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Foreword

Absinthe, a name bearing both infamy and notoriety, a name associated with both sophistication and debauchery. You may have never even tried it, but you certainly know it by reputation. A cure-all tonic, a hallucination inducing drink responsible for social disorder and even total insanity, or just a delightfully refreshing beverage, absinthe has been thought to be many things. The aim of this site is to clear up any misconceptions about absinthe and provide the most true to fact one stop absinthe information resource on the internet. From the seasoned Absintheur to the individual merely harbouring a curiosity, we hope you enjoy your time here and find everything you need to know, and more!

The Beginning

Absinthe is a highly alcoholic (typically 68% abv) distilled spirit, commonly green in colour, it earned the nickname 'la fée verte' - the green fairy. Absinthe takes it's name from the perennial herb Artemisia Absinthium, commonly called grand wormwood, it is also what contains thujone, the chemical responsible for absinthe’s reportedly mind-bending effects. A defining ingredient of absinthe, wormwood is also what provides absinthe’s medicinal qualities, the use of wormwood precedes absinthe by thousands of years, but it takes a spectacular combination of herbs and spices to turn it into the marvellous spirit that had a nation hooked. Wormwood is bitter in taste so its flavour is led predominantly by anise, and also by many other herbs such as but not limited to petite wormwood, melissa, fennel, hyssop and angelica.

There is much speculation as to when absinthe was first invented, and who was responsible. The origin of absinthe is generally attributed to Dr Pierre Ordinaire, a self-exiled Frenchman residing in Couvet, in the Val de Travers region in the canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, somewhere around 1792, although the exact year varies by account. It is also believed that Mother Henroid was the first to concoct an absinthe elixir from the plants she found growing in the local mountains, this cure-all tonic was then passed on to Pierre Ordinaire who administered the potion to the sick. It is alleged that Dr Ordinaire told his recipe to the Henroid sisters on his deathbed, a variation of this is that Dr Ordinaire passed the recipe to a housekeeper who proceeded to sell the recipe to the Henroid sisters. The reports vary further with the account that the Henroid sisters originally created an 'elixir d'absynthe' long before the arrival of Pierre Ordinaire. Regardless of the debate on who was first to formulate absinthe, there is little doubt that the Val de Travers region is absinthe’s spiritual homeland.

The collosal potential was first realised by one Major Dubied, a shrewd businessman who sought to market absinthe as not just a tonic, but an irresistible apertíf.  Major Dubied, a travelling Frenchman, purchased the recipe from the Henroid sisters and in 1797 laid the foundations for the first commercial absinthe distillery. Major dubied was inexperienced in the field of distillation so he enrolled the help of his son-in-law, a certain Henri-Louis Pernod. By 1798 the Couvet based 'Dubied Pére at Fils' was established, and soon began producing twenty litres of absinthe per day from it's two small stills.

As the demand for absinthe increased, Henri-Louis Pernod set up his Couvét based distillery 1802, but this was soon outgrown and Pernod opened a second distillery in 1805. This time in Pontarlier, in the Doubs region of France, The Maison Pernod Fils was born. Having a French premises allowed Pernod to avoid the heavy customs duties imposed when importing alcohol from Switzerland.  

The rise of absinthe’s popularity seemed to level out and it remained a regional favourite, with little influence outside of its regions of production. The next large step in absinthe’s journey to infamy came in the 1830's, with the outbreak of war in Algeria, the French troops took absinthe with them as it was one of the few spirts available, it soon became known for its medicinal uses; used to purify water and to help protect against dysentry and malaria. Upon returning to France, the soldiers brought along their favourite tipple, helping to solidify absinthe’s reputation.

Choice of the Bohemians

The wealthy burgeoisie admired the soldiers for their service and too became fascinated with the mystical green spirit they brought with them, and soon bustling Paris became encapsulated by absinthe’s mesmerising aura. By the mid 19th century absinthe became almost synonymous with bohemian Paris, as the bars, bistros and cafés were flocking with absinthe drinkers - from the burgeoisie to the working class, from the painters to the poets. La Fée Verte was so popular that the hour of 5 p.m became known as l'heure verte, the green hour.

Absinthe became even more popularized by the works of artists and poets such as Oscar Wilde, Paul Verlaine, Edouard Manet, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh - to name but a few.  Though never to the extent experienced in France, absinthe did garner international acclaim. In London, England absinthe became a top choice of the upper classes but due to availability issues never became as widespread as on the continent. The United States also gained a taste for the green fairy, particularly in the more liberal New Orleans, this was concreted in 1869 by the opening of the Old Absinthe House at the corner of Bourbon and Bienville Street in the busy French Quarter.

