WEBVTT - The Myth of Absinthe 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.160 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.760 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here as well, and it's 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:22.840 the Three Green Fairies coming to bring you madness and delirium. Possibly. Yeah, 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.040 on Stuff you Should Know. I wish I wish Jerry 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.040 would put like some sort of twinkle effect in there 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.960 after I say stuff you should Know too, just a 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.440 nod to the fairy thing. Yeah, yeah, well you know 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:39.440 she's listening. She is, and she's furiously scribbling notes in 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:44.639 my imagination, yes, only in your imagination. That's right. She's 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.480 really stirring me. So yeah, that's right. Man, smells nice. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.040 Um So, Chuck, I mentioned Green Fairies because that is 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.160 a nickname for what we're talking about today, which is 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.240 absentthe we've gathered here today to talk about this thing 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:06.280 called absent dearly beloved, that's right. Uh, that's right. And 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.960 this was my pick in Olivia. I think this is 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.320 Olivia right, helped us that with this. I believe this 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.000 was a grabster pick, which Chuck, I'm glad you said that, 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:19.760 because this makes this week a grabster tri fedka is 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.080 it the grabster because it seems like one. I was 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.440 just talking recently on the show about how it's certain 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.280 topics fit certain writers, and this certainly fits Grabster. Not 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.959 that he's a big absent head, but oh, if he's anything, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.400 he's a huge absence. But it just feels like an 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.080 ed thing. But for some reason, it was spaced like 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:43.240 Olivia spaces things. I'm almost positive that it was absent. 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.560 I'm I'm pretty sure that it was. I mean, it 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.680 was the Grabster. No, I'm sorry, so it was Olivia. 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:55.480 You're right. Wow, he comes off like a grabst article, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.760 for sure. It does. At any rate. This idea came 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.320 to me not too long ago, because I don't I 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.520 didn't definitely didn't see the movie again. But I saw 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.200 that scene from the Johnny Depp Jack the Ripper movie 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.600 that I can't remember the name of from Hell from Hell, 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.920 where Johnny Depp is in the bathtub and he is 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.000 uh may be because of that trial is going on 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.200 or something I don't know, um, and he does his 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:30.200 absinthe ritual, which includes uh, supersizing his the effects by 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.800 do you remember what he does? Uh? I've not seen 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.280 that one. Okay, it's okay, you know, it's fine. I 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.040 remember hearing that it was just fine. Yeah, it was 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.679 good enough. But he does the and we'll talk a 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.960 little bit about the sort of ritual of how you 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:50.560 prepare absinthe. But one such ritual is to light sugar 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.079 on fire and let it drip through a slotted spoon 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.080 into the absinthe, which is not recommended for a number 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.919 of reasons obviously, uh not the which is alcohol and 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.520 fire mixing. Um. But what he does is he drops 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:09.919 uh laudan in. Is that what it is? I think? 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.080 So alcohol and opium mix together. Yeah, some sort of 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.880 opium from a dripper bottle, dropper bottle, and he drops 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.440 it on the sugar then lights that on fire. So oh, 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.919 that's a pretty hardcore. I guess that's the way they 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.280 did it back then. The other big movie moment that 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.560 I know of is in that bos Lerman uh Mulan 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:34.240 rouge where you and McGregor and John Leguizama and some 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.720 other pals all are all drinking absent and they see 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:43.600 the green ferry. Kylie Minogue, I forgot about that. Have 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.360 you seen the trailer for his Elvis movie coming out? No? Oh, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.240 it looks so good. I can't wait. What a great 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.720 combination they all. I think the only one who could 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.200 do maybe a better Elvis bio pick is maybe David 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.480 Lynch and bos Lerman might have him, might have him 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.040 beaten fun It looks awesome, man and the guy they 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.800 got to do it just snails the body movements and 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:07.600 like all the way up to the Vegas Elvis just 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:14.240 stone cold? Was it? Peter stars Guard? Is that you 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:19.440 think should play him? No? Okay, no, he's on my 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.920 mind because I I, um, we're going to talk about 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.320 Wormwood in a second, and I was like, man, wasn't 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:28.560 that like a series on on Netflix? And sure enough 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.240 it was with directed by Errol Morris. Oh I remember that? 