Hapsburg Absinthe was present at the ‘Street Food’ event, held as part of both Dundee Science Festival and the University’s brand new Festival of the Future.
Dr.Irene Hallyburton, a research scientist & Senior Biologist at the Drug Discovery Malaria Unit, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, is looking into new treatments for malaria, and approached the Hapsburg Absinthe Team lead by brand owner, Dale Sklar, asking them to participate in the ‘Street Food event’.
Students, Alumni and teachers came to taste Hapsburg and identify whether various components in Absinthe might be relevant to finding a cure for Malaria.
The idea of the event was to find cool (and sometimes surprising) links between scientific research and foods and drinks, whereby scientist teams are paired with producers to show off delicious food and drink, AND link it to the science.
Dundee University has a strong background in anti-malarial work, with one of the frontline treatments using the drug, Artemisinin, which is derived from the plant Artemesia annua , is a close relative of ‘Grand Wormwood’ (Artemesia absinthium) characteristically used in the production of Absinthe.
The essence of Absinthe, comes from a distillate of infused Artemisia plant which has long been used by herbalists in the treatment of Malaria and even now, has been found to offer the only treatment for a very virulent form of Malaria as transmitted by a microscopic plasmodium (bug) in SE Asia and S.America… hence the ongoing research.
Hapsburg Absinthe Red summer fruits cocktails served with fresh lemonade or mint and spirit
The event ran on 18th October 2018 in the School of Life Sciences, enabling visitors to taste the foods and drinks, and also see inside the labs at the same time.Visitors tasted the 4 variants of Hapsburg absinthe made up as a long cocktail using sprite, sprigs of mint leaves and ice cubes… fortunately by the end of the evening, none of the visitors seemed to be in need of a cure for Malaria!