History of Absinthe is very entertaining. A French doctor prepared Absinthe as an elixir for his patients in the town of Couvet, in Switzerland, in the late 18th century. By 1805 the Absinthe recipes had got into the hands of Henri-Louis Pernod who started distilling it in his factory in Pontarlier in France.

Original Absinthe Recipes

Pernod’s Absinthe, Original Pernod Fils, was distilled from wine and contained many natural herbs and essential oils from plants including grand wormwood, aniseed, melissa, fennel, lemon balm, dittany, angelica root, hyssop, star anise, nutmeg and juniper.

A variety of recipes and ingredients were used by different producers of Absinthe,The Green Fairy. Other herbs used in Absinthe production included calamus root, mint, cloves, nutmeg, roman wormwood, anise seed, coriander, sweet flag and licorice. The characteristic bitter taste and name of Absinthe was given by the herb wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium.

According to the general thought the thujone content of wormwood and THC in the drug cannabis were similar. One can have psychedelic effects due to large quantity of thujone intake. Psychoactive element anethole is found in the seeds of anise and fennel. Some artists and writers like Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde believed that they got their genius and inspiration from Absinthe! “A clear headed drunkenness” is how being drunk on Absinthe has been described.

In the year 1915 prohibitionists in France claimed that Absinthe was a risk on the country due to which it was banned there. Just like other strong alcoholic drinks drinking Absinthe is also safe. Absinthe is mainly alcohol and only contains minute quantities of wormwood and the other herbs so there is no danger to health from it.

Homemade Absinthe Recipes

There are many Absinthe recipes on the Internet using different herbs and different methods – steeping, filtering etc. One should not prepare Absinthe at home from plants, dried herbs or essential oils. Why?
– One should distill the Absinthe.
– A person have no way of knowing the thujone content of the intaken Absinthe.

It is far better to buy either a quality Absinthe, making sure that it’s got the vital ingredient wormwood, or to buy an Absinthe kit which consists of Absinthe essences that have already been distilled.

Breaux’s label “Lucid” is legal in the USA.

AbsintheKit.com does great Absinthe kits which consist of:-

- Absinthe essence – choose from classic, white (which makes clear Swiss style Absinthe, Strong 55 (with a 55mg thujone content) and Orange (flavored with orange oil).
– A measure.
– Absinthe bottles can be decorated by Artistic Labels.

One bottle of essence will make 14 bottles of Absinthe!

To make Absinthe using these kits you simply mix 20ml of the Absinthe essence with a neutral alcohol such as Everclear or vodka and that’s it – finished, your won bottle of Green Fairy.

There is surety of getting a safe, top-quality product because these essences are alike the ones sold to distilleries.

Ernest Hemingway’s famous “Death in the Afternoon” – Absinthe and champagne are among the various cocktail Absinthe recipes found online. One can enjoy finding and mixing the cocktails.