Absinthe, the magical drink of the green hour, whose jade flower blossomed on every terreace.

The Green Hour began as a thoroughly middle class affair in France. This was a bourgeois practice considered rather smart due to absinthe’s popularity amongst the colonial military. Although it was considered impolite to drink more than one absinthe, the rule was easily circumvented by what we call today “bar hopping”.

Ernest Downson’s friend Robert Sherard tells it how it is:

He takes his first drink at one café, his second somewhere else, and his tenth or twelfth at a tenth or twelfth other cafe. I know a very distinguished musician who started at the Café Neapolitan and finished up the Gare du Nord.

Whilst the Green Hour was a time for chic and polite Parisians to drink a small absinthe aperitif along the imposing boulevards, the practice also spread to the more risqué area of Montmartre, the haunt of artist and poets. As one writer commented:

The absinthe hour of the Boulevards begins vaguely at half-past-five and ends just as vaguely at half-past seven: but on the hill it never ends.

One can easily imagine how the evening might start with one absinthe drink in dignified elegance and descend into the riot of cocottes (tarts) and arts in hip Montmartre.

Absinthe, The Green Fairy, was never content to remain in an exclusive gilded milieu; she moved through society like a fever. Absinthe drinking was also not confined to the men folk but crossed the gender barrier with ease, prompting the anti-absinthe zealot, Henri Balesta, to comment about that it was man’s weakness for the emerald liquid that caused the creation of that most shocking of sights: “the absinthesuse”, the female version of the absinthe drinker “the absintheur”.

Hilariously, it has been reported that the ladies would take the absinthe drink neat due to their “inherent weakness” and susceptibility to the wicked liquor, and also because too much water might bloat them and course their corsets to burst! Whether it was the menfolk who paid or whether the “weaker” sex was allowed to buy absinthe is unclear. In any case, the censorious moralist was outraged and that was half the fun — the Green Fairy, the very epitome of the modern woman!

Absinthe was therefore shocking as well as dangerous, as it threatened the status quo. As the Green Fairy moved through society, she moved from being the triumphal toast of colonial militarism to the source of social disorder. Quite a transformation, but then transformation was always at the very heart of the Green Fairy.

The party stopped suddenly in 1915 as the liquid of social alchemy was banned.

Interestingly, there is a small market for vintage, pre-1915 absinthe and this is attractive to both to the absinthe connoisseur who admires the distinctive aged profile of the spirit, and to the romantic. To recapture the very essence and glory of a warm summer evening on a Parisian boulevard and achieve some kind of communion with L’ Heure Verte is very much part of the attraction. The Green Hour may have passed but the joy of that fabled drink absinthe has not - it’s back with a vengeance.

A most bizarre encounter with Marilyn Manson

A friendly, forthcoming Marilyn Manson, conspicuous by his absinthe, talks about loose women, drugs and role models

Marilyn Manson says ““I don’t drink my own absinthe,” he says. “I drink this. It’s Cerberus. I based the taste of mine on it. It’s like black liquorice, which I f***in’ hate”

Cerberus is the dog with three heads that guards the gate of Hades in Greek and Roman myth, but is it an absinthe? I must admit I have never heard of it. Cerberus Absinthe anyone? Mariln Manson said before ““Wormwood, when you distil it, makes this thing called thujone; it’s like the equivalent of THC in marijuana. I have a guy who sends it to me in a dropper.” Perhaps that is what he means? A mystery.

According to Epicurious, the aroma of Mansinthe is like “sewage water or swamp mud” Their scathing review is here:

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2008/02/absinthe-taste.html

So did you buy absinthe from Marilyn Manson, his Mansinthe? What did you think? and what, in the name of Hades, is Cerberus Absinthe? Does Cerberus have bite

Henri’s Walking Cane

Henri Tolouse Lautrec was an artist, an aristocrat, and was known as the Tripod by the “ladies of ill repute” that he painted and also paid, for services rendered. This may have been on account of his famous walking cane, but there is a more scurrilous allegation, which we’ll leave to the imagination, that is in keeping with the bawdy Parisian arena that he loved and recorded in paint.

