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About absinthe
Known in France as the "Green Fairy" because of its color, absinthe was banned in much of Europe in the early 20th century, when heavy consumption of the bitter aniseed-flavored tipple was linked to hallucinations, violence and depression.
The Dutch painter Van Gogh is reputed to have sliced off his ear while under the influence. Fellow artists Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec were also devotees, as were the writers Ernest Hemingway and Oscar Wilde.
Origin of absinthe :
History of absinthe, according to some sources, was started in Switzerland, where doctor Ordinaire cured his patients with a green elixir of his own production. He made it according to some old woman herbalist's recipe.
Absinthe became widely known in the year 1805, when Mr. Pernod started to produce it in his factory in France. During the 19th century, absinthe quickly became massively popular and influenced almost all artists since it's production was banned in 1915.
La fée verte - The Green Fairy :
In 1830, french soldiers took Absinthe with them to Algeria as a cure for malaria, and it quickly became the most popular drink of entire army. When the victorious army returned back to France, the victory was celebrated by drinking absinthe again. Absinthe became a fashionable drink, quickly spreading through whole country.
Le péril vert - The Green Danger
As the time passed, absinthe slowly altered from the liqueur of the rich to the drink of poor masses. Workers gathered every evening in pubs and driked big portions of absinthe in order to forget their everyday poverty. And during this period, when this alcoholic liqueur was massively spread amogst all parts of society, some quarters in government started strong the opposition against absinthe, which becomes a symbol of social decadency and alcoholism. The elites found the drawings of Manet and Degas with the themes of absinthe vulgar and gross. In the beginning of the new century, the association called National association against alcoholism, which claimed to institute the prohibition of absinthe. Their arguments was, that absinthe "turns people into dements and criminals and leads to epilepsy and tuberculosis, turns men into animals and women into sufferers." However, prohibition was hard to enforce due to number of absinthe factories through whole France, which brought significant income to the country's treasury. In 1915 absinthe was finally banned, but the reason was much more likely the vine producer's lobby, than the health reasons. The fact that confirms this theory is, that in a short time after banning absinthe there was a purchase order for a huge quatitiy of wine from the army.
