What is absinthe?

Grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), green anise and fennel seed together form the fixed core of absinthe. That combination gives the bitter taste and the often green colour.

Producers add herbs such as lemon balm, vervain and Roman wormwood. According to a 2025 review article in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, the alcohol content is usually between 45 and 74% by volume, making absinthe one of the strongest spirits on the shelf.

Absinthe does not appear as a category of its own in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/787; the word appears nowhere in the list of legal product categories.

This means absinthe falls under the general requirements that Article 2 of the same regulation sets for spirit drinks, with a minimum of 15% alcohol by volume. Its composition is limited mainly by flavouring legislation: Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 sets maximum levels for thujone. That is why you regularly see such bottles labelled as spirits or bitters.

Alcoholic drinks made from Artemisia species may contain at most 35 milligrams of thujone per kilogram. This is laid down in Annex III, Part B, of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008.

For alcoholic drinks not made from Artemisia species, the limit is 10 milligrams per kilogram. For non-alcoholic drinks made from Artemisia species, it is 0.5 milligrams per kilogram. The 2025 review article mentioned earlier finds that both historical and contemporary absinthe contain thujone levels far below the threshold for acute toxicity.

Switzerland adopted the absinthe ban by popular vote in 1908; it came into force on 7 October 1910 and was not lifted until 1 March 2005.

France followed with the law of 16 March 1915, which banned the manufacture, sale and transport of absinthe and similar liqueurs. That law was only repealed by Article 175 of French Law No 2011-525 of 17 May 2011. In the meantime, by some estimates up to eighty clandestine distillers carried on working in the Swiss Val-de-Travers. After legalisation in 2005, 613 hectolitres were produced there that year, and by 2008 already 1,350 hectolitres.

Cold water turns absinthe milky and cloudy because the essential oils from anise and fennel dissolve in alcohol but much less well in water. This phenomenon is called the louche effect.

Doordat het alcoholgehalte hoog ligt, wordt absint vrijwel nooit puur geschonken. In Nederland geldt NIX18: alcohol wordt niet verkocht aan wie jonger is dan 18 jaar.