Cleveland State University EngagedScholarship@CSU Physics Faculty Publications Physics Department 7-2021 Examining the Temperature Dependence of Louche Formation in Absinthe Jessica E. Bickel Cleveland State University, [email protected] Anna Ellis Cleveland State Univesity Andrew Resnick Cleveland State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/sciphysics_facpub Part of the Physics Commons How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! Repository Citation Bickel, Jessica E.; Ellis, Anna; and Resnick, Andrew, "Examining the Temperature Dependence of Louche Formation in Absinthe" (2021). Physics Faculty Publications. 432. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/sciphysics_facpub/432 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Physics Department at EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Physics Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. http://pubs.acs.org/journal/acsodf Article Examining the Temperature Dependence of Louche Formation in Absinthe Jessica E. Bickel,* Anna Ellis, and Andrew Resnick Cite This: ACS Omega 2021, 6, 17674−17679 Read Online ACCESS Metrics & More Article Recommendations ABSTRACT: Absinthe is an anise-flavored alcohol that is typically served by adding cold water to form a cloudy green louche, similar to the cloudy white louche of ouzo. This microemulsion formation, due to the competing interactions within the oil−alcohol−water system, has been termed the ouzo effect. Previous work has examined the ternary oil−alcohol−water phase diagram in ouzo and limoncello. Additional work has also characterized the droplet size and stability of microemulsions in ouzo, limoncello, and pastis. However, less work has been done to examine the effect of temperature on louche formation despite the fact that the louche is traditionally formed by adding ice cold water. This work demonstrates that both the maximum turbidity and the fraction of alcohol at maximum turbidity are temperature-dependent. The louche formation can be fit with a logistic curve, and the resulting fit parameters are linear with temperature. Optical images show that the increased turbidity correlates with an increase in the number of droplets in the microemulsion. ■ INTRODUCTION Absinthe is an anise-flavored high-proof distilled alcoholic beverage, classified as a brandy that has been macerated with herbs. Historically, this green-colored beverage has been associated with hallucinations and madness, which led to it being banned in most countries by 19151 with the bans lasting until 1988 in the European Union2 and 2007 in the United States.1 It was thought that high quantities of thujone contained in wormwood oil that gives absinthe its distinct 2 Downloaded via CLEVELAND STATE UNIV on July 28, 2021 at 16:55:52 (UTC). flavor was the culprit behind these hallucinations. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the quantity of thujone (and of other possible hallucinogenic culprits such as See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles. antimony) are not high enough to cause the hallucinations, convulsions, and seizures of “absintheism,” and thus, the 3,4 Figure 1. Images of an illuminated cuvette showing undiluted potency of the drink is due only to the high alcohol content, absinthe (left) and louched absinthe (right). which can be as high as 74% (148 proof). Absinthe is part of a family of alcohols flavored with essential oils that includes pastis and ouzo. These alcohols are phase) consisting of oil−alcohol microdrops contained within commonly drunk by adding cold water to the drink, which a second phase (the continuous phase) consisting of water turns a milky color due to the formation of an opalescent dissolved in alcohol and containing the remaining fraction of louche, as can be seen in Figure 1. It is interesting to note that the essential oils.8 At high enough water content, all of the Bohemian-style absinthe, a recipe that only contains worm- wood and lacks all other essential oils, does not louche. Some − research5 8 has been done to understand the physics of the Received: April 28, 2021 louche formed in ouzo, pastis, and limoncello, because these Accepted: May 26, 2021 alcohols were never banned as absinthe was. Results of that Published: June 29, 2021 body of work indicate that the opalescent louche formed from each of these drinks is a microemulsion formed by the oil− water−alcohol interaction, with one phase (the dispersed © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c02246 17674 ACS Omega 2021, 6, 17674−17679 ACS Omega http://pubs.acs.org/journal/acsodf Article essential oils are removed from the continuous phase.8 This spontaneous microemulsion formation in such alcohol−oil− water systems has been termed the ouzo effect. Studies of this ouzo effect have examined the