A bitter spirit containing Wormwood and other herbs was one of the most popular alcoholic beverages of the late 19th century Europe. The emerald green drink was consumed by people from all walks of life, including the bohemian upper-class, artists, poets, and intellectuals. While the lower classes celebrated l'heure verte (the green hour) in numerous bars and cafe's, painters and poets created famous art dedicated to "the green fairy".

Because Absinthe consumption reached excessive and alarming proportions at the turn of the 19th-century, many European governments, as well as the U.S. administration, successively banned the icon of la vie bohème by several prohibition acts. Absinthe was used as an easy target of the temperance movement with the aim of later prohibiting alcohol in general. In some European countries (UK, Spain, Czech Republic) however, "the green fairy" survived, but consumption was comparitively low. The European council enacted in 1988 the directive "on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to flavorings of use in foodstuffs and to source material for their production" that reallowed Wormwood as ingredient of alcoholic beverages.