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.039 Was it called Wormwood? Yeah? It was about the MK 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:40.839 Ultra program that. Yeah, it was really good. But uh yeah, 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.520 So anyway, um, okay, I think we've covered everything movie 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.919 wise right well so far. Okay. So the reason that 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.599 I brought up Wormwood is because it is this main 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.240 ingredient and absence. If you make absence, which, by the way, 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:56.880 if if you're not if you don't know what we're 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.880 talking about, absent is a type of liquor or liqueur. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.560 I guess it's a it's usually made from a neutral 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.600 grain spirit. If you really want to get kind of authentic, 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:10.640 you would make it from grapes um, distilled grapes um, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.520 and then you you kind of process it like you 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.279 would if you were making gin. You take some botanicals, 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.080 distill it together, and then the resulting stuff that cools 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.599 down after after you evaporated is absentthe and to make 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.880 absinthe you have to have three main ingredients distilled with 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:36.280 the liquor um, fennel, annis and then wormwood. And wormwood 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.360 is the big tricky key to the whole thing that 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.000 has caused a lot of problems and misconceptions over the years. 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.200 That's right, a lot of myths there. Absinthe is obviously 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.680 known for its very bright green color before you have 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.359 gone through your ritual, because it kind of changes the 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:58.440 color a little bit, but that comes from reinfusing after 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.240 it's distilled, reinfusing it with more of those ingredients. You 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.760 don't have to do that. There is such thing as 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.960 clear or white absinthe. But you know, if you really 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.680 want to have the absent experience, it's got to be green. Yeah, 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:19.080 why isn't this absinthe green? Take it away? Gar song? Right, 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.080 that's right. Nice ref um. That was very postmodern of you. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:29.200 Thank you so um that that that essential ingredient. Wormwood 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.160 has been known to humanity for thousands and thousands of years. Um. 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.640 The earliest reference written reference to it comes from the 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:41.679 Ebbers Papyrus, which um dates back to Oh I would 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:45.240 say something like about thirty five hundred years ago something 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.440 like that. It's possibly earlier than that. And that was 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.320 just the first written reference. So we already knew we 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.680 being humans, knew about wormwood long before that, and up 0:06:55.720 --> 0:07:00.560 until the mid nineteenth century it was all is treated 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.000 as like basically a medicinal plant. That's right, Um, there 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.560 were you know, this is sort of one of the 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:11.679 heydays of medicinal plant use. And you know, all kinds 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:17.000 of supposed cures ills being cured, uh, including but not 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.160 limited to, if you have stomach pains, if you want 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.960 to get your mensies going h Uh. They say it 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.080 could be hypnotic. They say it could give you a 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:32.960 pick me up if you were tired. Um, what else? Uh, 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.400 if it's an if it wasn't something you didn't want 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.080 to drink before then, Knowing that wormwood was used as 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:42.640 an insect repellent and an antiseptic for cleaning up a 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.840 bacteria ridden mouth might do the trick right. And also 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.040 one of the long standing um uses for it has 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.440 been as an antihelmetic, which means that it's a d 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.880 wormer And apparently when you ingest wormwood, it actually stuns 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.520 the worms that are attached to your gut lining enough 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.280 that they let go and you poop them out the 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.520 other end um, and it really does work. The modern 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.640 modern investigations of wormwood have verified it is an effective 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.040 d werm er um, and it also is an appetite 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.120 stimulant too, So um as we'll see, it became an 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.880 appartif which you drink before you eat, and that makes 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.440 a lot of sense, the little wormwood in it. But 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.040 in German there's a little there's a little tiny facts 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.320 here there in this episode. It's one of those which 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.320 I love. But in German wormwood is called the ver moot, 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.760 and that might sound familiar. Vermouth is a fortified wine 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.319 that contains wormwood, among other things. Did you know that? 