Henri ’s collection of art chronicles the life of belle époque absinthe soaked Montmarte. Another important legacy he left, and on display at the Musuem dedicated to him, a cane with a hidden reservoir for hiding his beloved absinthe. Lautrec drank absinthe to excess and he particularly loved absinthe cocktails, his favourite being the earth trembler consisting of absinthe and cognac, which keeps the absinthe green. Lautrec even invented several cocktails like the Maiden’s Blush; an unholy alliance of absinthe, red wine, champagne and bitters.

“his paintings were almost entirely painted in absinthe” claimed his contemporary Gustav Moreau. Henri’s haunts were the dance halls and cabaret shows where sexual shenanigans and absinthe were de rigueur. This was the great age of Moulin Rouge a spectacular modern entertainment palace for all and the subject of a famous poster by Tolouse Lautrec. The film, Moulin Rouge, which appeared in 2001 with Kylie Minogue, as the Green Fairy popping out of the absinthe bottle, gives a perspective on the era via exuberance, if not historical accuracy. It is perhaps a surreal but enticing view of Lautrec’s world seen through a glass of absinthe, spiced up with a silly story line and modern music for the sake of box office receipts.

Prostitutes, drinking and bizarre behavior punctuated Henri’s life, he even had a tame bird that he taught to drink absinthe that he claimed “developed a taste for the stuff”. These inebriated doings annoyed his father the Comte (Count) de Toulouse Lautrec who famously remarked, “Why doesn’t he go to England? They scarcely notice the drunks there”

His association with another absinthe drunk, the ultra bizarre Alfred Jarry, can hardly have delighted Henri’s papa. Lautrec painted the set of Jarry’s notorious play Ubu Roi, a play so shocking that it caused riots in the theatre and was shut down after three performances! Ubu Roi may be largely forgotten but Henri has left a legacy of art that both features absinthe, as in the portrait of his friend Vincent van Gogh, and captures the very essence of abinthe’s finest hour amongst the whores and high life of a lost Paris, that lost “City of absinthe and unbelief”.

Lautrec’s friend Vincent van Gogh lost an ear to the Green Fairy, or so we are led to believe.

Van Gogh’s Ear

Vincent van Gogh, according to popular 21st bar stool philosophers, cut off his ear whilst under the influence of absinthe. Like much else about the Green Fairy this is not quite the case - she has been blamed for among things anarchism, spontaneous self-combustion and cowardice! Did she really cut off vah Gogh’s ear?

It seems not surprising that the period of van Gogh’s greatest artistic achievements are also the time of his absinthe drinking. Cezanne said of van Gogh: “Sir, you paint like a madman” The image of van Gogh, maniacally thrusting a brush onto an outsized canvass and indulging in the dementia of excitement, shouting and waving his arms was a common site. Van Gogh oscillated between highs and lows what in later years would have been diagnosed as manic depression.

This man was not a decadent like Dowson, a bon viveur like his friend Lautrec who introduced him to absinthe, this was a troubled, lonely, and tortured soul - a failed preacher. Shortly before Christmas 1888 van Gogh sliced off a part of his ear and presented it to a prostitute called Rachel. This is the official line - however, the involvement of another artist, Gauguin, who is mysteriously absent from the police reports of the time but later recalls van Gogh approaching him a park with a razor on the same day is suspect. The fact that the high tempered Gaugin left town immediately after the incident and had previously had a huge absinthe drenched row with van Gogh creates further doubt. Did the influence of the Green Fairy slice off van Gogh’s ear or was it Gaugin’s fencing sword at the height of another drunken rage?

There is no argument that absinthe, a highly alcoholic drink, makes you drunk when consumed to excess. Drunks tend to argue and fight, don’t they? Whatever the cause, van Gogh was clearly unbalanced - this is evinced by his presentation of the piece of ear to poor old Rachel amongst other equally bizarre actions at this time.

