drinkers cheerfully embraced such accounts.

Which writer, drunk on absinthe, felt phantom tulips brushing his legs on leaving a bar?

Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh did most to spread the notion of absinthe's psychoactive powers.

Whose 1876 painting L'Absinthe, showing a sodden café drinker, hangs in the Musée d'Orsay?

Émile Zola described absinthe's ravages in his novel L'Assommoir.

Whose first major painting, The Absinthe Drinker, was rejected by the Paris Salon in 1859?

Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh were among the drink's most famous devotees.

Absinthe's name traces through Latin absinthium to which Greek word?

Some claim it means 'undrinkable'; others link it to a Persian root.

Wormwood's medical use is recorded as far back as which ancient Egyptian medical text of around 1550 BC?

The Greeks also drank a wormwood wine called absinthites oinos.

Bohemian-style 'absinth' differs from traditional absinthe chiefly in lacking what?

It is best described as a wormwood bitters and does not louche, which is why the Czechs invented the fire ritual.

About how many absinthe brands were in production across a dozen countries by the early 21st century?

France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the Czech Republic lead production.

In the Book of Revelation, a star named Wormwood falls to earth and does what?

The Hebrew la'anah in the Bible is likewise usually rendered 'wormwood'.

Paul Ricard founded his anise-drink company in 1932 in which French city?

Ricard quickly became France's favourite long drink; the merged Pernod Ricard is the world's second-largest wine and spirits seller.

Which French physician is credited with creating absinthe in Couvet, Switzerland, around 1792?

His recipe passed to the Henriod sisters, though some accounts say they were making the elixir before he arrived.

Under what company name did the 1805 Pontarlier distillery operate?

Pernod Fils stayed among the most popular brands until France's 1914 ban, then resumed briefly in Catalonia.

After World War I, the Pernod Fils brand was revived at a distillery in which Spanish region?

Absinthe stayed legal in Spain, but declining sales ended production at the Banus distillery in the 1960s.

Which two countries banned the sale of absinthe in 1906?

The Netherlands followed in 1909, Switzerland in 1910, the United States in 1912 and France in 1914.

In which year did Belgium lift its long-standing ban on absinthe, citing EU single-market rules?

An Amsterdam wine seller had successfully challenged the Dutch restrictions the previous year.

Which US agency effectively lifted the American absinthe ban in 2007?

Since then the TTB has approved many brands, starting with Lucid, for the US market.

Which body petitioned for the 2011 repeal of France's absinthe ban?

The French Senate voted to repeal the 1915 prohibition in April 2011.

How did French producers sidestep a 1988 decree that still banned the label 'absinthe'?

Many also cut or dropped fennel and hyssop to meet the decree's limits; a court repealed it in 2009.

Besides petite wormwood, which two herbs are typically steeped in the distillate for colour?

Star anise, angelica, peppermint and veronica are among other herbs sometimes used.

What does 'Hausgemacht' or 'HG' refer to in absinthe circles?

It is not to be confused with the Swiss brand La Clandestine.

Which entrepreneur brought absinthe to Brazil when it was legalised there in 1999?

The country had banned the drink back in 1906.

Which British Columbia craft distillery made Canada's first genuine absinthe, Taboo, in 2007?

In Canada, provincial monopolies govern spirits while importation is a federal matter.

What maximum thujone level does the EU allow in alcoholic drinks that do not list Artemisia?

Drinks that list a wormwood species may contain up to 35 mg/kg.