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.240 I did know that? Because I love vermouth, I do too, 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.880 I still didn't know what I also know that it's 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.360 Modern studies even show that it can aid digestion, which 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.400 gives credence to the old saying absinthe makes the farts 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.320 grow stronger. My goodness. So, first of all, I know 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.600 that that wasn't off the cuff. It's just not possible. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.960 You want to hear something terrible, I've been I made 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:08.000 up that joke in my head years ago. Did you really? 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:11.880 And I've never had the opportunity to drop it. You're 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.720 you're in a chicken processing plant thinking that, and you're like, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.920 I need to get a job where I'm really public 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.200 facing so I can share this one. Well, it's a 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:20.800 punch line. It's not a joke. I thought of that 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.040 punch line, and I've I've long tried to create a 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:28.400 joke that would just take hold and spread around the world. Uh, 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.080 but I just made a fun one. You just did 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.640 that just spread around the world like this boslerman Elvis 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.880 Biopick is about to let me ask you something though, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:43.360 Have you ever had malart? Yes, which is it's just 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:48.560 such hipster ridiculousness, But yes I have, so, my lord, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.240 for those of you listening, Uh, that pretty good descriptor. 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.560 I guess it's a liquor or a liqueur made from wormwood. 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.760 It is very popular, almost exclusively in Chicago. Uh and 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.480 Jepson's malard and it's you know, it is a kind 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.320 of a hipster thing, like you get a PBR's All 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.839 Boy and with the malard back at any hipster bar. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:11.600 But that was something that uh at max Fun Con, 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.720 which is the podcast network Maximum Fun has this summer 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.800 retreat they do every year where John Hodgeman and I 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:23.520 do are pub tribute thing which is now ended. But uh, 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.959 traditionally John would do the benediction, pass around bottles of 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.839 malort and everyone would drink it. And that, my friend, 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:35.320 is a taste that will stay with you for hours. Yes, yeah, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:42.160 because wormwood is a really really bitter tasting something. Um, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:47.760 and it's actually so. Wormwood has a compound in it 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:52.320 called absinthe in, and absinthe itself is a Greek word 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.320 that means undrinkable. That's how it bitter it is. The 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.920 Polish apparently have a saying called bitter as wormwood, right, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.000 and um, this stuff absentthe that gives wormwood it's bitter 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.760 taste is so bitter. Chuck that one ounce of absinthein, 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.560 if you could extract it from the wormwood and you 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.080 came up with just one ounce of it, if you 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:17.600 poured it into five hundred and twenty four gallons of water, 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.560 mixed it up, and then offered someone a cup of 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:24.680 that water, they would be able to detect the bitterness. Wow. Yeah, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.440 I believe that wormwood oil. Um, well, we might as 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.320 well go ahead and get into this a little bit. Um. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.199 Wormwood oil has a substance in it about of which 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:40.720 this is a substance called food jone. And since time 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.840 and memoriam, when people had absinthe, they used to talk 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.200 about the fact that you would have hallution, uh, hallucinations 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.920 and seizures. So this is one of the big myths 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:54.559 that we're gonna bust is that's really not true. Uh, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.720 that food jone can cause seizures. And we know why. 