I remember when absinthe became legal to purchase in the US again and it seemed like it might become a cool drink to get drunk and maybe a little high from. I feel like it mostly got passed over though. The high from it seems like it was over-reported; I mean alternative ways to get high and drunk are pretty common these days, I don't think absinthe could really ever compete with edibles or whatever. The taste is fairly specific and I've only had a handful of cocktails that feature it well, gin/vodka/rum/whiskey are just better bases. In fact most cocktails I've seen it in usually have something else featured with absinthe meant to spruce up the taste and color a bit.
The hallucinogenic effects of wormwood are pretty highly overstated. You’d get alcohol poisoning before you get there, at least with commercial absinthe. Can’t say what it was like in Poe’s time.
I think the main reason it got passed over is that anise isn’t popular with Americans. If you don’t like ouzo or arak or raki or pastis, you’re probably not going to love absinthe.
I make wormwood soda, which is much higher wormwood content than absinthe, and have never had a hallucinogenic state, so yes, likely heavily overstated.
Drank a lot of absinthe on nye once. I REALLY like the taste. If you like black licorice then absinthe is for you.
Probably placebo: i felt like my head was in the same place but my body was upside down.
This went on for less than a half hour. After initially noticing this felt completely normal. Never brought this up online but never met anyone irl who experienced this from normal boozing.
Sometimes we still get it and i drink it watered down bc its just so dang tasty.
Its true that anise is pretty unpopular. I grew up loving black licorice so its always been a nice treat to me, but the vast majority of people I know hate that taste and are pretty adamant about it.
I'm convinced that even at that time the effects described were at best the product of getting drunk off of very high proof alcohol, and probably some opiates in their daily routine to boot.
I'll leave this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yO6iS5kFOc
Gastropod is a great listen, and they did an absinthe episode, interesting history and details.
https://gastropod.com/absinthe-the-worlds-most-dangerous-dri...
> Once the expensive drink of the French bourgeoisie and artists, absinthe became more affordable in the second half of the 19th century, whereupon workers, women and those in the French colonies, from North Africa to Indochina, began drinking it.
For a period of time Absinthe was the cheapest, strongest drink in France. Its bad reputation comes from that.
It’s bad reputation is from a propaganda campaign from the wine industry which wasn’t entirely untrue, but highly exaggerated, especially compared to another alcoholic beverage.
the article doesn't dig deeply enough into why specifically absinthe triggered the panic — why not all anise drinks? What's specific about absinthe that's so psychedelic?
If anything, tequila has way more of an effect on poor judgment...
There you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thujone
> If anything, tequila has way more of an effect on poor judgment...
Absinthe was around 70% abv. Much easier to overdose on alcohol than with 40-odd % tequila. It is although understood that there was a lot of adulterated absinthe around. And even in the presumably good stuff, the distillation techniques of the time left somewhat to be desired and the resulting drinks contained nasty chemicals (notably methanol).
That said, I still think the moral panic was completely out of proportion and, as the article mentions, absinthe ended up being a convenient scapegoat. It is very similar to how gin was seen in England.
> resulting drinks contained nasty chemicals (notably methanol).
This is a popular myth for two reasons:
- you can’t make enough methanol to harm you through fermentation alone. Stories of methanol poisoning are more likely due to unscrupulous bootleggers adding it in.
- you can’t separate methanol from ethanol using fractional distillation. There are things that do fraction out, like fusel oils. Methanol isn’t one of them.
This means that the ratio of methanol to ethanol in the distilled drink will be pretty much the same as in the unfermented version. It is higher in ferments done with fruit skin, but not possible to actually harm yourself, especially in the presence of ethanol, which is used to treat methanol poisoning.
That, and the French wine lobby.
Funnily enough 110 years later, Pernod-Ricard is the #2 spirits and liquors group in the world.
> why specifically absinthe triggered the panic
Classism and moral panic. In the 19th century, it was a poor man's liquor. Jean Lanfray's drunken murder suicide of his wife also played a massive role in that.
This was also the era of a very active and prominent temperance movement, as women were often at the mercy of alcoholic husbands and had few options for legal recourse.
You'll find similar temperance movements today in India, Thailand, Vietnam, and other developing countries.
> If anything, tequila has way more of an effect on poor judgment
Never understood that stereotype either. I love drinking Mezcal neat and that's basically aged and smokey Tequila (yes ik this is a massive simplification).
The only poor judgement it induced was me spending a ridiculous amount on niche Mezcals plus the occasional trip to Oaxaca.
I'd typify Mezcal more as "basically old band-aids and burned tires". I'm not saying this isn't a complement. But "aged and smokey" might be an almost criminally inaccurate description of Mezcal to a lay-peson
A 45-74% green Anise drink for anyone wondering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe
Gin is around 35-60%