“A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything in the world,” proclaimed Oscar Wilde. How better to describe the light green liquor whose story is a mystical tale, laced with fantasy, bohemia, and fairies?

The root of the absinthe legend is quite literally just that—wormwood, or absinthe in French. The plant was used in an herbal cure-all created by a French exile, Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, in the late 1700’s in the village of Couvet, Switzerland, where it can be found growing wild. (In an absinthe-like twist, the Swiss version of this story has Dr. Ordinaire stealing the recipe from the local Henriod sisters.) After the good doctor’s death, the secret recipe for the magical remedy found its way into the hands of the Pernod family, who soon incorporated it into a bitter-tasting alcoholic aperitif—absinthe—at their distillery in Pontarlier.

Absinthe soon became the most popular drink in France, ahead of wine, due to its low price and high alcohol content (up to 150 proof). There were over 60 distilleries in the Paris region at the peak of production at the end of the 19th century, and by 1910 the annual absinthe consumption in France reached 36 million litres. La fée verte, or green fairy, inspired countless writers, painters, poets, among which are Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Manet… It is said that the yellowy hue in Van Gogh’s later paintings was influenced by his Absinthe-green tinted specs!

Yet the drink’s popularity was to lead to its downfall. Anti-drinking lobbies, medical experts, priests, and the press fought for the drink’s prohibition, voicing concerns about the country’s alarming alcoholism rate and pointing at its devastating effects, which, they said, turned “people into beasts,” “madmen and criminals.” Hoping to recapture lost sales, the winemakers of France joined the fray, and in 1907 proclaimed they were “United for the wine against the absinthe!” The government eventually banned the drink in 1915, arguing that the thujone (a stimulant) contained in wormwood had psychoactive properties. (Absinthe has a similar molecular structure to THC, the active chemical in cannabis.)

Absinthe remained taboo and romantically unattainable until 1988 when the European Union allowed small percentages of thujone in food and beverages, and in 1999 the fée verte was again produced in France. The perfect blend that gives the drink its vitalizing properties remains the same: 6 base herbs—anise, fennel, grand wormwood, melissa, hyssop, and petite wormwood—distilled with alcohol.

In Paris today, it is again possible to indulge in the same ritual Verlaine and Picasso once practiced: pour one absinthe dose into a thick, conic glass, lay the slotted absinthe spoon over the glass and place a sugar cube on it, drip iced water onto the sugar. The sugar sweetens the slightly bitter aromas of the drink and the water gives the drink the mystical opaqueness…as for the hallucinogenic properties of absinthe, well it’s debatable according to the experts. I suppose the only way to find out is to ask the green fairy…

Where to Find Absinthe in Paris:

Vert d’Absinthe, an absinthe boutique in the Marais, celebrates its second birthday this month. Owned by journalist turned absinthe expert Luc Rodriquez, it offers quality absinthe and anise liqueurs (only those that respect the original Pontarlier production methods), absinthe serving equipment (water fountains and spoons), books, DVDs, and even absinthe eau de toilette. The shop is an enchanting destination, where you are greeted by the scent of aniseed and Parisien music-halls songs.

Vert d’Absinthe. 12-7pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. 11, rue d’Ormesson, Paris 4, Mº Saint-Paul. 01 42 72 31 24. www.vertdabsinthe.com

Luc’s favourite bars to drink absinthe:

• La Cantada. 6pm-1.30am weekdays, 6pm-4am weekends. 13, rue Moret, Paris 11, Mº Couronnes. 01 48 05 96 89. www.cantada.net

• La Fée Vert. 8am-2am everyday. 108, rue de la Roquette, Paris 11, Mº Voltaire. 01 43 72 31 24

• Les Furieux. 4pm-2am Tuesday to Saturday. 7pm-2am Sunday. 74, rue de la Roquette, Paris 11, Mº Bastille. 01 47 00 78 44. www.lesfurieux.fr