OUTLAWED

ABSINTHE is a highly alcoholic anise- flavoured spirit made from the leaves and flowers of Artemisia absinthium, or grande wormwood. It is flavoured with green anise, sweet fennel and other herbs.

In the 1840s absinthe was given to French troops as a malaria treatment. Today measures of absinthe are still referred to as a “dose”. Eventually absinthe became a common drink across the Continent. By the 1860s, 5pm became known as l’heure verte, the green hour, when cafes and bars across France were packed with absinthe drinkers.

Eventually the French were drinking 36 million litres of absinthe per year and it was particularly popular with the fin de siecle romantic poets and artists who flocked to the cafes and bars of Paris.

However, in 1905 it was reported that Jean Lanfray had been driven to kill his family and attempt suicide after drinking absinthe. The murders sparked a petition to ban the drink in Switzerland, setting in chain a series of bans across Europe and in the United States.

There were also claims that thujone, a compound found in wormwood, absinthe’s key ingredient, had disturbing effects and caused animals to suffer seizures. Later studies showed the amount of thujone to be too small to pose any real risk to drinkers.

However the notion that the drink could have mind-bending effects, plus outcry from the temperance movement along with a wine industry enraged that its products were being scorned in favour of absinthe, led to it being widely outlawed. Bans in many countries were only lifted in the past decade.