The Origins of Ancient and Modern Absinthe

Absinthe was considered a vivifying elixir long before it could be ordered in a cafe. When Madame de Coulanges, one of the leading ladies of the seventeenth-century French court, became ill, she was prescribed a preparation containing wormwood. When it calmed her stomach, she wrote to Madame de Sevigne, " My little absinthe is the remedy for all diseases."

Absinthe takes its name from Artemisia absinthium, the botanical name for the bitter herb wormwood, known in French as 'grande absinthe'. This ingredient of the liquor absinthe also contains the molecule thujone, which accounts for its mind-altering properties. Wormwood infusions had been known as a medicine as far back as Greek times. Hippocrates prescribed it for jaundice, rheumatism, anemia, and menstrual pains.

Ancient Absinthe

Ancient absinthe was different from the liquor that Verlaine and Picasso imbibed, generally being wormwood leaves soaked in wine or spirits. Most likely the word absinthe derives from the Greek word apsinthion, which means "undrinkable" presumably because of its bitter taste. Pythagoras recommended wormwood soaked in wine to aid labor in childbirth. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder called it apsinthium in the first century A.D. and noted that it was customary for the champion in chariot races to drink a cup of absinthe leaves soaked in wine. He also recommended it as an elixir of youth and as a cure for bad breath... Over the centuries, however, wormwood drinks moved away from being just bitter medicine. Independent distilleries were producing absinthe made from the dried leaves of wormwood steeped in equal parts of malmsey wine and "burning water thrice distilled." The "Purl" of Tudor England was compounded of hot beer and wormwood, and although it was mainly popular with the working classes, Samuel Pepys reported in his famous diary that he had enjoyed several glasses of wormwood ale one night "in a little house...which doubtless was a bawdy house." These dusty tales convey some of the mystique surrounding absinthe. Absinthe incorporated Olympian legends of debauch and down home peasant notions.

Origins of modern

Absinthe Modern absinthe allegedly was invented in 1792 by an extraordinary French doctor called Pierre Ordinaire, who fled France's revolution to settle in Couvet, a small village in western Switzerland. On his periodic journeys by horseback, Dr. Ordinaire is said to have discovered the plant Artemisia absinthium growing wild in the hills of the Val-de-Travers region. Like most country doctors, he prepared his own remedies.

Dr. Ordinaire's recipe probably included the following herbs: wormwood, anise (Pimpinella anisum), hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), dittany (Dictamnus albus), sweet flag (Acorus calamus), Melissa (a type of mint), and varying amounts of coriander, veronica, chamomile, parsley, and even spinach. The 136 proof elixir produced in his sixteen liter still became popular as a cure-all in town and early on was nicknamed La Fée Verte. On his death, he supposedly left his secret recipe to two Henriod sisters from Couvet, who then left it to a visiting Frenchman, Major Dubied, whose son-in-law was named Pernod, and the rest is history.

In 1797 Pernod opened their first distillery in Couvet, Switzerland. In 1805, the famous Pernod fils distillery expanded and opened in Pontarlier, France to avoid customs taxes between Switzerland and France. By 1905, there were hundreds of distilleries in all corners of France producing absinthe 22 of which were located within the town of Pontarlier itself, producing 70,000 hectolitres a year from 151 stills. The success of the highly regarded Pontarlier brands brought many imitators and profiteers soon introduced cheaper, adulterated and even poisonous imitations onto the market that were in turn partially responsible for the reputation that absinthe gained for causing delirium and madness in those who drank it.

Originally, absinthe gained its popularity from its use in North Africa during the French campaigns of the 1840's as a disease preventative and water purifier. The French soldiers brought their taste for the herbal beverage back to the cafés of Paris. Here it became a fashionable drink of the bourgeoisie, so much so that the time between 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm became known as " l'Heure Verte " (the Green Hour). Absinthe soon became the most popular aperitif in France. From the mid nineteenth century onwards absinthe became associated with bohemian Paris and featured frequently in the paintings of such artists as Manet, Van Gogh and Picasso. When they were not painting it, they were drinking it in large quantities, joined by contemporary poets such as Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Verlaine - who practically made a career out of it.