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:00.800 It's a it's a gabba inhibitor, and it's going to 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.800 block the receptors that lead to these convulsions. But there's 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.079 and and they've even done tests of of pre nineteen 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.680 tin absence recipes and found it's about the same amount 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.640 as today. And I saw one article that said it's 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.680 basically about enough food jone that you would find from 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.840 sage in a box of stove top stuffing, which has 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.400 long been known to give you hallucinations and convulsions in 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.320 addition to being very delicious. Yeah, so there's just not 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.160 enough in there, like it does food jone does come 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.120 from wwood oil, and it does cause seizures. But there's 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.800 just apparently trace amounts and it's even restricted by law 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:41.800 how much you can have in it, right, right, And 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:44.000 it's the same thing is like, um, if you ate 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.880 a kilogram of salt, it would affect you physiologically in 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.080 some terrible ways, like you would just have to drink 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.160 so much of it. Um. And then also because worm 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:56.280 was so bitter that even like the staunchest wax bearded 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:02.080 hipster in the country could probably not drink enough wormwood 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:06.280 to uh to bring on a convulsion or hallucinations. Now, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.600 so that's just a big myth. The fact that, I mean, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:10.720 we'll get into the history of it, which is pretty interesting. 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.920 But you know, it was all basically because people were 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:18.000 getting blasted on alcohol, right, so the but but like 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.160 you said, since time immemorial people have said, like this 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.720 wormwood stuff, it'll make you trip. That was enough to 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:30.920 attract some um artists, bohemians, writers poets um around the 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:35.480 turn of the last century, particularly in Paris, to the 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.720 idea of absinthe. We're not quite there yet, but once 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.800 we get there, bear in mind all of this is 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:45.120 wrong and made up, and it makes all it makes 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.760 an entire basically the Impressionist art movement really cringe e 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.520 that they were all just self deluded in thinking that 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.040 this this stuff was like causing them to hallucinate and 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.400 maybe get a little mad, and all this stuff it was. 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.840 It's really just kind of uncomfortable to look back on now, 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.079 it really is. So Chuck, let's say we'd take a 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.760 break and then we'll come back and really kind of 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.240 dig into the history a little more. Let's get our 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:28.800 shovels out and get ready. Stuff you should know, lash 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:38.280 sh stuffy should know. Okay, Chuck. So I mentioned earlier that, um, 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:42.720 you know, wormwood was long considered a medicinal plant. And 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.680 there's a story that goes that a doctor named Pierre 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.480 Ordinaire who was hiding out from the French Revolution just 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:52.840 across the border in Switzerland, uh in a town called Kuvey, Switzerland, 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:58.520 in particular, um that Dr Ordinaire was um looking for 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.640 a way to make worm would palatable to create a 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:04.880 medicinal lick, sir, and that that is how he ended 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.640 up coming up with absente. That's right, that's how the 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.880 story goes. Like you said earlier, if you want the 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:16.240 real authentic kind, use grape spirits, because distilled grapes is 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.160 how it started. Now it's just sort of you know, 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:24.240 a base um like a you know, any sort of uh, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.600 distilled vodka type bass like white lightning. Why am I 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.680 tripping over all that? I don't know. It's almost like 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.480 I didn't want to say it or something. I know, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:37.920 you really don't like that white lightning, do you know? 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.640 But back in the day it was distilled grape spirit 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.360 and it did have the worm would because that's what 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.920 he was trying to make palatable, and he did. It 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.040 appears at a bunch of botanicals to make it taste better. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.280 You know that star and niece was probably in it. 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:56.800 Liquorice I see. Olivia also mentioned the finnel and the 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.800 hyssop and parsley, coriander, kim a meal and spinach, which 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.960 is quite a mixture. M hmm. When you take a 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.000 little sip of absinthe and your friend would be like 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.760 you've got a little spinach in your teeth. That is 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.440 a really strange sounding mixture. Especially parsley would throw the 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.880 whole thing off. You've ever had like a Green's drink, 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.880 like fresh juice, the moment they put parsley in, it 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.240 turns immediately south. It's horrible. It's horrific. Plea, leave parsley 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.920 out of everything drinkable. Okay, yeah, never. We we go 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.400 through periods where we're gonna we juice alli at at 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.880 the house, but I know we've never added parsley because 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.040 you're sensible salary. It's like, okay, you're getting a little 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:40.840 close to messing this up. But then once you had 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:44.840 the parsley is awful. It's it's punishment from that point on. