Absinthe in Switzerland is back !
On October 07, 2007 in Absinthe news
MOTIER, Switzerland – Absinthe, the drink banned almost a century ago as “madness in a bottle” is making a comeback. The Swiss, who invented absinthe, legalized it this month, hoping to boost a sluggish regional economy and drag a generation of bootleg distillers into the 21st century. Known in France as the “Green Fairy” because of its color, absinthe was banned in much of Europe in the early 20th century, when heavy consumption of the bitter aniseed-flavored tipple was linked to hallucinations, violence and depression.
The Dutch painter Van Gogh is reputed to have sliced off his ear while under the influence. Fellow artists Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec were also devotees, as were the writers Ernest Hemingway and Oscar Wilde.
But the Swiss, who outlawed it in 1910, laud the high-alcohol drink as a folk remedy and aperitif, and boast that they have never stopped drinking it despite the ban. On March 1, the day the ban was lifted, local distillers gathered in the village of Motier in the Val-de-Travers where absinthe is distilled for a festival celebrating the local brew.
ABSINTHE MINDED
The Swiss also hope to revive the Val-de-Travers economy. In 1910, the absinthe industry employed 600 on the Swiss side of the border and 3,000 on the French compared to a handful today. The quest for jobs has pushed concerns about absinthe’s possible side effects off the agenda completely.
“In order to succeed, you should forget the past. Absinthe is rich in culture and we need to use that to our advantage,” said Bernard Soguel, a Swiss member of parliament. “We have an international audience and we need to use our history.”
The Swiss have a unique claim on the absinthe’s history and hope to win “appellation” rights to use its name exclusively. According to legend, the drink dates from 1769 when a Val-de-Travers matron now known as Mother Henriod sold a concoction distilled from a dozen garden herbs to passers-by. The most important ingredient is wormwood, or artemisia absinthium, a relative of the daisy that contains thujone, a substance similar to menthol which is believed to give the drink hallucinogenic qualities. Absinthe is a clear drink that varies from 45 percent to 70 percent alcohol and which turns a light cloudy green or blue when mixed with water.
It is enjoying a revival with rock stars, jet-setters and in trendy urban bars lured by its old world glamour, wild reputation and the drinking rituals associated with it. Modern Drunkard, a magazine which celebrates today’s drinking culture, said even those revolted by absinthe’s taste are likely to be drawn by the spectacle of drinking rituals that involve sugar, water and in some cases setting it on fire.
source: signonsandiego.com
Hausgemacht absinthe
On October 07, 2007 in Absinthe recipes
German for homemade (often abbreviated HG), also called clandestine, hausgemacht absinthe is home-distilled by hobbyists and thus illegal in most countries.Mainly for personal use and not for sale, clandestine absinthe is produced in small quantities allowing experienced distillers to select the best herbs and fine-tune each batch. Clandestine production got a major boost after the ban of absinthe when small producers went underground, especially in Switzerland. Although the Swiss produced both vertes and blanches before the ban, clear absinthe (known as La Bleue) became popular as it was easier to hide. Though the Swiss ban was recently lifted, many clandestine distillers have yet to become legal; the authorities believe high taxes on alcohol and the mystique of being underground has kept many from seeking a license. Those that have become legal often still use the “clandestine” moniker on their products. HG absinthe should not be confused with absinthe kits.
Source: wikipedia.org
How to drink absinthe
On October 07, 2007 in Back to basic
Traditionally, absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed slotted spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then deposited in the bowl of the spoon. Ice-cold water is poured or dripped over the sugar until the drink is diluted 3:1 to 5:1. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water, mainly those from anise, fennel and star anise, come out of solution and cloud the drink; the resulting milky opalescence is called the louche (Fr. “opaque” or “shady”, IPA [luʃ]). The addition of water is important, causing the herbs to “blossom” and bringing out many of the flavors originally overpowered by the anise. For most people, a good quality absinthe should not require sugar, but it is added according to taste and will also thicken the mouth-feel of the drink.
With increased popularity, the absinthe fountain, a large jar of ice water on a base with spigots, came into use. It allowed a number of drinks to be prepared at once, and with a hands-free drip patrons were able to socialize while louching a glass.
Although many bars served absinthe in standard glasses, a number of glasses were specifically made for absinthe, having a dose line, bulge or bubble in its lower portion to mark how much absinthe should be poured into it (often around 1 oz (30 ml)).
Source: wikipedia.org
Homemade warning
On October 07, 2007 in Absinthe recipes
There are numerous recipes for homemade absinthe floating around on the Internet, many of which revolve around soaking or mixing a kit or store-bought herbs and wormwood extract with high-proof liquor such as vodka or Everclear. Even though these do-it-yourself kits have gained in popularity, it is simply not possible to produce absinthe without distillation. Absinthe distillation, like the production of any fine liquor, is a science and an art and requires expertise and care to properly manage.Besides being unpleasant to drink and a pale impression of authentic distilled absinthe, these homemade concoctions can sometimes be poisonous. Many of these recipes call for the usage of liberal amounts of wormwood extract or essence of wormwood in the hopes of increasing the believed psychoactive effects. Consuming essential oils will not only fail to produce a high, but can be very dangerous. Wormwood extract can cause renal failure and death due to excessive amounts of thujone, which in large quantities acts as a convulsive neurotoxin. Essential oil of wormwood should never be consumed straight.
Source: wikipedia.org
How to made ?
