![]() ![]() For suggestions on how to prepare absinthe, please click here. It has since become extremely sought-after in the Czech Republic, England and Canada. Absinthe production came to a complete halt until the 1990s and the fall of the communist regime, when Czech distilleries began to produce the drink again. With the end of the war, however, came the rise of communism and the nationalization of Czech distilleries. Czech literature from the period attests to the drink’s popularity, which only increased with Nazi rationing during the Second World War (a result of absinthe’s high alcohol content). Western Europe’s restrictions on the production and consumption of absinthe never reached Czechoslovakia, meaning that Czech distilleries were able to openly produce absinthe in the early 1900’s. Viktor Oliva, The Absinthe Drinker, 1901, Cafe Slavia, Prague. These include pelinkovak (a Balkan drink that is the national liqueur of Slovenia), unicum (Hungary), piolunowka (a Polish drink dating back to the seventeenth century), as well as wormwood-based wines in Bulgaria and Romania. This is not surprising given the fact that there has been a long history of Central and Eastern Europeans enjoying wormwood-based alcoholic beverages. In Czechoslovakia, there are records indicating the production of absinthe from at least as early as the 1860s. ![]() Campaigners demonized the drink as a hallucinogenic, and by 1915 it was finally made illegal not only in France but in several European countries and the United States. ![]() The fall of absinthe in France came about in the early twentieth century with a campaign for prohibition. (Its green colour is also responsible for the drink’s nickname, “La Fée Verte” or “The Green Fairy”.) was called l’heure verte, or “the green hour”, after the drink’s green colour. By the 1860s, it had become so popular in France that 5 p.m. Upon their return to France, absinthe became the drink of choice throughout the social classes, and was widely available in bars, cafés and cabarets. Its real popularity in those countries, however, was brought about by the use of absinthe as an anti-malarial treatment for French troops in the 1840s. In its modern form, absinthe is thought to have originated as a medicinal tonic in the Alps of Switzerland and France during the eighteenth century. Vincent Van Gogh, Still Life with Absinthe, 1887. Even today, wormwood is used as a natural remedy, as it is considered to be anti-parisitic, an appetite stimulant, and anti-malarial. As well, they are supposed to have drunk a wormwood-infused wine called absinthites oinos. The ancient Greeks also favoured it for this purpose, using wormwood extracts and its leaves in medicinal concoctions. Indeed, the strength of the drink is legendary, and led to an interesting French ritual in the nineteenth century featuring the use of special water fountains to dilute the drink, as well as its popularity in Czechoslovakia during the rationing of the Second World War.Īlthough its exact origins are uncertain, it is known from a surviving papyrus that wormwood was utilized in medical treatments in ancient Egypt, as far back as 1550 BC. The latter, low-anise absinthe is also preferred in North America, particularly because of its versatility as a base for cocktails.Ībsinthe is different from most spirits in that it is bottled at a high proof (from 45-75% ABV) but is commonly drunk diluted with water, a peculiarity that may be the result of its apparent origins as a medicinal tonic. For instance, in France and Switzerland, distillers prefer their drink with a high concentration of anise, while in the Bohemian countries like the Czech Republic, producers such as Hill’s have a history of distilling absinthe with a low-anise flavour. The exact proportions of each herb depend on the distiller’s recipe and the region in which it is produced. Vintage Czech Absinthe Label (70% ABV), 1911, Green Tree Distillery.Ībsinthe is a strong, bitter, distilled spirit, which is derived from the plant grand wormwood (a hardy perennial growing wild throughout Europe) and includes other herbs like anise and fennel. ![]()
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