Absinthe Crazed Man Attacks Clemenceau
(Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst) 
In Absinthe and Flamethrowers, I shed some light on the traditions, mysteries, and fallacies surrounding the world's most misunderstood alcoholic beverage. As part of the rigorous and assiduous research that went into writing this book, I was compelled to sample over a dozen different brands of the stuff, resulting occasionally in a somewhat intimate embrace with the green fairy.
Yesterday, a bottle of Kubler Distillee Au Val-De-Travers arrived in the mail. Kubler is a Swiss Absinthe, pale white in color. I had some last night. Ah, those Swiss. They do not produce good comedy (smallest book in the world: The Treasury of Swiss Humor) but they do make a fine absinthe. Kubler has a pronounced anise aroma. Pleasantly sharp initial taste, quickly trailing off into subtle wormwood bitterness. Louches well. As good as Taboo, but in a much different way.
Paris - Premier Clemenceau, as he was leaving his residence to-night, was attacked by a man who raised a cane to strike him. A policeman sprang forward and overpowered the man.
He is proved to be an aged street hawked, (sic) who, it is believed, was half crazed by absinthe.
-- New York Times article from exactly 100 years ago
In Absinthe and Flamethrowers, I shed some light on the traditions, mysteries, and fallacies surrounding the world's most misunderstood alcoholic beverage. As part of the rigorous and assiduous research that went into writing this book, I was compelled to sample over a dozen different brands of the stuff, resulting occasionally in a somewhat intimate embrace with the green fairy. Yesterday, a bottle of Kubler Distillee Au Val-De-Travers arrived in the mail. Kubler is a Swiss Absinthe, pale white in color. I had some last night. Ah, those Swiss. They do not produce good comedy (smallest book in the world: The Treasury of Swiss Humor) but they do make a fine absinthe. Kubler has a pronounced anise aroma. Pleasantly sharp initial taste, quickly trailing off into subtle wormwood bitterness. Louches well. As good as Taboo, but in a much different way.
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We're very picky about our absinthe in New Orleans, so:
a) Don't drink Lucid. Ick! and
b) Never order an absinthe and cranberry like a girl recently did (here's the post in which my friend reported said atrocity). Then, we'll mock you and invent horrendous names for that concoction such as the Hipsterpolitan and the Crapsinthe.
sure...absinthe was taboo in the US for a long time...but there are much more interesting substances out there (legal or not). absinthe is all about nostalgia. I've had my fair share of the stuff and found it really isn't worth the hoopla. Now, cannabis..there is something worth writing about.
While an authentic Swiss "bleu" (uncolored, clear absinthe), Kubler lacks the freshness and complexity of absinthes made in smaller batches with better ingredients. Try La Clandestine for a better example, or for a verte, Vieux Pontarlier or (American-made) Absinthe Pacifique are excellent. So many great absinthes are available legally in the U.S. now-- a great time to be an absinthe fan!
Reviews of many absinthes can be found at http://www.feeverte.net/guide/, and I've been blogging about absinthe for a while at http://spiritof72.blogspot.com.
Whatever you do, please don't burn your absinthe! SANTE!!
Absinthe makes the heart go wander.
>Whatever you do, please don't burn your absinthe!
Why not? Cheers! (English for Sante!)
Which has the highest wormwood content and can make you silly like the guy in the story?
The link between absinthe and violence was always hazy. Medical authorities in the 19th century were quick to coin the term "absinthism" to describe the disease that was supposed to result from chronic absinthe use. The big push to ban absinthe in the early 20th century came after a graphic case in Switzerland but the prohibitionists would have likely found something else to use otherwise.
http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2009/06/the-lanfray-case.html
I just spent $50 on a bottle of Kubler this weekend, but haven't had a chance to crack it open. I think I will tonight because of this post.
>Which has the highest wormwood content
The one with the highest thujone content. Absinthe USA is "thujone free FDA (27 CFR 13.51)" variety only.
I wonder if Absinthe was merely the late 19th early 20th century version of crack? A cheap intoxicant used by the lower classes, rendering them even more brutal, obviously the reason for busting them over the head & tossing them in jail.
@5: re: "...please don't burn your absinthe!"
>Why not? Cheers! (English for Sante!)
Because it's a sham! All of the reasons offered for doing it (other than "it looks cool") make no sense-- it's just a way to cover up badly made, foul-tasting (ahem) swill.
Absinthe is (or, is supposed to be) delicious-- something to enjoy diluted with cold water, maybe with sugar if that's to your taste.
More info at La Fee Verte on how to serve it:
http://www.feeverte.net/faq-absinthe.html#B17
and the problem with the fire thing:
http://www.feeverte.net/faq-absinthe.html#B18
Remember-- best to drink your booze and burn your fuel, not the other way around!
i guess that's a typo for "aged street hawker," as in a vendor or somebody who stands in front of a business and advertises it verbally ... what's that called? i used to know that ... i hate my brain
If there are no effects greater than that associated with the common imbibing of conventional alcohol, what then is the advantage of drinking absinthe other than the alteration of one's outward appearance to that of a dandy with a dainty crystal cup and shiny little spatula?
I like your choice of illustration. Also - explained the Golden Third twice today - best bell curve (and best area underneath same) ever.
Haroun, since when are the lower classes more "brutal". You're a pompous idiot. There are lots
of violent crimes involving more affluent people.
Anonymous @ 13, maybe because you enjoy the taste of a good absinthe?
