Absinthe Returns

It was banned beginning in 1898 from most countries around the world.

Switzerland even amended its constitution in the early years of the twentieth century to explicitly prohibit the production and sale of absinthe, following a sensational 1905 murder case involving a farmer named Jean Lanfray who, having drunk two glasses of absinthe, shot to death his pregnant wife and two daughters and then attempted to kill himself.

It wasn't until 2004 that Switzerland amended its constitution once again to undo the ban.

In February of this year Jack Turner wrote an article entitled "Green Gold: The Return of Absinthe," called by one authority "the best modern report on absinthe to date."

Eric Felten, the Wall Street Journal's "How's Your Drink?" columnist, on March 25 of this year took a look at absinthe in a piece entitled "Absinthe: Fact vs. Fiction."

Interestingly enough, though the sale of absinthe in the U.S. has been prohibited since 1912, there's a website which sells a complete kit with everything you need to make absinthe in the privacy of your own home.

For those who would prefer to learn more — much more — there's the website of

dedicated to all things absinthe.