What is Absinthe?

Absinthe's history is full of controversy and interesting facts about it in general. It was a banned liquor since end of 19th beginning of 20th century, many believing that it has a hallucinogenic effect. However, that was not the only "reason" for absinthe to be considered as such. Absinthe had affected French Wine industry in the 19th century and winegrowers had to get rid of it by any means. The Absinthe mania was quite a wide phenomenon that it created a special rituals of consuming it in some parts of Europe. Many of the great artists of the 19hundreds had their times of Absinthe mania, including the famous story of Vincent Van Gogh when he removed one of his ears under the influence of "Green Fairy", synonym under which Absinthe was known at the time.

The term Absinthe was derived from one of it's basic ingredients, Artemisia Absinthium, the Wormwood. 

Artemisia Absinthium was used for medicinal purposes since the old times, and still used by the contemporary pharmaceutical industry, cuisine and in folk alternative medicine.

Wormwood is not the only ingredient that NS(neutral spirit) is infused with. There are many other plants, roots and herbs that this anisette liquor is infused with. Its production process is somewhat like the one we do with Gin. Infusion of high proof neutral spirit is set to be infused with all the secret botanicals and  distilled again to give birth to Absinthe. For the difference of Gin, the Absinthe, after the second distillation is again infused to intensity the flavor and create a green color, that is, besides the specific flavor, second most important feature of Absinthe(Green Absinthe).

From the early history of Mixology, before Prohibition, Absinthe has it's trace as well in some classics such as Sazerac. Contemporary Mixology gave birth of many absinthe cocktails since the liquor was legalized, recently. 

The thing is, many bartenders are creating, in my opinion, wrong concepts with Absinthe. Those creations, I have seen in bars in Europe are usually based on multiple liqueurs and spirits, including absinthe, with some fruit juices and sodas as well. Usually created for European beach bars, all along Mediterranean. Those, so called party drinks can be vary amusing, but they seem to lack the gastronomical dimension and have very little originality as such. Not really a superb drinks. I believe that we, the bartenders, should focus more on classics and simple but original creations, trying to put their own signature on it by making simple, tasty, meaningful cocktail.

Neb Lazarevich.