What's the point in drinking a really good Scotch? It won't get you any drunker than a plastic jug of vodka.
Seriously, if you want to get high, go find something that will reliably get you high.
"Absinthe is (or, is supposed to be) delicious"
Er...no. It began life as "Extrait d'Absinthe" (French for Extract of Wormwood) which was a medicine. It was meant to have an effect like all medicine and taste was not a consideration. If high proof licorice flavoured hooch is your thing, fine.
Modern absinthe **without wormwood levels / thujone levels of old** is all marketing hype based upon the fact it was banned, and has a risque reputation.
"dandy with a dainty crystal cup and shiny little spatula" Oh yeah, that just about sums it up.
@Mitch (#15): have you considered the possiblity that Haroun might be employing the literary device known as "sarcasm"?
Yes, I know it's the "lowest form of wit" but that doesn't make it difficult to spot, shirly?
@17, absinthe got popular in France after the grape vines died, which made wine very expensive. The French are not (and were not) known for eating or drinking things they do not find delicious-- absinthe was certainly drunk to be enjoyed, not as medicine, in spite of its therapeutic origins in Switzerland. Good absinthe is quite delicious, but admittedly an unusual flavor profile for modern (especially American) drinkers.
As for the assertion about modern thujone levels being less than those in the absinthe of yore, it's just a myth. Solid science recently demonstrated that absinthe never had much thujone in it-- very little makes it through the still-- and that modern absinthes' content is about the same:
http://thujone.info/thujone-absinthe-39.html
Levels of cupric oxide, methanol, lead, and other nasties have been much reduced...;)
A lot of absinthe's bad rep is a result of:
(1) coordinated smear campaigns by the wine industry trying to reclaim its market from harder stuff after the grape vines grew back,
(2) cheap, poor quality, outright poisonous so-called absinthes sold to "the lower classes" in a time when toxicity was not well understood, and
(3) people into very hard liquor also having had easy access to even harder/worse stuff like laudanum...:o
Times were very different, and in the end, absinthe took the fall when the temperance movement hit Europe. In the U.S., things went entirely too far and resulted in Prohibition. Amazing that it took nearly a century for the lies about absinthe to be revealed and that so many people still cling to those myths.
"Solid science" !!!!!
Who owns that thujone.info website? It appears to be full of adverts for absinthe. Wouldn't be the guy who authored that piece of "solid science" would it? Answer: yes. He wears two hats then?
Alcohol and thujone are opposites - as alcohol is a GABA agonist and thujone is an antagonist, it is not disputed. (See UC Berkeley researchers Karin Hold, Nilantha Sirisoma, Tomoko Ikeda, Toshio Narahashi and John Casida)
Here is genuinely solid academic source (Dr Arnold, Biochemist at University of Kansas)
The manufacturers of “new absinthe” claim that they are in compliance with the European Commission ruling that no foodstuff should contain more than 9 ppm thujone. Perhaps to raise the titillation for the current product, and to increase sales, they now claim that the “old absinthe” also had very little thujone in it! Boston Herald
"They are playing pretend," study co-author Wilfred Arnold says of the liquor's new cheerleaders. "It is nothing like the old stuff." Time Magazine
No doubt W.Arnold, Karin Hold, Nilantha Sirisoma, Tomoko Ikeda, Toshio Narahashi and John Casida are all wrong are they? Not very helpful when you are trying to sell "thijone free" absinthe I suppose.
Thujone.info's owner is not hard to figure out-- the same person who does, yes, sell absinthe, and who has also paid (in cash and with his own vintage samples) to have these questions investigated. Nothing is hidden.
Except... who are you?
There is no deception at play-- the research methods are very straightforward and clearly documented. Do you have any contradictory science to offer?
Dr. Arnold has admitted that his back-of-the-envelope estimates were nothing more than that-- estimates based on inaccurate assumptions. His 1989 Scientific American article was not a study.
BTW the UC Berkeley study clearly demonstrates the effects of thujone on the CNS and do not contradict the research indicating that there is not very much thujone in absinthe, now or ever.
>also paid (in cash and with his own vintage samples)
In cash, really? Who did he pay exactly? I must say you are very well informed about what went on. Would you say there was any competing financial or other interest?
Anonymous, you ask many questions but don't seem to answer any. [pfft]
Trying to cast suspicion on absinthe lovers because they're well informed is not especially clear thinking. Who doesn't try to learn all they can about a subject they care about, especially when there is so much controversy surrounding it?
Google scientists with twenty minutes of study under their belts always quote the twenty-year-old magazine article by Dr. Arnold who, as mentioned above has long ago admitted to publishing casual conjecture in that article.
More recent peer-reviwed studies have better information, regardless of who funded them (that's where the peer-review comes in, see?). The funding may have been done by interested parties, but in all such cases, these parties BECAME interested because
A) They became enthralled by the TASTE of the drink (yes, it IS intended to be delicious and to think otherwise is not thinking through to the obvious).
B) After even casual research and some clear thinking, it becomes obvious that there were other forces at work behind the ban, and that if the drink had truly been a harmful toxin, mass insanity and poisonings on a vast scale would have quickly become national emergencies in France and Switzerland.
It isn't surprising that dedicated aficionados would be the ones to take the initiative to clear absinthe's name. Or that they would be the ones to help start a commercial revival. It's also not surprising that there would be a few people who find it easier to cling to the old myths and fight to perpetuate them, or that they would have no real education on the subject, since any honest study would eventually lead them to the truth.