This aniseed-flavored liqueur appeared in France in the 1930s as some kind of absinthe substitute which was a very popular drink at the end of 19th and early 20th centuries. A bitter tincture of wormwood, it had the effect of a strong hallucinogen. Famous poets and artists – Van Gogh, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Manet, Wilde, Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Gauguin, Jarry and Picasso were actually addicted to it.

Le Pastis – an anise-flavoured alcoholic drink

In 1915 absinthe was made illegal as it was a strong drug which destroyed the human brain. Today even if the drink is sold as an “absinthe” (such as Pernod and Herbe Sainte) it no longer contains wormwood. The popularity of pastis continues to increase. Like absinthe it is diluted with water in a proportion 1:5, although it now contains star anise and licorice root instead of wormwood.