March 5: National Absinthe Day
Today’s holiday has a lot of spirit, if you catch my drift, celebrating a green drink that’s been known to incite the other kind of fairy godmother. A drink that doesn’t give a damn about its reputation, today is March 5th and National Absinthe Day.
Absinthe has a pretty bad and scary reputation — you know, like you’ll hallucinate, see the green fairy, get into shenanigans you’ll surely regret…
Well, according to legend, the wormworm plant’s Latin name, Artemisia Absinthium originated from the goddess of Artemis who gave it to women to ease stomach cramps, and the Greeks also used it as a proposed cure to malaria and other stomach bugs. The Egyptians used it as an antiseptic and for combatting disease.
In the 1790s, absinthe was officially created by French doctor Pierre Ordinaire. Absinthe was crafted in higher altitude areas — in Switzerland and France, where absinthe took off — because of its high alcohol content. Absinthe is 70 proof, compared to an 11% wine. It also contains trace amounts to the compound thujone, which some say caused psychoactive symptoms — those who drank too much hallucinated and people legitimately went insane. Some sellers of the spirit went so far as to add poisonous substances to it — which only added to the craze of the day.
By the early 1900s, governments began cracking down — and Absinthe was banned in Belgium in 1905, Switzerland and the Netherlands in 1910, shortly followed by the US in 1912 and France in 1915.
Eventually it was okay again, and you can get it today. The official absinthe way is to ensure it goes through a special process called “louching” where you put your 1 oz of absinthe in a cup, rest a slotted absinthe spoon over the cup where a sugar cube should be placed on the slotted area. Using ice cold water, slowly pour the water over the sugar cube, where the sugary water will then turn the absinthe milky. Then, it’s ready to drink — where you’ll be in good company — Van Gogh, Picasso, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway were all big fans of the stuff.
Salud!
Happy Holiday everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
