Grune Fee Absinthe

Absinthe| 65% ABV

Commercial Description:

ABSINTHE THE GREEN FAIRY
LEGEND FROM THE PAST
CULT DRINK OF THE PRESENT
The cult drink from the turn of the last century is back!

The first mentions of an absinthe-like drink come down to us from the ancient Greeks: Pythagoras and Hippocrates wrote of its healing properties, its aphrodisiac effect and the increase in creativity they experienced upon drinking it.

The original recipe was actually medicinal in nature, intended to act as a muscle relaxant. It included several “herbs”: extract of grand wormwood, sage, liquorice, violet root, cinnamon, a few secret ingredients and, of course, natural green chlorophyll food colouring (which is why it came to be called “the green fairy”).

The medicine “Absinthe” did not contain any anise; this was first added later on in France, in order to mask the taste of the wormwood. The neurotoxin “thujon”, found only in wormwood, joined forces with alcohol to facilitate heightened creativity and colour-sensitivity. It’s safe to say that no other alcoholic drink stimulated painting and poetry to the extent that absinthe did.

It was an elixir that inspired such artists as Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Gauguin, fuelled flights of fancy and lent perfection to verses by such authors as Baudelaire and Verlaine. Even Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway were known to turn to the drink for inspiration.

Painters worshipped “the green fairy” like a lover. The French impressionists seem to have had more absinthe than oxygen in their blood. Even Picasso painted women drinking absinthe, and would often immortalise a glass of the stuff on his canvasses.

The recent movies “Moulin Rouge” (starring Nicole Kidman) and “From Hell” (with Johnny Depp) attest to the popularity of this drink at the time.

In 1998, absinthe production was once again permitted in EU countries it’s only recently, however, that the drink has become more widely appreciated. Today’s absinthe is not dangerous, since it no longer contains any impure alcohol or fusel oils like it did in the 19th century.

But, then as now, it never hurts to keep in mind the idea that “every medicine is poison, and every poison is medicine it all depends on the dosage!”