Absinthe

Absinthe is an anise-flavoured spirit with a bitter backbone, made with grande wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) together with green anise and sweet fennel. Created in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel in the late 18th century, it reached its peak of popularity in France during the Belle Époque and is being produced again today in several European and American countries.

History

The precise origin of absinthe is unclear. Popular tradition credits the recipe to Pierre Ordinaire, a French physician said to have lived in Couvet, in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, around 1792, although accounts differ on the date. According to that story, the formula passed to the Henriod sisters of the same village, who sold it as a medicinal elixir, though other accounts suggest they were already making it before Ordinaire arrived. What is documented is that in 1797 Major Dubied acquired the formula and, together with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the Dubied Père et Fils distillery in Couvet. In 1805 a second distillery was built in Pontarlier, in France, under the name Maison Pernod Fils, which became the best-known brand of the drink.

By the 1840s, French troops in Algeria were given absinthe as a malaria preventive, and the soldiers brought their taste for it home. By the 1860s it was so popular in bars, bistros, cafés and cabarets that the early evening hour was nicknamed l'heure verte, 'the green hour'. It was drunk by every social class, from the wealthy bourgeoisie to artists and labourers, and mass production made it one of the most widely drunk spirits in France. By 1910 the French were drinking around 36 million litres a year.

Its success brought controversy. Absinthe was blamed for hallucinations, violence and madness, partly on the strength of research by the psychiatrist Valentin Magnan and partly, some authors argue, because of campaigns by temperance groups and the wine trade. Switzerland banned it by referendum in 1908, the United States in 1912 and France between 1914 and 1915. In France, pastis and other anise spirits without wormwood took its place. In Spain it was never banned, and Pernod Fils continued to be made in Catalonia until the 1960s.

The revival began in the 1990s, when European food and drink rules removed the barriers to its production and sale. In 2000, La Fée Absinthe became the first commercial absinthe distilled and bottled in France since the ban. Switzerland made it legal again in 2005, and France lifted its ban in 2011. Today nearly two hundred brands are made in about a dozen countries.

Culture

Absinthe is closely tied to a ritual that sets it apart from other spirits. It is served in a glass with a perforated spoon resting across the rim, a sugar cube placed in the spoon, and iced water trickled slowly over the sugar until the drink is diluted to between a third and a fifth of its strength. As water meets the anise and fennel oils, which dissolve poorly, the liquid turns cloudy and milky. This effect is called the louche, French for 'opaque' or 'shady'. The drink is sipped slowly, and traditional glasses carry a bulge or line marking the usual dose of around 60 to 75 millilitres.

In nineteenth-century Parisian cafés, the waiter brought the measure with sugar, a spoon and a jug of iced water, and the drinker decided how much sugar and water to add. As demand grew, bars installed fountains with taps in the middle of their tables, so several people could prepare their glasses at once and talk together. Variations followed, such as caramelising the sugar, or the Bohemian method, which sets the sugar alight. The fire ritual is a modern development, linked to the Czech Republic in the 1990s, and many enthusiasts see it as a gimmick that distorts the original flavour.

There are several styles. The blanche, also called la bleue, is clear and goes straight from distillation to bottle. The verte is steeped a second time in herbs, which gives it its green colour and a richer aroma. Older grading terms such as ordinaire, demi-fine, fine, supérieure and Suisse described strength and quality, though Suisse referred to a style rather than an origin. Naturally coloured absinthe owes its hue to chlorophyll, which oxidises with light and time, turning from emerald to yellowish green and eventually amber, which is why old bottles often look golden.

Absinthe was a familiar sight among artists and writers. Degas painted L'Absinthe in 1876, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec depicted it, and Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Wilde were among its drinkers. Picasso made it a recurring theme, and Hemingway wrote about it in his cocktail recipes. New Orleans has a long association with the drink and the Sazerac cocktail. It appears in songs from metal bands to Spanish-language singer-songwriters, and in Argentina the tango «Copa de ajenjo» was a hit of its era. Today it is legal in Spain, Switzerland and much of Europe, subject to European Union limits on thujone, and specialist bars revive the traditional ritual.

Trivia