Oberon Stavern

Jezibaba Absinthe is a traditional French absinthe, distilled with anise and other botanicals. It is a smooth, sweet spirit with an enticing green color. During the Belle Epoque, absinthe was a muse to so many artists that it was said that five o’clock was known as “the Green Hour.” It solidified or destroyed friendships and fueled visions and dream-like states that filtered into artistic work of all kinds. It shaped Symbolism, Surrealism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism.

Jezibaba Absinthe

Then, in the 1880s, phylloxera disease hit French vineyards, creating a wine shortage and driving working class people to absinthe made from cheaper industrial alcohol. This exacerbated the already widespread belief that absinthe was addictive and caused absinthism, which was characterized by erratic behavior and delusions. Contemporaries cited absinthe as shortening the lives of authors such as Baudelaire, Alfred Jarry and Paul Verlaine, as well as causing the erratic behavior that led to Vincent Van Gogh cutting off his ear.

Magnan’s experiments, involving guinea pigs inhaling high doses of thujone, proved that absinthe was toxic, but his conclusions were widely questioned. Responses in The Lancet, for example, pointed out that there was a fundamental difference between a guinea pig inhaling thujone and a human drinking trace amounts of diluted thujone.

Today, absinthe is legal in most countries – except the United States where complicated laws requiring thujone content have made it virtually impossible to produce and sell. But if you’re in New Orleans, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum hosts La Galerie de l’Absinthe, the only absinthe gallery of its kind in the country. Featuring absinthe through the years, absinthe spoons, and a collection of absinthe-themed paintings, the gallery offers an opportunity to learn about a mysterious and fascinating spirit.