On October 07, 2007 in Back to basic
The main herbs used are grande wormwood, florence fennel and green anise, often called the “holy trinity.” Many other herbs may be used as well, such as hyssop, melissa, star anise and petite wormwood (Artemisia pontica or Roman wormwood). Various recipes also include angelica root, Sweet Flag, dittany leaves, coriander, veronica, juniper, nutmeg, and various mountain herbs.The simple maceration of wormwood in alcohol without distillation produces an extremely bitter drink, due to the presence of the water-soluble absinthine, one of the most bitter substances known. Authentic recipes call for distillation after a primary maceration and before the secondary or “coloring” maceration. The distillation of wormwood, anise, and Florence fennel first produces a colorless distillate that leaves the alembic at around 82% alcohol. It can be left clear, called a Blanche or la Bleue (used for bootleg Swiss absinthe), or the well-known green color of the beverage can be imparted either artificially or with chlorophyll by steeping petite wormwood, hyssop, and melissa in the liquid. After this process, the resulting product is reduced with water to the desired percentage of alcohol. Over time and exposure to light, the chlorophyll breaks down, changing the colour from emerald green to yellow green to brown. Pre-ban and vintage absinthes are often of a distinct amber color as a result of this process.
Nontraditional varieties are made by cold-mixing herbs, essences or oils in alcohol, with the distillation process omitted. Often called “oil mixes”, these types of absinthe are not necessarily bad, though they are generally considered to be of lower quality than properly distilled absinthe and often carry a distinct bitter aftertaste.
Alcohol makes up the majority of the drink and its concentration is extremely high, between 45% and 89.9%,[3] though there is no historical evidence that any commercial vintage absinthe was higher than 74%. Given the high strength and low alcohol solubility of many of the herbal components, absinthe is usually not imbibed “straight” but consumed after a fairly elaborate preparation ritual.
Historically, there were five grades of absinthe: ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, supérieure and Suisse (which does not denote origin), in order of increasing alcoholic strength. Most absinthes contain between 60% and 75% alcohol. It is said to improve materially with storage. In the late 19th century, cheap brands of absinthe were occasionally adulterated by profiteers with copper, zinc, indigo plant, or other dyes to impart the green color, and with antimony trichloride to produce or enhance the louche effect (see below). It is also thought that the use of cheaper industrial alcohol and poor distillation technique by the manufacturers of cheaper brands resulted in contamination with methanol, fusel alcohol, and similar unwanted distillates. This addition of toxic chemicals is quite likely to have contributed to absinthe’s reputation as a hallucination-inducing or otherwise harmful beverage.
Source: wikipedia.org
Absinthe Controversy - Absinthism and Thujone
On October 07, 2007 in Back to basic
It was thought that excessive absinthe drinking led to effects which were specifically worse than those associated with overindulgence in other forms of alcohol - which is bound to have been true for some of the less-scrupulously adulterated products, creating a condition called absinthism. Undistilled wormwood essential oil contains a substance called thujone, which is a convulsant and can cause renal failure in extremely high doses, and the supposed ill effects of the drink were blamed on that substance in 19th-century studies. Many of these studies were flawed, such as a study by Dr. Magnan in 1869 that exposed a guinea pig to large doses of pure wormwood oil vapor and another to alcohol vapors. The guinea pig exposed to wormwood had seizures while the other did not. Based on this it was concluded absinthe was more dangerous than alcohol. These studies were further taken advantage of as the French word for wormwood is “absinthe,” and it was incorrectly stated that absinthe, the drink, had caused these problems.Past reports estimated thujone levels in absinthe as high, possibly up to 350 mg/kg. More recent studies have shown that very little of the thujone present in wormwood actually makes it into a properly distilled absinthe, even one recreated using historical recipes and methods. Most proper absinthes, both vintage and modern, are naturally within the EU limits. A recent French distiller has had to add pure essential oil of wormwood to make a “high-thujone” variant of his product. It can remain in higher amounts in oils produced by other methods than distillation, or when wormwood is macerated and not distilled, especially when the plant stems are used, where thujone content is the highest. Tests on mice show an LD50 of around 45 mg thujone per kg of body weight, much higher than what is contained in absinthe and the high amount of alcohol would kill a person many times over before the thujone became a danger. Although direct effects on humans are unknown, many have consumed thujone in higher amounts than present in absinthe through non-controversial sources like common sage and its oil, which can be up to 50% thujone. Long term effects of low wormwood consumption in humans is unknown as well.
The effects of absinthe have been described by artists as mind-opening and even hallucinogenic and by prohibitionists as turning good people mad and desolate. Both are exaggerations. Sometimes called “secondary effects”, the most commonly reported experience is a “clear-headed” feeling of inebriation - a “lucid drunk”, said to be caused by the thujone. The placebo effect and individual reaction to the herbs make these secondary effects subjective and minor compared to the psychoactive effects of alcohol.
A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol concluded that a high concentration of thujone in alcohol has negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time, and subjects concentrated their attention in the central field of vision. Medium doses did not produce an effect noticeably different from plain alcohol. The high dose of thujone in this study was larger than what one can get from current beyond-EU-regulation “high thujone” absinthe before becoming too drunk to notice, and while the effects of even this high dose were statistically significant in a double blind test, the test subjects themselves could still not reliably identify which samples were the ones containing thujone. As most people describe the effects of absinthe as a more lucid and aware drunk, this suggests that thujone alone is not the cause of these effects. The deleterious effects of absinthe as well as its hallucingenic properties are a persistent myth often repeated in modern books and scientific journals with no evidence for either.