Absinthe: Drink Like A Man

Absinthe has been banned because of one of the ingredients called Artemesia absinthium or wornwood. It has a digestive and stimulating property that contains a molecule called thuyone which was believed back then to cause some delusions, as in the case of Van Gogh. It is a spirit that contains anise, coriander, Melissa, and other herbs that make it a very good-tasting alcohol drink. Absinthe became a legal drink again in 2007. It was first concocted by a French doctor residing in Switzerland during the 18^th century. He believed that the extract from a wormwood plant had some healing properties.

Commercial production begun in 1797. In 1915, it was banned in the US because it was thought to cause some delusions.

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Decline of Absinthe

It was banned from the public because it was believed that thuyone, one of the active ingredients of the alcohol drink, can cause a person to lose his sanity. There were also experiments that showed death and convulsions from experimented animals. There was also the story of how one lady, after taking the drink, shot her entire family. During the early 1900’s, it was banned from all over Europe and the US.

Revival of Absinthe

It was in the late 1990’s when various high-alcohol green spirits were produced in the Czech Republic and named it under the guise of absinth and marketed it as having some mind-altering effects when people drink it. But the original manufacturer decided to resurrect it and produced it commercially again and has been accepted again in Europe and US.

How to Drink It

Because of its high alcohol content, it cannot be taken undiluted. The most common way of taking it is with a cube of sugar and some cold water in order to dissolve it and decrease the strength of the alcohol. A cube of sugar is placed on a teaspoon called an absinthe teaspoon, then, the alcohol is poured over the teaspoon which is placed on top of a glass with some cold water. These teaspoons have some holes so that the alcohol can pass through it.

The water to be used must be ice cold water. The alcohol then will be dissolved with the water and sweetened by the sugar cube. Once the alcohol is dissolved with the cold water, it would turn into a milky white color and this is known as the louche effect. This is when the essential oils emulsify with the water causing it to turn into a milky white color called the louche effect. The amount of water to be dissolved with the alcohol is dependent on how strong the drinker prefers his alcoholic drink.

Drinkers of this strong concoction report some disorientation, hallucination, nausea. You have to remember though that any alcoholic drink, when taken in large quantities, would produce the same physical effects. So, those who have reported such effects must have taken more than they are supposed to. Drink like a man by practicing self-control so as not to turn you into a hallucinated and disoriented person.