The History of Absinthe — Chemists Found Only Ethanol to Blame

The History of Absinthe — Chemists Found Only Ethanol to Blame Absinthe was blamed for a triple murder and banned by Switzerland and France, yet chemists found only its alcohol to explain the madness. The film follows how a doctor's experiments, a vineyard blight and a village petition kept a green spirit outside the law for decades. The Henriod sisters in the Swiss village of Couvet sold a wormwood elixir by 1769. Dr Valentin Magnan gave wormwood oil to guinea pigs, cats and rabbits and concluded that absinthe was uniquely convulsive. Phylloxera made French wine scarce, and cheaper absinthe moved into the gap. The 1906 trial of Jean Lanfray set a psychiatrist's 'absinthe madness' against a prosecutor's count of wine and spirits. Swiss voters, French lawmakers and United States regulators banned the drink, and bootleggers in the Val-de-Travers kept distilling until Switzerland legalised production in 2005. ⏱ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Jean Lanfray's Absinthe Murders 1:06 The Henriod Sisters of Couvet 2:41 Absinthe Rations in French Algeria 3:36 Manet's The Absinthe Drinker 4:42 Valentin Magnan's Wormwood Experiments 6:45 Verlaine Shoots Rimbaud in Brussels 8:18 Phylloxera and the Louche 10:28 Degas's L'Absinthe 11:34 The Pernod Fire in Pontarlier 13:16 The Trial of Jean Lanfray 15:08 Winegrowers March Against Absinthe 16:19 Switzerland's 1908 Absinthe Vote 18:27 France Bans Absinthe in 1914 19:53 La Malotte and Val-de-Travers Bootleggers 22:29 Lucid's 2007 Label Approval 25:03 Thirteen Sealed Pre-Ban Bottles 27:17 Protected Absinthe de Pontarlier Subscribe for more hidden histories behind the objects you use every day. #history #documentary #Absinthe #GreenFairy #Thujone