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There is a legend that the wormwood "grew in the coiling track of the Serpent when he was leaving the paradise", and the "Revelation" of John the Theologian narrates that after the seventh seal will open, the bitter Star will fall down from the sky. "The name of this Star is the Wormwood".
What is absinth? It is one of the strongest alcoholic drinks. Around the absinth has appeared a special mythology. Despite of how strange this word sounds in the context of an alcoholic drink. It seems that it is not just an alcoholic drink, but something like amaranth, the never-fading flower which is the symbol of the immortality.
Absinth was first created in Switzerland at the end of 18th century as a tonic, aperitif. Some explorers consider that year of born of absinth is 1792. The history says that it was invented by physician Pierre Ordinaire. Being a monarchist, he escaped from the French revolution and settled in Swiss village Cuve. Here, according to legend, he found wild wormwood, created his own formula, and his drink quickly became very popular in the neighborhood. When Ordinaire died in 1821, this unusually strong alcoholic drink was already called "Green Fairy", and it was considered as a tonic in that locality. In the middle of 19th century it became to be firmly associated with French colonial army in Algeria. The glass of absinth became a respectable and nearly universal bourgeois habit during the times of the Second empire, it was associated with poets, artists, the Bohemia at all. The luxurious bourgeois tradition to drink absinth was practically everywhere. Absinth was argued to have a positive effect on appetite before dinner. The time between five and seven o'clock in the evening was called "Green Hour", at that time the absinth smell was around in the early evening air of boulevards. The absinth drinking was pleasant and the ritual of finishing a day and changing into the evening mood. Absinth was associated with inspiration, with freedom and it became the symbol of the French decadence; this word suggests ideas of intrigue, euphoria, eroticism and decadence sensuality.
In year 1859, Edouard Manet has written the well-known picture «The Fan of absinth liqueur » which is stored today in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (Carlsberg being the owner of the largest Danish beer company Carlsberg, the known collector and the patron of art). Later, in 1865 the similar piece of art has entered the world classics, written by Belgian artist Felisenom Ropsom, and in 1876 great Degas has embodied the same theme in the cloth "Absinth liqueur". Absinth did not stay unnoticed either by Baudelaire, Paul Marie Verlaine, ?mile Zola , Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Victor Hugo, who usually begun and finished their days with glass of «the green fairy» in one of cafes on Montparnasse. It is often said that Toulouse-Lautrec was not able to accept even short-term separation with a favorite drink and was carrying it in a special flask fixed in his cane.
One day in the spring of 1914, Picasso has made a wax sculpture of a glass of absinth. Rejecting usual forms, the artist has opened one of sides of a glass to allow the absinth to pour like a fountain into a pool, and the glass was shaped into the form of strongly deformed human head: an opening wall was an eye with the heavy hung eyelid, which reappers once more on the opposite closed party of a "face", a large nose and the huge upper lip are well emphasizing a movement of absinth liqueur into the pool of a lower lip. The conic basis of a glass – is a neck. The top of the head is opened and decorated with a very original "hat" in the form of the silver punched spoon with a bronze slice of sugar. There have been made six bronze sculptures of this wax figure, which were painted differently by Picasso. Probably, the artist tried to explain influence of this drink directly on a brain of a drinker and to show what occurs in a head of the heroine of his famous picture which was written in 1901(«Absinth drinker» which is exposed in a hall of impressionists, on the third floor of the Hermitage.)
SECRET of ABSINTH LIQUEUR
Everyone who have ever drank absinth unanimously declare, that intoxication is not similar to the alcoholic one. What gives the positive sensations which have made absinth the rare phenomenon in culture of mankind? There does not exist the strict scientific explanation yet. We should try to understand at least approximately. The structure of absinth includes the plants widely applied in pharmacology - that, actually, is clear as it has been developed as a medicine. Some of the plants which are part of a drink have psychotropic effect. For example, parsley - it is known as a weak hallucinogen.The nutmeg has psychedelic properties and sometimes is used in preparation of absinth, too. So intoxication from absinth represents a combination of influences of the substances contained in several plants. These substances get into absinth by maceration, therefore their concentration is so small, that it does not hazard for health and does not cause addiction. Simply speaking - to receive a noticable effect from absinth it should be drunk in huge quantities – according to some calculations, up to 4 liters. However, the maintenance of spirit in such quantity of absinth is in tens times exceeds a fatal doze. The person is not able to drink so much – he will fall under a table much earlier from alcoholic intoxication... The Secret of absinth is in magnificent sensations in reasonable dozes. And in unreasonable - it simply brings down from legs.
Modern absinth can be divided into two groups: anise and wormwood based.
Anise absinth has expressive taste and aroma of anise and anisette, it becomes turbid in contact with water, contains practically no wormwood and thujon.
Wormwood absinth has a bitter taste which increases in after-tastes, it does not become practically turbid after adding of water, contains a lot of wormwood and sufficiently thujon.
Myths and truth about absinth:
Myth No. 1: Absinth shall have strength of 70 %.
Truth: classical absinth had strength from 50 to 90 % depending on producers' wishes.
Myth No. 2: Absinth will became of turbid in contact with water.
Truth: the turbidity depends on the quantity of anise and anisette in the drink (main ingredients of Italian Sambuca, Greek Uzo, Turkish Rak?). |
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