Absinthe

Beginning with my Sherlock Holmes obsession that began in sixth grade, I am somewhat of a sucker for late 19th/early 20th century mystery novels. You don’t need to be an avid reader of this genre to run across a reference to a mysterious potion called “absinthe.” Presumably while reading the complete works of Edgar A. Poe my senior year of high school, I finally did some encyclopedic research to find out exactly what the stuff was. From that research, I was led to believe absinthe was a glowing, green, foul-tasting liquid probably drunken from a vial that was highly addictive and made you go crazy. It seemed pretty similar to Mercury infused with nuclear radiation. No wonder they made it illegal.

I’m convinced the biggest disservice the anti-drug establishment has done itself is that it relies so much on exaggerated propaganda that it doesn’t take much more than seeing your friend light up a joint and not either immediately dying or taking of their clothes and singing incoherently to realize the information you have been fed about drugs is a lie. I remember vividly when college basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose the day after being drafted by the Celtics hearing that he had died after only having one snort because he was allergic to it or some crap like that. C’mon, the dude signed a multi-million dollar contract and probably inhaled half an eight-ball partying it up with friends. Surely we would all be better served if we were simply given honest information from which we could make informed choices. There are enough reasons to not do drugs that there is really no need to lie about their dangers and effects. I honestly think every kid should have a sit-down talk with the heroin, crack/cocaine and meth addicts sleeping on the streets of every city in America.

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Absinthe is a drink made from soaking wormwood and other herbs in high-proof alcohol and then distilling it and diluting it slightly so that the result is a drink usually around 136 proof. The other herbs vary, but the principal one is usually anise. Other commonly used herbs include fennel, hyssop, mint and coriander, and for some reason there are almost always 11 total herbs. The result is a clear liquid that is now referred to as blanche absinthe. This original absinthe was named from the French for wormwood, d’absinthe (I find it very interesting that vermouth takes its name from the German word for wormwood, wermut). Absinthe was invented in the late 1700’s as one of those elixir cure-alls popular in the 18th and 19th century, possibly by a Frenchman living in Couvet Switzerland named Dr. Pierre Ordinaire. Dr. Ordinaire made a successful living traveling around peddling absinthe. He possibly passed the recipe onto or maybe stole the recipe from the Swiss Henriod sisters. Regardless, a certain Major Dubied bought the recipe from either Dr. Ordinaire or the Henriod sisters and opened the first absinthe distillery in Couvet with his son and son-in-law Henri-Louis Pernod in 1797.

In 1805, this family built another distillery just over the border in Pontarlier, France, run by Henri-Louis and called Maison Pernod Fils. Here, the makers stumbled across the idea of adding a second step of herb maceration after the initial distillation, turning the liquid green. This is now classified as verte absinthe. This drink became extremely popular, moreso even than champagne, and soon over 50 French distilleries were exporting absinthe throughout the world. By 1910 the French were drinking more absinthe than wine, and it was cheap enough that it was enjoyed by people from all socio-economic classes.

Enter Dr. Valentin Magnan, a French psychiatrist who became prominent in the late 1900’s. He was a prohibitionist who, apparently not much of a historian, felt alcohol consumption was destroying French society. In a much publicized experiment, Magnan demonstrated that you could induce a guinea pig to have epileptic seizures by having it ingest large quantities of wormwood extract. Actually, the fact that extremely high doses of wormwood extract, and its active ingredient thujone (closely related to menthol), was potentially poisonous was not new news. Dr. Magnan did not choose to report that wormwood extract in low doses had been used medicinally as far back as the ancient Egyptians and Greeks (and is still used today in products like Vic’s Vap-o-rub). He did not choose to experiment on his guinea pigs using the drink absinthe, or even distilled wormwood. He didn’t reveal that you can induce a guinea pig to have a seizure by exposing one to high concentrations of seemingly everything, including caffeine, anise, hyssop and fennel. He did conclude and loudly declare that this was proof that absinthe made people crazy.

In an atypical alliance, the prohibitionists and the wine industry made it a priority to get rid of absinthe. They contrived a campaign which highlighted incidences of perceived crazy people who drank absinthe, which wasn’t very hard since everybody was drinking the stuff. Savvy advertisers will attest that such a con can be extremely successful, and is the reverse of the typical strategy of having people with desirable qualities promote a product. Citing the dangers of its thujone content, absinthe was eventually made illegal in many countries, including Switzerland in 1907 (the last straw there being a guy who killed his family after spending the entire day consuming all kinds of alcohol, which included two glasses of absinthe), The United States in 1912 and France in 1915.

