The Glowing Neon Booze With Psychoactive Chemicals Oscar Wilde Loved

Mark Twain famously loved whiskey and Ernest Hemingway had a passion for a certain rum cocktail. But, historically, nearly every famous writer had a favorite drink. For Oscar Wilde, and many others, it was said to be absinthe. Absinthe, sometimes called the Green Fairy, is a drink you can still find today if you go hunting for it, but it's not quite the same as it once was.

Wilde is famously quoted as saying regarding absinthe, "[a]fter the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world." There's no actual evidence Wilde said this, however. The quote is widely attributed to him, though he may have embraced absinthe more for the image than for enjoyment and inspiration. Nevertheless, absinthe was believed to cause visions, expand your mind, and increase creativity. It provided all the qualities you could imagine 19th-century literary giants adoring.

The mysterious green shade in absinthe came naturally from plant chlorophyll, and is very delicate. Some producers may add artificial color to boost this and keep it stable. Thujone, a chemical derived from wormwood in absinthe production, was believed to cause all of its fantastic effects. But it was also considered so dangerous, linked to conditions like seizures, that it was eventually banned.

A 2008 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry looked into the levels of thujone in pre-ban bottles and discovered they were far lower than had been assumed previously. The risk from consuming it was minimal. But the risk from absinthe was still real since it was about 70% pure alcohol, making it 140-proof. By comparison, vodka is only 80-proof and whisky may reach up to 100.

With such a high alcohol content, based on the 2008 study, absinthe may have caused seizures and other conditions. But the side effects were probably not related to thujone, which was only in small doses. Instead, it was more likely acute alcohol poisoning, according to a 1999 British Medical Journal study, exacerbated by thujone and the individual tolerance levels of drinkers.

Today, absinthe is no longer banned, but its production must adhere to strict guidelines. Modern regulations allow for no more than 10 parts per million of thujone per bottle. Of course, we know now that pre-ban absinthe contained little thujone, but today it's easier to monitor and regulate. The alcohol content can still be incredibly high, but many versions are lower, hovering around 80-proof. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, here are some of the best drinks you can mix with absinthe.