The Bar Journal

The recent reversal of a ban which made absinthe illegal in Europe and the US, has led to a revival of the spirit.
Premium absinthe brands are successfully appealing to consumers and bartenders  seeking a high volume alcohol experience, fun drinking rituals, gritty heritage and the thrill of what used to be illicit and dangerous.

Absinthe has been credited with playing a part in the creative process of controversial 19th century artists such as Van Gogh, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud. Absinthe’s traditional association with creativity, and ultimately madness, comes from the ingredient of wormwood in the original recipe which includes the chemical thujone or “Artemisa Abisnthium”.

It was due to concerns about the side effects of thujone, alongside pressure from rival drinks producers, that sales of the spirit were banned in Europe and the US in 1915.

In 1988, the European Union limited the proportion of thujone to 35 milligrammes per litre of absinthe and fixed alcohol content between 45{779800b323ee42e5ed999e502e0319b1817165bd3ddf64ca8ef6f651c78cdacf} and 72{779800b323ee42e5ed999e502e0319b1817165bd3ddf64ca8ef6f651c78cdacf} – a minute quantity which pro-absinthe campaigners say distinguishes the spirit from cheap versions made in Eastern Europe. However, absinthe continued to be illegal in France, its country of origin.

During the late nineties, French absinthe producers such as Pernod Ricard and La Fée Absinthe Parisienne began using a loophole in the law which meant they could produce absinthe for export. In addition, despite the law banning the domestic sale of Absinthe, distillers found a way to produce the spirit for domestic sale as long as it was labelled “a drink containing Absinthe”.

By 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries and commercial distillation in the United States resumed in 2007, helped by new scientific research which debunked the myth that thujone had harmful side effects.

It was only this year, however, that France finally lifted its ban on domestic sales of spirits labelled absinthe, spurred on by an application from producers from the Swiss canton of Val-de-Travers who applied for European Union recognition of the drink as a Swiss regional product.
Absinthe was traditionally served using a method called “louching” – the drop by drop addition of iced water to produce the spirit’s iconic cloudy blue effect. Such was the “art” of drinking the spirit that “absinthe professors” in busy cafes would instruct patrons on the ritual. Today, modern absinthes are often marketed in conjunction with a so-called Bohemian absinthe ritual: a modern innovation inspired by the success of flaming sambuca. A more theatrical way of serving absinthe, a spoon of sugar is soaked in the alcohol before being set alight and allowed to burn until it bubbles and caramelises. This method gained popularity after it was shown in the film “Moulin Rouge”.

SALUTE !