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.720 So you want to leave the parsley out whether you're 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:51.560 making juice or absinthe Um, and you said one thing, Melissa, Um, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:56.120 that's actually lemon ball. I saw as well, What did 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.240 I say, Melissa? That's another term for lemon ball. And 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.160 I'm just saying, like, it's not like you were incorrect 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.080 in saying Melissa did say Melissa? I thought you said 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:08.320 Melissa in there as well. Sorry it comes up later then, Okay, 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:12.040 he said, did I say, Melissa, am I driving you mad? 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.679 Like the green ferry? About one of one of us 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.440 is on absinthe right now. So, um, that whole story 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.760 about Dr Ordinair coming up with this chuck is um 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.359 possibly wrong because at the end of the story, Dr 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.959 Ordinair turns out to be this kind, benevolent man who 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:35.439 leaves his recipe for absinthe um to the Henryoade's sisters 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.919 who were his housekeepers, and they go on and start 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.320 making this stuff um and sell it to a guy 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:47.320 named Major Enri Danielle do bed Do bid um and 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.640 probably make a tidy sum from that. But some historians 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.520 have said no, actually, it looks like other people might 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.919 have been making this stuff before him, including the henryode sisters, 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:03.520 so it's possible that Dr Ordinair actually stole this from them. Yeah. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.199 And it was also a time where there was you know, 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:12.359 this was the golden age of medicinal elixirs, so who knows, 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:16.000 like everyone was experimenting with different recipes for stuff. And 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.800 I definitely think we can't say for sure that it 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:24.240 was Dr Pierre Ordinaire, but it is a great name. Um. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.760 But at some somehow Dr major Dubia did come into 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.720 this recipe and started making absinthe, and he had a 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.320 daughter named Emily spelled like your wife's name. Yeah, And 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:42.760 Emily married another man, Henri Louis Peria Nude and Peria 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.120 Nude Para Nude. Sorry I was adding an extra syllable 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.480 in the Para nude. Um was the son of another 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:55.080 family that had been making absinthe, And so the Dubids 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.520 and the Para Nudes got together and became basically like 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.560 an absentthe making dying is the along the Swiss French border. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:04.960 That's right. And what was the last name in that 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.240 other family, Well, Para Nude finally changed their name to 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.960 Pernode p r an o D, which is a very 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:19.480 famous brand of liquorice flavored liqueur that was once absinthe 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:24.199 that had the wormwood removed and became that's right, and 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.639 they're now a I believe there was a merger in 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.280 the mid seventies with another beverage brand and now they're 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.320 a huge sort of liquor company that owns I think 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.040 they owned Sea Grims, They own a couple of other vodkas. 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.720 They owned lots of stuff and you can see that 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.879 green pernol on any liquor store shelf, and you've probably 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.960 if you're not an aficionado, you've probably always wondered, is 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:48.600 that absinthe? Or what the heck is up with that 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.399 bright green stuff. Well, as we'll see, it was a 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:56.600 stand in for absinthe, which had become kind of popular 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:05.080 taste wise. Um, after it got banging. That's right, since absence, man, 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.960 you're full of it today, you're just full of like it, 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.440 he splits in vinegar. I've never heard that term. I 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:16.080 just made it up. Okay, So, uh, we're still not 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.880 at this point where absinthe has become an actual popular 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.200 drink really honestly. So Dubi Ed was like, I want 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.280 to buy this, but I think you're wasting it selling 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.280 it as a medicinal. I think people would actually like 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.200 to drink this, And he was right. But it wasn't 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.600 until it was used extensively as a medicinal with the 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.120 French army who were sent off to North Africa by 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.960 Napoleon in the eighteen forties, I believe, and we're given 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.359 absinthe during their stay to fight off malaria. Um. The 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.520 absence became popular because those French soldiers came back and said, hey, 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:49.600 have you guys tried the absence stuff? Like they gave 