The return of the "green fairy"

[Grayson_Stewart]

Brought over from old forum

cartouche
(stranger)
07/02/04 11:29 AM

The return of the "green fairy"

From the Swiss Revue:
"It was said to turn artists into geniuses and mild-mannered farmers ito murderers: the "green fairy."
Now Switzerland is aiming to lift its almost 100-year-old ban on absinthe and place the demonised cult drink on an equal footing with other liqueurs."

In 1905 a farmer drunk on absinthe shot his pregnant wife and 2 children.
In 1907 the sale of absinthe was prohibited in some regions.
In 1908 the ban was voted into the swiss constitution.

I have been drinking absinthe in Switzerland every time I went there, ...some ban !

C.

Post Extras: Print Post
Blanchy
(enthusiast)
07/02/04 11:54 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: cartouche]

Cartouche,

Where did you get it when you were there. I managed to buy some of the real stuff across the border in Italy and had some bootleg that was made in Jura. I didn't find it to be terribly common though.

Chuck

Post Extras: Print Post
cartouche
(stranger)
07/02/04 01:02 PM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: Blanchy]

Hi Chuck,

I got it from friends in the italian speaking part, it came from the Val de Travers, the "real stuff" ... bottles with nice labels and seals on the cork.
... Put a fork across your glass with a sugar cube on top, pore ice water through it and you are all set.

C.

Post Extras: Print Post
bees
(stranger)
07/07/04 02:54 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: cartouche]

Most Absinthe that is made and sold in moderntimes is made with an aromatic level of wormwood(the drug in wormwood is thujone). I belive the level is about 10 parts per million depending on the brand it can reach about 15%. Victorian Absinthe had a thujone level of 260 parts per million. Absinthe is what 70% so the chlorophyll won't oxidize(turn brown). And I read that it took about three shots of victorian absinthe to get a good high on. Sooooo whats that 26x3=78!?!?!?. 78 shots of 70% booze to get an absinthe high with the stuff there making now, fat chance

Post Extras: Print Post
Blanchy
(enthusiast)
07/07/04 06:57 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: bees]

Bees,

I don't know the level of thujone in my homemade, but it follows a 120 or so year old recipe. The main high that you feel with this stuff is going to be ethanol and not any other ingredient.

Chuck

Post Extras: Print Post
lamusegreen
(stranger)
07/16/04 07:45 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: cartouche]

Hi All,
I would agree that it’s not common for locals in Switzerland to help you find bootleg Absinthe. But then again why would they? As far as thujone content in modern absinthes goes there is a great article by Ian Hutton that appeared in Current Drug Discovery, September 2002 he found this:

It is often stated that the absinthe produced in the 19th century had much larger amounts of thujone present than are allowed in today's versions of the drink, which have to comply with EU limits of 10 mg/l. Values as high as 260 mg/l have been quoted by Arnold (Absinthe, Arnold WN, Scientific American, 1989 Jun, 260(6):112-7). However analytical techniques available in the 19th century were not capable of separating thujone from many of the related compounds present in the essential oils of the plants used to make absinthe and it is therefore likely that concentrations were grossly overestimated. Indeed, Bedel gives the amount of dried wormwood used in a typical recipe as 2.5 kg in 100 l which, based on widely accepted yields of oil, equates to 87.5 mg/l of oil, of which between 34 and 72% will comprise thujone, giving a final maximum concentration of thujone in the predistilled absinthe of 30 to 63 mg/l assuming 100% extraction (Traite Complet de la Fabrication Des Liqueurs, Bedel, 1899, Paris). However not all of the thujone will find its way into the distillate, and the final concentration in the finished absinthe would have been lower still. This is indeed confirmed when GLC analysis is applied to samples of absinthes and the results do show much lower thujone levels than expected. Analyses were performed on a sample of vintage Pernod fils circa 1900, a sample of absinthe produced by a home distiller and two modern commercial absinthes produced by traditional methods in Pontarlier, France by using 19th century protocols. The vintage Pernod absinthe is shown to have the lowest concentration of total thujone of any of the samples tested and the highest is found in the Swiss sample, but even this was lower than the EU limit of 35 mg/l for thujone in bitters. Table 1 Analysis of absinthe by GLC Sample Thujone mg/l Anethole mg/l Private distillation 25 956 Vintage Pernod fils circa. 1900 6 1400 Emile Pernot 45% 8 1053 Un Emile 68% 10 792 Samples were analysed on a BP10 capillary column with FID. Programmed from 70 C (held for 10 min) to 120 C at 5 C/min and held isothermally for a further 10 min.

Table 1 Analysis of absinthe by GLC
Sample Thujone mg/l Anethole mg/l
Private distillation + 25 956
Vintage Pernod fils circa. 1900 6 1400
Emile Pernot 45% 8 1053
Un Emile 68% 10 792
Samples were analyzed on a BP10 capillary column with FID. Programmed from 70 C (held for 10 min) to 120 C at 5 C/min and held isothermally for a further 10 min.

I found this to be an eye opener; I always thought that vintage absinthe had way more Thujone than modern. My opinion has always been that I like the way absinthe tastes and the secondary herbal buzz is, well secondary. Oh by the way it’s nice to meet you all.

You can read the whole article at http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/Thujone.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Post Extras: Print Post
bees
(stranger)
08/06/04 09:23 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: lamusegreen]

Thats some great insight thanks for that post. I was wondering if you know of any info about the possible degradation of thujones due to heat or time? I just courious how volatil they are that could be a reason victorian absynth would be lower than currently made products. Just hanging onto the myth a little longer . But your info looks solid. Bees

Post Extras: Print Post
lamusegreen
(stranger)
08/09/04 07:21 AM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: bees]

Hi Bees,
The info I have heard of on the effects of normal amounts of heat and light on Thujone is this:
There may have been a small amount of potency loss due to heat and light but it is nominal at best. The biggest effect light and heat have on a naturally colored Absinthe is turning it from its paradot green color to an autumn amber color. You have to keep in mind that many vintage samples have been very well cared for. Also many vintage absinthes have come from cache’s that have been untouched and hidden for over a hundred years.

Green

Post Extras: Print Post
gjbloom
(stranger)
09/05/04 06:55 PM

Re: The return of the "green fairy" new [re: lamusegreen]

Thujone is a fairly small molecule without any strongly reactive regions. (The carbonyl group is about the only exception, and it's only susceptible to strong electrophiles or nucleophiles). I suspect that in the absence of air and light and at a neutral pH, it should be stable for hundreds or thousands of years at room temperature.


BTW, here's a toxicology review of Thujone by the US National Institutes of Health. It doesn't say much beyond some anecdotal evidence of neurotoxicity. Still, I'd be reluctant to indulge in Thujone on a regular basis.

(Disclaimer: IANAC - I Am Not A Chemist. I don't even play one on TV.)