Absinthe Trades Mystique for Mass Market

"After the second you see things as they are not."

-- Oscar Wilde

But if there are no hallucinations, why was absinthe banned in the first place? At the end of the 19th century, it was the drink of choice, wildly popular among artists in Europe. Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh created paintings in which the drink figured prominently. Ernest Hemingway created his own concoction, mixing the green liquid with cold champagne to make what he called "Death in the Afternoon."

Some think absinthe's very popularity led to its downfall. After the roots of grape vines in France were badly damaged by small insects in the late 19th century, absinthe surged in popularity, which might have made the wine industry uneasy.

"That's when they began a smear campaign, and they needed a reason, which is how the rumors started," said T.A. Breaux, an environmental chemist who spent 14 years analyzing absinthe bottled before the ban.

"They said people were drinking so much that they became fou ," or crazy, said Franck Choisne, owner of the Combier distillery in France, which has produced liqueurs since it was established in 1834. "But it was not due to the absinthe itself -- non, they simply drank too much."

Absinthe, it was said, could cause hallucinations, epilepsy and madness. It was thought to have caused Van Gogh to cut off his ear. Then came the trial of a Swiss man accused of killing his family on the day he had two absinthes and other alcoholic drinks. Soon after, the drink was banned in Switzerland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Brazil and, in 1912, the United States.

At the time, scientists attributed the problem to wormwood, the bitter herb used in making absinthe. Studies have shown that in large doses thujone, a toxin found in wormwood, sage and cedar leaf, can cause convulsions or kidney failure.

Modern experts, however, say early absinthe contained so little thujone that a man would die from alcohol poisoning long before being hurt by the toxin. U.S. regulations today allow no more than 10 parts per million of the chemical in absinthe.

"Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

-- Oscar Wilde

With the scientific data in hand, distillers in Europe began working to lift the ban. But efforts in the United States went nowhere. "This was one of the holy grails in liquor laws," said Robert Lehrman, a Washington lawyer who spent four years trying to lift the absinthe restrictions.

In February 2007, he made a final push, gathering distillers from Switzerland, a liquor importer from Texas and representatives from the Swiss Embassy for a meeting with officials of the U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau.

Among his arguments was that people were already selling absinthe throughout the country, albeit illegally, largely online. To make his point, he had with him a bottle of absinthe obtained through such illicit channels.

"It was a hail Mary pass," he said, "but it worked."

Kubler, the Swiss distiller that sponsored last night's tasting, hopes to parlay the almost cultish curiosity about absinthe into a place in the mainstream liquor market. After receiving label approval in Maryland last month, it has secured 500 accounts among bars, restaurants and liquor stores. Kubler has won approval in the District and Virginia and expects to launch sales there in the next two months.

But after decades confined to the dark shadows, some observers are unsure how the legendary drink will play to the public.

"It's always been a victim and beneficiary of that bad boy image," Lehrman said. "People think it's amazing because of what has been said about it for so long, but that comes with its own burden as well."