Absinthe production grew so much that it became cheaper than wine. Between 1876 and 1900 the annual consumption had rocketed from 10,000 hectolitres to 210,000 hectolitres. It is no exaggeration to compare the impact of banning absinthe to the effect that the banning of Scotch whisky would have on Scotland.

Absinthe comes to America.

Absinthe soon found its way to the Little Paris of North America, New Orleans. The drink, which was spelled absynthe in an 1837 New Orleans liquor advertisement, enjoyed a vogue under such brand names as Green Opal, Milky Way, and Herbsaint (Today, one can still find a version of this made without wormwood and marketed under the name Herb Sainte). Of all the ancient buildings in New Orleans's famed French Quarter, none has been more glorified by drunks and postcard photographers alike than a square, plaster and brick structure at the corner of Bourbon and Bienville streets. "The Old Absinthe House" with its scarred cypress bar was visited by many famous people: Oscar Wilde, Lafcadio Hearn, William Thackeray, Walt Whitman, Aaron Burr, and General P.G.T. Beauregard are just a few of the many who relaxed over a green absinthe in this shady retreat. Alexis, Grand Duke of all Russians, drank here, and the chairs once creaked under William Howard Taft's presidential bulk. The great O. Henry was just a struggling newspaperman named William Sidney Porter when he came to dream over an absinthe frappé. Absinthe was also drunk in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, which had a popular restaurant called the Absinthe House. Up until 1912, many of the more exotic bars in New York would serve an absinthe cocktail. One can imagine a piano player at one of these watering holes singing this Victor Herbert melody with lyrics by Glenn MacDonough:

I will free you first from burning thirst That is born of a night of the bowl, Like a sun 'twill rise through the inky skies That so heavily hang o'er your souls. At the first cool sip on your fevered lip You determine to live through the day, Life's again worth while as with a dawning smile You imbibe your absinthe frappé.

But on July 13, 1907, Harper's Weekly noted, "The growing consumption in America of absinthe, 'the green curse of France,' has attracted the attention of the Department of Agriculture, and an investigation has been ordered to determine to what extent it is being manufactured in this country." Just five years later, on July 25, 1912, the Department of Agriculture issued Food Inspection Decision 147, which banned absinthe in America.

Banned

So, if absinthe was so popular, why was it banned? There were a number of reasons. It got caught up in the temperance movement that was sweeping Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century and became the scapegoat for all alcohol; findings were published showing that thujone was a neurotoxin in extremely large quantities (albeit more than was found in even 150 glasses of absinthe!) which caused convulsions and death in laboratory animals. Pressure also came from the wine producers who saw its popularity as a threat to their sales, which had been badly hit by the spread of the phylloxera louse that destroyed most of France's vineyards by 1890. Another nail was driven in the coffin with the lurid 'Absinthe Murder' which took place in Switzerland in 1905 when one monsieur Lanfray shot his entire family after drinking absinthe. The fact that he had also consumed several litres of wine and a considerable amount of brandy was overlooked by the prohibitionists and by 1910 absinthe was banned in Switzerland. The constant bad press from across the Atlantic and an anti-absinthe novel titled "Wormwood, a Drama of Paris" by Marie Corelli, caused a furor in the United States (where it was mostly consumed only in 'cosmopolitan' cities like San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago and New York) and prompted its banning nationwide in 1912. Finally, in 1915, absinthe was banned in France, but it took a military order to do it.

Contrary to popular belief, absinthe was never banned in the UK, Spain, or Portugal.

Curiously enough, the French government passed a decree over 15 years ago (Décret n° 88-1024 du 2 novembre 1988) that in effect, re-legalized absinthe under a modified name ('spiriteux' or 'amer aux plantes d'absinthe') which now must follow certain labeling guidelines and a chemical analysis. A break-through for absinthe in modern France, but apparently no one was informed about it until more than 10 years later! These regulations have since been adopted in the most part by the European Union, though the use of the name 'Absinthe' has been allowed.

Recent analytical studies by Liqueurs de France and of samples from unopened, vintage absinthe bottles have concluded that these regulations do not prevent the development of modern absinthes that are virtually identical in every aspect to the best absinthes of the past, but only if the best distilling equipment, techniques and ingredients are used!