spinodal and binodal lines in the phase diagram. This has been done by making oil−alcohol−water solutions using a model oil so that a broad range of the ternary phase diagram can be explored.5,8 These papers have shown that there is both a region in the phase diagram with the ouzo effect and a region with a complete phase separation depending on the specific location of the spinodal and binodal boundaries. These studies have also shown that there are different droplet sizes in the emulsions depending on the specific oils with ouzo forming droplets of 1−2 μm,5 while limoncello forms smaller droplets of ≈100 nm.8 This has implications both for taste, which is impacted by droplet size, and also in the stability of such Figure 3. Dilution of absinthe at temperatures from 15 to 30 °C. microemulsions. Limoncello emulsions are very stable for a 8 long period of time due to the small droplet size, whereas the droplets scatter light out of the optical path, reducing the μ other louches with larger m droplets are less stable with time optical transmission. The transmitted power of the laser has and the droplets sediment within ≈10 min for the actual fi 7 been averaged over the rst four data points and then alcohol although the model system is stable for a longer time. normalized to that maximum value. During dilution, EtOH ff Most recently, research in the ouzo e ect has looked at volume fraction decreases. In order to make the graph more 9 ff evaporating drops and demonstrated that this e ect can occur intuitive to read, we have flipped the x-axis to go from high in small droplets due to water evaporation at the surface. Other EtOH on the left to low EtOH on the right so that the dilution work looks to use the ouzo effect in order to form 10 runs from left to right. nanoparticles. However, little work has examined either The 20 °C curve shown in Figure 2 shows the common ff absinthe itself or the e ect of temperature on the formation of shape and features of all the temperatures we measured. The the emulsion. As the tradition is to utilize ice cold water to form optical transmission transitions smoothly from maximum (1) ff the emulsion, this work examines the e ect of temperature on on the left to ≈0 on the right as water is added. This decrease the formation of a louche in absinthe. in transmission corresponds to the formation of a louche. The optical transmission varies smoothly, with no discontinuous ■ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION jumps, during the dilution. The resulting curve can be best Figure 2 shows the optical transmission of the absinthe−water described by dividing it into four different sections. Initially, mixture (oil−alcohol−water) as a function of volume fraction the solution is clear and the entire laser beam power is transmitted, as shown in Figure 1 (left). We define the transition to begin when the power has dropped by 13.5% (= e−2) (which also corresponds to when the solution can be identified by eye as not clear). In the transition region, the turbidity of the solution slowly increases (transmission decreases) until the entire solution appears cloudy at the completion of the transition region; see Figure 1 (right). We consider the solution as louched when the transmitted power drops below 25% (the transmitted power of the weakest louche we measured and also a point at which the solution appears louched by eye). Continuing to add water after the optical transmission reaches a minimum value results in the transmitted optical power increasing. Taken as a whole, and examining the formation of the louche in limoncello,8 our transmission data suggests that as water is added, a Figure 2. Dilution of absinthe at 20 °C. The x-axis is flipped so that a microemulsion is formed consisting of a dispersed oil-rich dilution runs from left (high EtOH) to right (low EtOH). The droplet phase within a EtOH−water continuous phase. As transition is defined as beginning when the transmitted power has additional water is added, the turbidity increases as the oil-rich decreased by 13.5% and completed when the power drops below 25%. phase precipitates forming microdrops. After all the oil-rich The dilution region is defined as when the transmitted power begins phase has precipitated, continued addition of water only serves increasing after a minimum value. to dilute the dispersed phase, resulting in increased optical transmission. of ethyl alcohol (Ethanol, EtOH) taken at 20 °C. For this It should be noted that homogenization when adding a curve and also for the curves shown in Figure 3, water that was volume of water is essential. When we did not homogenize, we thermally equilibrated to the measurement temperature was saw spikes and dips in the transmission that could be attributed pipetted in the cuvette and the solution was mixed thoroughly.