Some Swiss distilleries secretly continued making the blanche version of absinthe, since the green color would have been a dead give-away, and slyly called it la bleue. Yes, it means blue even though it is clear; the reason for the name was so only people “in the know,” aka not the police, could acquire it. Possibly realizing the true reason for all the fuss, these Swiss distilleries lowered the alcohol content of la bleue to 110 proof. Illegally made absinthe is properly called clandestine absinthe, except for in Germany where it is called HG. Absinthe was never banned in Spain, and the Pernod company moved there and continued making an absinthe until closing in the late 50’s because of lack of sales. The French Pernod Ricard company continues to make a pastis called Pernod that is advertised as an absinthe substitute. Many have been led to believe it is essentially absinthe without the wormwood, but it is actually artificially-flavored and colored crap that bears little resemblance to the real stuff.

The fact is there is not very much thujone in absinthe, and you would die of alcohol poisoning long before it had any affect on you whatsoever. When it was banned, technology provided no accurate method of actually measuring the amount of thujone in absinthe. Interestingly, it has only been recently been realized that the US law only prohibits alcoholic beverages with a thujone content over 10 mg/l, which means many if not most absinthes are legal and were never actually even made illegal. The US feds publicly admitted this technicality in 2007.

Contrary to other popular myths, absinthe does NOT make you hallucinate or have an affect similar to marijuana, although vivid dreams after drinking it have been widely reported. Absinthe DOES have a high alcohol content, but you don’t drink absinthe without diluting it first. To properly enjoy Absinthe, first you put about a half-shot of it in a wine glass. Then you put a sugar cube on an absinthe spoon (or drink strainer) and balance it on the glass. Gently pour a little chilled water from a carafe (or water bottle with a sport-top lid) to moisten the cube for around 1 minute. Then pour 3-5 parts chilled water through the cube and into the absinthe. The cube will dissolve, although with some absinthes a full cube will be too much and in that case you’ll want to remove it once it’s sufficiently dissolved. The water will cause the absinthe to louche, or become cloudy. Absinthe connoisseurs usually prefer absinthes that louche slowly as you pour. This process of diluting absinthe is known as the absinthe ritual. Once diluted, 136 proof absinthe becomes a drink with 11-17% alcohol, which is comparable to wine.

In the 1990’s, someone figured out that it isn’t illegal to import or export absinthe in the UK, and an absinthe revival began. In 2005, Switzerland removed its ban on absinthe, which has allowed many clandestine distilleries to make their la bleue commercially available. Because of the misinformation surrounding it, the current absinthe market is dubious. The first absinthe distributed from the UK was La Fee, and it is thin and uninteresting except for the frightening chartreuse color. Some companies have begun selling absinthe do-it-yourself home-kits, which don’t utilize distillation but do create a horrible tasting beverage that should truly not be consumed. Other companies sell “Bohemian absinthe,” often labeled “absinth,” a beverage that originated in the Czech Republic that, although I haven't tried it, seems more similar to Pernod with wormwood added and licorice subtracted than real absinthe. In France, it’s now only illegal to call beverages containing thujone absinthe, which is surely as absurd a law as any, so instead they call it liqueur à base de plantes d’absinthe or liqueur aux extraits d’absinthe. There is also a trend toward advertising absinthe as having a high thujone content, which isn’t desireable unless you want your absinthe to taste bitter and soapy.

Good absinthe tastes like naturally-flavored candy. The dominant flavor is usually anise, which Americans always compare with black licorice. I find that a poor comparison because absinthe should not taste artificial like black licorice. I prefer absinthes that provide a full palate of well-balanced herbal flavors. Absinthe is a great after-dinner digestif.

Currently, reputable absinthe makers include Jade Liquers (whose absinthe maker is T.A. Breaux), Emile Pernot, Clandestine (from where you can get a la bleue that has been in production since the thirties), Matter-Luginbuhl (which makes Duplais) and Paul Devoille. Of the absinthes I’ve tried, which includes three from the above list, my favorites are Paul Devoille’s Blanche de Fougerolles for its intriguing subtelty and Jade’s complex, refreshing and beautiful PF 1901. Many who have tried it say PF 1901 tastes very much like pre-ban absinthe.