Archive for the ‘Back to basic’ Category
Where it all began
On October 07, 2007 in Back to basic
The precise origin of absinthe is unclear. According to popular legend, absinthe began as an all-purpose patent remedy created by Dr. Pierre Ordinaire, a French doctor living in Couvet, Switzerland, around 1792 (the exact date varies by account). Ordinaire’s recipe was passed on to the Henriod sisters of Couvet, who sold absinthe as a medicinal elixir. In fact, by other accounts, the Henriod sisters may have already been making the elixir before Ordinaire’s arrival. In either case, one Major Dubied in turn acquired the formula from the sisters and, in 1797, with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the first absinthe distillery, Dubied Père et Fils, in Couvet. In 1805 they built a second distillery in Pontarlier, France, under the new company name Maison Pernod Fils.Absinthe’s popularity grew steadily until the 1840s, when absinthe was given to French troops as a fever preventative. When the troops returned home, they brought their taste for absinthe with them, and it became popular at bars and bistros.
By the 1860s, absinthe had become so popular that in most cafés and cabarets that 5 p.m. signaled l’heure verte (“the green hour”). Still, it remained expensive and was favored mainly by the bourgeoisie and eccentric Bohemian artists. By the 1880s, however, the price had dropped significantly, the market expanded, and absinthe soon became the drink of France; by 1910 the French were consuming 36 million litres of absinthe per year.
Source: wikipedia.org
Banned absinthe !
On October 07, 2007 in Back to basic
Spurred by the temperance movement and winemakers’ associations, absinthe was publicized in connection with several violent crimes supposedly committed under the influence of the drink. This, combined with rising hard-liquor consumption due to the wine shortage in France during the 1880s and 1890s, effectively labeled absinthe a social menace. Its critics said that “Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.” Edgar Degas’s 1876 painting L’Absinthe (Absinthe) (now at the Musée d’Orsay) epitomized the popular view of absinthe “addicts” as sodden and benumbed; Émile Zola described their serious intoxication in his novel L’Assommoir.
Absinthe was banned as early as 1898 in the Congo Free State (later Belgian Congo).
The Lanfray murders were the last straw for absinthe. In 1905 it was reported that Jean Lanfray murdered his family and attempted to kill himself after drinking absinthe. The fact that he was an alcoholic who had drunk considerably after the two glasses of absinthe in the morning was forgotten, and the murders were blamed solely on absinthe. A petition to ban absinthe in Switzerland was quickly signed by over 82,000 people.
Soon thereafter (in 1906), Belgium and Brazil banned the sale and redistribution of absinthe. In Switzerland the prohibition of absinthe was even written into the constitution in 1907, following a popular initiative. The Netherlands came next, banning absinthe in 1909, followed by the United States in 1912 and France in 1915. Around the same time, Australia banned the liquor too. The prohibition of absinthe in France led to the growing popularity of pastis and ouzo, anise-flavored liqueurs that do not use wormwood. Although Pernod moved their absinthe production to Spain, where absinthe was still legal, slow sales eventually caused it to close down. In Switzerland it drove absinthe underground. Evidence suggests small home clandestine distillers have been producing absinthe since the ban, focusing on La Bleues as it was easier to hide a clear product. Many countries never banned absinthe, which eventually led to its revival.
Source: wikipedia.org