Absinthe uncorked: The 'Green Fairy' was boozy -- but not psychedelic

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Albert Maignans painting of Green Muse (1895) shows a poet succumbing to absinthes mind-altering effects. Credit: Courtesy of the Muse de Picardie Amiens.
Albert Maignan's painting of "Green Muse" (1895) shows a poet succumbing to absinthe's mind-altering effects. Credit: Courtesy of the Musée de Picardie, Amiens.

A new study may end the century-old controversy over what ingredient in absinthe caused the exotic green aperitif’s supposed mind-altering effects and toxic side-effects when consumed to excess. In the most comprehensive analysis of old bottles of original absinthe — once quaffed by the likes of van Gogh, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso to enhance their creativity — a team of scientists from Europe and the United States have concluded the culprit was plain and simple:


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