Tainted History

The History

Never before has any one thing defined a century more so than absinthe. Noted from the time of ancient Egyptians to the ancient Greeks, popularized and subsequently demonized by the Western world, absinthe has been steeped in mystery and myth and defined one of the world's greatest eras. The modern version of absinthe has been credited to Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living in Couvet, Switzerland who was selling the concoction as an all purpose remedy. Ordinaire was said to have sold his recipe to the Henriod sisters who, with his formula, manufactured their own medical elixir. Eventually, the formula made its way to Henry-Louis Pernod, who founded the world's first absinthe distillery and thus created a revolution.

The Ingredients

Absinthe is a distillate derived from herbs resulting in an anise flavored spirit. The three main herbs commonly used to make absinthe, often referred to as the "Holy Trinity", are grande wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium), green anise and Florence fennel. Additional herbs are often used during a second maceration, which gives absinthe its mystical greenish hue and herbal complexity. Commonly used herbs during the second maceration are petite wormwood (Artemisia Pontica), hyssop, melissa, star anise, coriander and juniper among others.

The Process

The first step in making absinthe is a simple maceration of the "Holy Trinity" and other proprietary herbs, a process whereby the ingredients are steeped in alcohol releasing their essence and flavors. From this process a clear, bitter macerate is produced. The second step is distilling the macerate, producing a subtle anise flavored spirit, known as absinthe, this version of absinthe is called "Blanche" or "la Bleue" (French meaning "clear"). At this point, bottling can occur. A third and voluntary step produces the more traditionally known, green hued style of absinthe called "Verte" (French for "green"). During this second maceration the distilled absinthe is steeped with herbs such as petite wormwood, hyssop and melissa allowing the absinthe to absorb the herb's chlorophyll, infusing the absinthe with a light green color and herbal complexity. Additionally, direct colored absinthes, which use alternate coloring methods, can also be identified as "Verte". A unique and rare style of absinthe known as "Rouge" (French meaning "red"), uses delicate, red hibiscus flowers during the third and final maceration, imparting a rose hue to the otherwise clear absinthe.

The Rise, The Fall and The Rebirth

Europe was in the midst of the "Belle Époque" (French for "Beautiful Era") during the late 19th Century, a time of scientific and technical advancement and a period when art and literature were making dramatic transformations. Just coming out of the first Industrial Revolution and straddling the second Industrial Revolution, the world was finding itself in a new modernity, considered a "Golden Age". Nowhere was this more obvious than in the streets of Paris. Artists, poets and writers could be found in their favorite sidewalk cafés discussing the philosophy of the day and how to rally against the status quo and begin a movement of their own. To many of these social misfits their inspiration lie in the bottom of an empty glass of absinthe and as they danced with their muse, the Green fairy, they broke the status quo and created some of the most recognizable art and literature the world has ever seen and has yet to replace.

Absinthe began to find popularity during the mid 1800's when French troops stationed in French colonized Africa were issued an elixir to help prevent the ill-effects of contaminated water. This medical concoction was absinthe. Upon their return to France, French troops brought their taste for absinthe with them. During the early 1880's, French vineyards were struck by the parasite known as phylloxera and for more than a decade France found itself in a wine shortage. As a result, the stars seemed to align for absinthe, which quickly took over as France's national drink of choice.

By the mid 1880's, mass production helped to lower the cost of absinthe, thus allowing it to cross social and economic boundaries; available not only to the wealthy bourgeoisie, but also the poor Bohemian. By 1910, French winemakers had recovered from the outbreak of phylloxera and set out to again make wine France's number one drink of choice. In order to accomplish this they demonized and vilified absinthe through a vicious campaign against the harmless fairy and by 1915, fueled by speculation that absinthe brought about hallucinations, spasms, behavior of ill repute and even death; absinthe was banned throughout most of the Western world.

At its height, absinthe was such a part of the French culture, primarily amongst Parisians, that most cafés denoted 5 pm as "l'heure verte" (French for "The green hour"). Artists were known to be inspired by the Green fairy, most notably Vincent Van Gogh and Edgar Degas, both of whom used absinthe as models in their paintings and both credited with founding a revolution in the world of art, Degas known for founding Impressionism and Van Gogh for founding Expressionism. Writers were not immune to the calling of the Green fairy. Notable writers influenced by absinthe were Oscar Wilde, Aliester Crowley and even Ernest Hemingway found inspiration through the Green fairy long after its ban in the United States. Bemused by the Green fairy in Spain, Hemingway found courage to partake in the running of the bulls at the bottom of his favorite absinthe cocktail, one of his own inventions called "Death in the Afternoon".

Oddly, it was an American microbiologist from New Orleans, Ted A. Breaux, who had never tried absinthe, but had heard of the elixir's ill effects and ill fate and became fascinated by it. Realizing that the original recipes had been lost to time and that most absinthes on the market were likely using deviants of the original recipe, Breaux went about obtaining pre-banned absinthes in their original sealed bottles in an attempt to reverse engineer absinthe to its original recipe. Through the process of reverse engineering, Breaux created the most accurate and correct recipe on the market today and has shared his recipe with some European distillers, namely Lucid and produces his own version of absinthe in small quantities. Thanks in part to Ted A. Breaux for a recipe lost to time and the Swiss distiller Kübler, who played an instrumental role in petitioning the United States and its many agencies to rescind its ban on absinthe, because of these two titans, absinthe is no longer a word reminiscent with prohibition and speakeasies, but now a product of ritual and time honored traditions that we can take part in today.