Art critics of the post absinthe period have tended to know the drink only by reputation built by the hysterical and unscientific propaganda of the abolitionist. Absinthe was a fascinating, and convenient, explanation of both the genius and insanity of one of the world’s greatest artists. A later episode in which van Gogh tried to eat paint has even been latterly interpreted as an absinthe induced mania. All very well, but a madman who drinks absinthe is quite different from an absinthe drinker who becomes mad and van Gogh was the latter. He was a morose and troubled drinker of that time and might have well have chosen Campari and soda if he’d had a later incarnation, although perhaps the famous yellow hue of his painting may have been replaced by a garish red? Who can tell, but to blame absinthe for his lunacy is unfair and on balance wrong. In short, the Green Fairy may be the source of inspiration but not in our opinion of self-mutilation.

High thujone absinthes use more wormwood in the recipe and have less anise (licorice) flavour. Thujone is also found in herbs like tansy, sage and tarragon and these are also used in some absinthe recipes as well. Thujone effects may only be felt in combination with quality high proof alcohol, so forget about smoking it or making cakes

During the decadence of the late 1890’s thujone was all the rage in the brains of the patrons of literary cafes from Paris to Prague. The reason? Absinthe and the process known as “la louche” - a ritual, and an intrinsic part of the amazing absinthe experience.

This ritual involving water, a serrated spoon, and sugar truly liberated the strange powers of thujone from the wormwood in absinthe. Louche is the word used to describe the clouding when iced water hits the green concentrate, absinthe. The louche was originally a kind of yellow opalescence due to the wormwood oils held in suspension in the alcohol being released. It should be stressed that in real old absinthe this was mainly the wormwood oils being liberated and in modern copies this is unfortunately largely replaced by anise (licorice) just like with ouzo.

As the alcohol concentration drops, the terpenoids come out of solution to form a yellow opalescence. This louche effect is retained in modern absinthe substitutes (pastis, such as Pernod and Ricard), which are rich in anise but contain no thujone”

British Medical Journal
Professor John Strang, King’s College, London

The power of thujone had been recognised since the mists of time but in the smoky cafes loved by bohemian Parisians like Verlaine they reached their mystical peak. The Green Hour or “La Heure Verte” became a set fixture for early evening inebriation of a very special kind!

All manner of claims have been made for the inspiration that was found during La Heure Verte. It is probably true that writers like Rimbaud and Verlaine, who had a tumultuous affair with absinthe and each other, were inspired by their copious quantities of liquid alchemy. Thujone has a chemical structure which was once believed to be very similar to THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient in cannabis), wormwood itself has even been prescribed to assist with perception, thinking and memory.

So does Absinthe really help great thinkers or great drinkers? Maybe both is the simple answer, with the stress on maybe.

Hang on! A 70% proof alcoholic drink that does what? Curious indeed as one does not normally associate alcohol with improved perception or thought - quite the contrary in fact!

Toxin in absinthe makes neurons run wild by Corinna Wu (Science News)

Drinkers of absinthe describe a clear headed form of inebriation and a form of thinking which seems at odd with any other experience they have had. Amazingly research in 2001 has suggested that wormwood and even certain other ingredients in Absinthe cause “CNS cholinergic receptor binding activity” and according to the scientists this improves cognitive functions. The secret of the Green Fairy and the tulips that blossomed from a café floor in front of Oscar Wilde’s absinthe bottle may be science fact rather than romantic fiction.

So here are two descriptions of the absinthe effect, one historic and one modern:

“The first stage is like ordinary drinking, the second when you begin to see monstrous and cruel things, but if you can persevere you will enter in upon the third stage where you see things that you want to see, wonderful curious things.”

Oscar Wilde (1890s)

“Thujone brightens colours and gives them a tendency to strobe, without transforming them into flames and snakes and other scary stuff. Plus you can still understand people when they are talking, only their voice is seriously out of sync with their lips and every gesture seems hyper-exaggerated. It’s kind of like watching an animated cartoon drawn by Picasso with dialogue by Frank Zappa. And that is why I dance with the Green Fairy”

The Free-Floating Hallucination
Lone Star Nirvarna by Richard Eugene

Please feel free to share your experiences and perhaps help to unlock the mystery of the absinthe effect.

