Ruinous Reputation Of Absinthe Is Proven to Be Myth
July 16th, 2009. Published under Wine and Spirits. No Comments.
The food and beverage industry rarely encounters controversy, but an internet search for the drink Absinthe delivers a plethora of astounding news stories surrounding the supposed toxicity of the spirit. At the turn of last century, the hysteria surrounding Absinthe and its reputation for causing people to become psychotic led to it being banned in many countries around the world. It has only quite recently been declared to be no more harmful than any other spirit and as such been made legal again.
Absinthe has a very long history, the roots of which are most commonly regarded to lie in the Swiss municipality of Couvet. This is where is the drink is said to have been first distilled around 1780, albeit originally as an elixir; ironic given its later reputation. Whether this is where absinthe truly originated is hard to determine, but Couvet was certainly where the first absinthe distillery was built, and it remains home to one of the most popular brands of the drink today.
Just over one hundred years later, in 1908, the New York Times ran a front page report on the effects of the ‘deadly’ green liquor stating that France was in the grip of an absinthe habit. According to the report, the French government had decided to make the sale of the drink illegal after an increase in idiocy and physical degeneration which was attributed to the infamous spirit.
By 1914 the hysteria had gone global and the majority of countries banned the production, sale and importation of the drink. It wasn’t until the end of the century in 1997 that a revival was in the air. It transpired that many countries had loopholes in the laws that were brought in which allowed absinthe to be imported. As Spain and Portugal had never got round to banning the production of the drink, it was possible to source absinthes that could be sold in other countries.
In 2005 a study was conducted to investigate the alleged detrimental effects of the ingredient thujone in traditional absinthes. Thujone was thought to be a psychoactive drug and therefore responsible for causing absinthe drinkers to become degenerate. It transpires that these claims were greatly exaggerated; thujone is not similar in chemical composition to a cannabinoid and is not a psychoactive drug, and to consume a dangerous quantity of the ingredient would take the consumption of so much absinthe that the drinker would die from alcohol poisoning first.
The drink was eventually deemed to be no more dangerous than any other spirit available on the market, and if drunk responsibly by people over the age of consent, would have no ill effects associated with consuming psychoactive substances. Absinthe is now freely available globally, with the United States being the last to lift prohibitions in 2007. It is estimated that there is somewhere in the region of 200 varieties available, some of which are made to the traditional recipe that originated in Switzerland.
Dom Donaldson is a beverage expert.
Find out more about Absinthe at http://www.absintheonline.com