Post #564699 by swizzle on Thu, Nov 11, 2010 11:46 PM

On 2010-11-11 06:48, TorchGuy wrote:
Really, though, absinthe habituees weren't going mad because their drink was absinthe; they were drinking 8-10 glasses a day of high-proof liquor. They were going mad from abuse of alcohol. Many of these same drunkards commonly drank cologne and even ether if necessary! Then, in 1905, Jean Lafray, a laborer, drank two glasses of absinthe as he did every day, murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters aged 4 and 2, and tried (and failed) to kill himself. Thus went the bans, from the "absinthe murders". The fact that his every day consumption wasn't just absinthe was forgotten - it HAD to be the absinthe. What had he drunk that day? Seven glasses of wine, six of Cognac, two of creme de menthe, one brandy and coffee, and another brandy after getting home. EVERY DAY he drank like this.

I was very happen to read these points that TorchGuy mentioned. I've had a fascination with absinthe ever since I first read about it and its history roughly twelve or so years ago. At the time I was trying to get my local bottle shop to track some down (all to no avail) as he used to import Rip Van Winkle bourbon himself and he was the only one to have that brand in the country at the time, so I figured he should be able to find some. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I finally got to try some when my friend travelled to Europe and bought back a mini bottle for me. Guess what brand? Hills.

Having Hills being the first brand to try certainly didn't make me want to try anymore, but after reading more about absinthe I soon learned, what has already been mentioned, that Hills cant even be called true absinthe. Since then I have had the opportunity to try a few different brands (as far as I know I think absinthe actually became available here in Aus. well before it was available in the U.S. but as the market here is so small the amount of brands available are quite limited compared to what you guys must have to choose from) including Mansinthe, which I personally thought was pretty good, better than I was expecting when you think "Oh another musician releasing his own brand of alcohol".

Back to TorchGuy's comments, I found it quite amusing that it was the incident with Jean Lafray that put the final nail in the coffin for absinthe, causing its ban, not the fact that most drinkers of absinthe were also alcoholics who drank anything they could get their hands on (Van Gogh used to drink turpentine as well), and were drinking a spirit/liqueur that was generally above 60% a.b.v. amongst other things.

As Beachbum Berry mentioned in his books, once you have tried it and put aside all the hype and misconceptions, you will realise it is just another ingredient that you either like or you dont.