Adding iced water to absinthe releases the herbal oils in the alcohol and out comes the hidden flavours and the effects. The key to all of this is to let the water slowly drip into the green liquor and not rush it. There are many devices such as absinthe fountains, drippers, and specialist absinthe pitchers that are designed to deliver the water at a slow constant rate and create the clouding that absintheurs appreciate called the louche. The absinthe spoon is used when the drinker chooses to sweeten the drink and is designed to hold a sugar cube. The optimum ratio is about 1 part absinthe to 4 parts water and in the old days there were even absinthe professors on hand in bars and cafes to teach the novice..

What is an absinthe professor?

I am sorry to disappoint you but no University has been known to offer a Chair in Absinthe Studies, an absinthe professor is an all-together lowlier figure that belongs to absinthe’s poetic past. The absinthe professor was a habitué of the cafes and bars of 19th Century Paris and, lurking in the shadows, was always on the look out for a new student. The students were those that didn’t know how to make absinthe (correctly pour an absinthe) - it was not the done thing to have a waiter do it for you!

One writer, called Balesta, remarks that

“the absinthe professors put themselves on the trail of the novice drinkers, teaching them to raise their elbow high and frequently, to water their absinthe artistically.”

Whether it was an art or a science is open to question! Controversy concerning the correct ratio of water to absinthe, which as I say is now generally accepted to be 1:4, was one subject on which the absinthe professor might deliver his lecture to the drinkers, but all in all the professor was a show man & the louche, the swirling dance of herbal oils that clouds the glass, was the show! The absinthe professor’s fee for the advice he dispensed at table side, during the mystical transformation? Why, a glass of absinthe, of course!

Many fads and fashions were thereby created - at one time there was a stunt that involved standing on a chair and dripping the chilled water into the drink from on high! Absinthe culture in the high times of 19th Century Paris also developed slang all of its own. Absinthe professors are sadly no longer with us as they formed part of the eclectic mix of misfits, poets, drunkards, and demi-monde that made up the café society of late 19th century Europe. Getting to know these famous, and not so famous, absinthe drinkers is all part of the attraction of this unique drink.

An absinthe buyer today is presented with a bewildering array of choices and one of those is the so called “thujone free” range currently available in stores in the United States. This form of absinthe actually has an historic precedent in Belle Epoque Europe, they were known then as “Absinthe Hygienique” According to the US FDA rules alcoholic beverages must be thujone-free pursuant to 21 CFR 172.510. This actually means that they contain anything from 0 to 10 parts per million thujone according to the thujone free test prescribed by another US organistaion, the TTB.

So should you buy absinthe that is thujone free? That really depends on what you want. According to some the legendary absinthe effect is caused by the contradictory action of thujone and alcohol. Some say this is what gives the Green Fairy her wings. The effect of absinthe is a form of alert inebriation, an increased sensitivity to light, sound and movement…and touch Yes, that might well be where absinthes reputation as an aphrodisiac arose. In Europe under the Amer classification absinthe may contain 35mg/l of thujone, but not in America. Many American absintheurs (the word for absinthe drinkers) do choose to buy absinthe online from Europe, so perhaps that is a good answer to the question!

If you have any experiences with thujone free or high thujone absinthe that you would like to share, please let me know.

These rather curious words are apparently what Heston Blumenthal, the 3 Star Michelin chef, said after a session drinking absinthe in France. The line comes from UK television show Heston Blumenthal’s Feast (showing Tuesday 3rd March at 9pm on Channel Four) Heston is famous as an experimental chef and his creations include such wonders as “egg and bacon ice cream’!

As part of the show Heston prepares an absinthe jelly shaped like a ..errr..watch the show to find out. Gastronomy and absinthe are happy partners; an absinthe sorbet for example was served as part of a celebratory dinner for Gustave Eiffel in 1889.

If anyone knows why bananas taste better with three legged cows in a vegetable shop, or better have a good recipe to share using absinthe then please let me know.

Sante!