Absinthe: muse of poets and painters, tipple of mass murderers. Is it a bringer of truth, or of madness and moral depravity? Known at its peak variously as the Green Goddess, Holy Water, the Green Fairy and "the life plasma of the gods and free thinkers," Absinthe was banned for nearly 100 years, but is now making a surprising comeback.
Hollywood certainly continues to reinforce Absinthe's debauched image. In "Moulin Rouge," Nicole Kidman's entire crew was besotted with it. The prime murder suspect in the 1997 thriller "Deceiver" was a self-confessed Absinthe addict, and who could forget Jude Law and Susan Sarandon sharing an illicit Absinthe shot before a roll on the living room floor in the otherwise unmemorable remake of "Alfie"?
Madness runs a close second in modern stereotypes. Most responses to an offer of an Absinthe shot run something along the line of, "Didn't van Gogh slice his ear off after drinking that?" When the Swiss Parliament overturned a 97-year-old Absinthe ban in February, many newspapers incorrectly reported that the ban dated from 1905, when a farmer killed his family "after an Absinthe binge." The truth, however, is more elusive.