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.760 it to his medicine. But we loved drinking it regardless, 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:55.800 And the French Army was popular enough of the time 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.280 that whatever was fashionable with them became fashionable with the 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.520 rest of France as well. That's right, So they bring 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.800 the taste of absinthe back. At first, it is expensive, 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:10.640 and it is you know, basically people with money, sort 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.639 of the higher class that are drinking absinthe. And then 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.880 even early on, because of its reputation as a hallucinogen, 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:20.840 artists were into it, trying to get inspiration for their 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.720 poems and paintings and things like that. And things change though, 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.879 starting in about the eighteen seventies when there was a insect, 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:39.120 the Philo Rexerra, the rexa mhm by Losera. There we're 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.200 adding letters all over the place today. Uh so it's 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.320 the insect five loserra. It really in you know, France, 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:49.359 as everyone knows, is most famous for its wine growing, 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.840 and this devastated grapes in France and that was a 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.160 bad thing for the wine industry because that just meant obviously, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.080 when something like that happens, wine is going to be 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:03.200 more expensive, and so absinthe came along and said, hey, 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:05.960 we can make this with anything. We don't need grapes, 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.200 we can make it with cheaper stuff, and all of 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:11.359 a sudden, absinthe is cheaper, and all of a sudden 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.480 that people drinking absinthe became just sort of the working 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.240 class because wine was so expensive. All of a sudden, yeah, 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.840 because the French said, we got to drink something. So 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.920 they replaced their wine, which is now ridiculously expensive, which 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.159 with much, much, much cheaper absinthe. But the thing is, 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.120 Chuck is absinthe is a spirit. Wine is not a spirit. 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.280 So you know, wine definitely contains alcohol, and you can 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.600 make wine with more or less you know, alcoholic content. 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.520 But one of the things about absinthe is it's one 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.000 of the highest proof liquors on the market. I didn't 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:49.560 know it's. It frequently hits sixty to seventy up to 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:55.280 eight alcohol. So if you get a really um high 0:22:55.359 --> 0:23:00.160 a b V or high proof absinthe and you are 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:05.159 yourself a glass of it, that is not alcohol. The 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:10.240 other is pure alcohol. So that's a really big switch. 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:14.280 That's a huge switch over from wine, drinking a couple 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:16.160 of glasses of wine and dinner, and drinking a couple 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.200 of glasses of absinthe at dinner. It's a big difference. Yeah, 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.240 I guess I should have asked, have you ever had absinthe, 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:24.720 like just real deal, straight up at some drink or 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:27.879 not in cocktail, but it's absinthe? Yes, yeah, you mean, 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:30.879 got me a little bottle of St. George absinthe. I 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:34.439 think they're out of San Francisco. Um yeah, yeah, they 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:38.960 make really good gin too, um uh and a little spoon, 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.760 a little slotted spoons. So I made this absinthe here 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.080 there a couple of times. It's fine, okay, home about Yeah, 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:48.000 all right, I've never had it. I meant to get 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:50.600 some and try this. I'm gonna try it after now 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:52.159 that I know the whole deal and how to do it. 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:54.800 But I can already tell that it's not going to 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:57.560 be like something I'm gonna drink a lot of. No. 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.679 I mean, it's tasty, you definitely want, and diluted with 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:03.560 water and sugar water in particular as we'll see. Um 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:06.000 and but it's neat that there's like a ritual to it. 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:08.600 It's fun to like kind of learn the ritual, make 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:11.480 the drink like that, you know, following these this kind 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:14.040 of ritualized, and then never do it again. Sure, and 0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:16.720 then yeah, the problem is when you want like a 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:18.680 second one or something like that, it's like, oh, I 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:22.280 gotta go through this whole rigamarole again, you know. So 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:25.359 it's one of those things, you know. Uh, then you 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:28.760 just crack a beer when it is less beer. Yet 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:31.840 you don't drink beer anymore, do you? Oh? Yeah, sometimes, 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:34.480 Um yeah, I mean once in ace in a while. 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:38.440