In 1863, a problem arose in France with the introduction of Phylloxera. A relative of the aphid, Phylloxera first infested the Rhone region, though its spread didn’t cease there. By the 1870’s Phylloxera was having a devastating impact on Vineyards, especially in France, where in 1875, 84.5 million hectolitres of production fell to only 23.4 million hectolitres by 1889.  The French wine industry was decimated. feeds on grapevines, and soon the devastating effects were seen in the southern

With all cases of supply and demand, scarcity creates value, and wine was certainly no exception, as wine production fell, the prices rose to the extent that only the wealthy could afford such luxuries, giving way to cheaper absinthe production allowing the absinthe boom another huge step towards infamy.   

In 1889, absinthes reputation became further entwined with popular culture when consumed at the newly opened venue, the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge is also the subject of many paintings by Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec.  Nearing the turn of the century, absinthe was without question the French tipple of choice and its growth was seemingly unstoppable. Around the same time, the wine industry had begun to get back on its feet after the damage caused by Phylloxera, but when trying to revert the masses’ tastes from absinthe back to wine, they found it a lot harder than initially expected.

The Downfall of the Green Fairy

Major absinthe production moved to Catalonia, Spain, where absinthe remained legal, but the damage was done and sales never picked up, the recipes changed over the years and almost all production had dried up by the late 1960’s due to poor sales. Absinthe quietly disappeared.

The Absinthe Revival

After absinthe was banned across much of the world it was largely forgotten, with only a few dedicated historians researching the unparalleled history of the green fairy.

The first steps towards restoring absinthe to its former glory were taken in 1998, when British entrepreneur George Rowley came across Hills Absinth whilst working abroad in Prague. At this time Hills Absinth was only available in a handful of bars in Prague, and Rowley immediately set out to seize the opportunity to procure the legislation allowing for import in to the EU. Upon visiting the distillery he learned that they had been supplying a private UK buyer, John Moore, of Black Box Recorder and The Jesus and Mary Chain fame.

John had only been importing a small number of cases for himself and a few friends, but had set up a company with Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Hodkinson of The Idler Magazine with the intention of a larger scale operation.

Rowley met up with the trio and they began to formulate a plan, it was agreed that John, Gavin and Tom would handle the public relations, while George took on the critical tasks of securing the legislation for import, along with handling the logistics and financing.

The first big hurdle was the documentation allowing for the importation in to not just the UK, but the EU as a whole, it was discovered that in the UK absinthe had never actually been banned, but as part of the EU it was necessary to secure their blessing, this came in the form of the landmark document, the EU Council Directive 88/388/EEC: This allowed for the importation and sale of not just Czech absinth, but absinthe as a whole.

It didn’t take long from the first shipments arriving to George Rowley’s countryside home before the UK was swept by an absinthe craze, and within 18 months the market began flooding with poor quality cheap imitations as companies all over Europe tried to cash in on the resurgence of absinthe interest. During this time George had been further learning about absinthe, and decided if the reputation of absinthe was not to become associated with poorly made me-too imitations, he would have to source pre-ban absinthe and work to restore traditional absinthe production in either France or Switzerland.

In 1999 Rowley began to review the terms of the 1915 French absinthe ban, and discovered that while absinthe was most certainly banned for consumption, there was no law prohibiting its production for export.

George realised that this product would need to be made with utmost attention to its authenticity as a traditional absinthe, and his research led him to the Musée de l’Absinthe in Auvers-sure-Oise, just outside of Paris. With the assistance of his French speaking wife Jane Rowley, he met with the Museum’s founder and curator, renowned absinthe historian Marie-Claude Delahaye. After much deliberation George attained her cooperation to work on creating the first traditional absinthe to be commercially distilled in France since the 1915 ban. After careful planning and testing, a suitable distillery was found, using original copper stills, test distillations were commenced, and the brands name and image was decided.

George Rowley together with Madame Delahaye, decided on the brand name La Fée, with affection for the popular term absinthe had acquired during the height of its popularity, the brand logo chosen was La Fée Absinthe’s now iconic eye, an image that has since grown to be almost synonymous with absinthe as a category. The first absinthe commercially distilled in France since 1915, and authenticated by the Musée de l’Absinthe, La Fée laid the way for the future of absinthe.