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In A Green Haze of Absinthe
by JoMarie Fecci
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Absinthe inspired a generation of artists before it was banned in
1915. Will it make a comeback?
Visible
in so many paintings, novels, and memoirs of the period, absinthe
cast its green haze of creative inspiration over a generation of
Parisian artists before the first world war. It was also alleged
to have been the ruin of many a great mind. In fact, many members
of the public believed that drinking it in excess caused insanity.
This was untrue, but public pressure led to the outlawing of absinthe
on 16 march 1915 anyway.
While
the drink remains illegal in France, there has recently been a resurgence
of interest in "la fée verte." It has become a
regular item on the menu in a few trendy spots in England, and something
called "absinthe" has even been spotted in a couple of
Parisian cafes.
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© illustration by
JoMarie Fecci
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La Fée Verte: A Simple Liqueur
The
writer Emile Zola first made absinthe famous in L'Assommoir, but
the drink had been around for years. Absinthe comes from an aromatic
plant that grows easily in the region of Couvet, Switzerland, and
Pontarlier, France. The medicinal uses of the plant had been noted
by Pliny the elder in his Natural History, and many local residents
used it in home remedies for ailments of the stomach and intestines.
"Absinthe
officinale" or "Grande absinthe" (Artemisia absinthium),
popularly called "wormwood" in English, is plentiful in
the dry mountainous area. It's foliage is greyish on one side and
white on the other, and it produces yellow flowers from July through
September. Absinthe has a strong scent and a bitter taste which
romantics say is because the plant has such a hard life in the mountains.
A
particularly successful recipe for a remedy using absinthe had been
handed down in the Henriod family from generation to generation.
Henri-Louis Pernod bought the rights to commercialize the production
of this elixir from the Henriod heirs in 1797.
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Pernod
established a distillery at Couvet and began producing the emerald
green drink in quantity. Pernod's recipe used aniseed, fennel, hyssop,
and lemonbalm along with lesser amounts of angelica, star anise,
juniper, nutmeg, and veronica. These ingredients were macerated
together with the absinthe plants and the mixture was distilled
with alcohol to achieve a concentration of about 75% alcohol.
Residents
of the region soon began to consume absinthe for reasons that weren't
only medical. During the reign of Louis XII, absinthe, once available
only in pharmacies, began to be sold publicly in street markets
and served in cafes.
The
green liqueur was poured over a lump of sugar on a perforated spoon
into a glass of water. The drink then turned into an opaque white.
The taste was slightly bitter with a licorice flavor, similar to
that of Pastis.
La Fée Verte: A Creative Muse
In the artistic milieu, absinthe began to grow
in popularity because it was said to aid in the creative process.
Some searched for inspiration through use of the alcohol, while
others integrated it into their works of art.
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Absinthe consumers of today
are not likely to be excessive abusers of the drink, which
is now produced at between 45 and 60 degrees. In fact, it
has become an expensive alcohol, which is drank in moderation.
If you can't find the real
thing, there are a few places where you can taste something
very close: a distillery called BlackMint in le Val-de-Travers,
produces "la rincette" and in Pontarlier, an artisanale
distillery, Pierre Guy, produces "Pontarlier Anis,"
a real descendant of absinthe.
True absinthe is still produced
in Spain and Andorra, where it remains legal. It is possible
to order
absinthe from Andorra online from:
Destilleries Andorra
Av. Copríncep Francès, 56-58
Encamp - ANDORRE
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One of the most famous paintings on the
subject, by Degas in 1870, depicts a couple seated in a café.
The man drinks a red wine, while a woman consuming absinthe looks
lost with a glazed empty expression in her eyes.
Absinthe also made an appearance in the
work of Vincent Van Gogh. Three years before his death, Van Gogh
painted "L'Absinthe," a canvas where "la fee verte"
appears all-consuming. Absinthe is everywhere the tablecloth,
the reflections in the water carafe, even the street outside has
the green colors of absinthe. Most scholars believe Van Gogh drank
absinthe frequently, and some say he was addicted to it. However,
in his letters he expresses an abhorrence for both the drink and
those who drank it regularly. Still, the psychosis he experienced
is consistent with acute alcoholism or "absinthism."
Writers too, found inspiration in the green
world of absinthe. The poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine would
drink absinthe together and play sadistic games with each other.
Eventually Verlaine shot Rimbaud and was sentenced to prison. In
the tragic aftermath of this incident Rimbaud gave up absinthe and
poetry. Verlaine, who had sung the praises of absinthe in his youth,
damned it on his death-bed. However, after leaving prison, poverty-stricken
and alone, he continued to drink la fée verte.
Alfred Jarry, eccentric author of a scandalous
French absurdist play, Ubu Roi, was known to drink absinthe straight.
Jarry claimed that absinthe helped him fuse together dream and reality,
art and life. Ernest Hemingway never made such claims, but the did
continue to drink it long after it was banned. And references to
absinthe appear in many of his writings, including Death In The
Afternoon and For Whom The Bell Tolls.
La Fée Verte: The Downfall
Before 1870, Absinthe had been an expensive liqueur,
typically consumed by old soldiers, the bourgeoisie and artists.
But as it became cheaper, it quickly turned into the beverage of
choice among all segments of French society.By 1900 production of
"Pernod," had grown from 450 liters per day in 1855 to
25,000 liters per day. With increased consumption of the eau-de-vie,
came abuse. Low cost and easy availability was contributing to a
serious rise of alcoholism in the "lower classes," causing
"concern" among the more sober members of French society.
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The popularity of absinthe
led to the production and sale of an assortment of related
accoutrements, including spoons, bottles, carafes, and glasses.
Advertising posters for different brands of Absinthe adorned
the walls of most towns.
Today we can see a great
collection of these items at the MUSEE de PONTARLIER.
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Chronic use of absinthe was
believed to produce a syndrome in addicts, called absinthism, characterized
by hyperexcitability and hallucinations. The liqueurs association
with the bohemian lifestyle, frowned upon by "polite society,"
also worked against the drink.
In fact, the frightening effects
sometimes associated with absinthe were caused by the unregulated
production of poor-quality "cheap" absinthe. Absinthe
of good quality must undergo a distilling process after maceration
which results in an alcohol of between 50 and 70 degrees (50-75%
alcohol).
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However, unscrupulous producers, spurred
on by the growing commercial success of the beverage, were marketing
a product made without distillation. These dangerous concoctions
were produced by mixing wormwood with a variety of cheap alcohols
of doubtful quality. Consumers of this substandard "absinthe"
reportedly suffered all kinds of strange reactions, including vertigo,
hallucination, and attacks of epilepsy.
Public opinion saw no distinction between
the carefully prepared absinthe distilled according to standards
and the black market concoctions.
The principal danger of absinthe was really
the excessive abuse of alcohol. The symptoms of absinthism -- hallucinations,
sleeplessness, tremors, paralysis, and convulsions are quite
similar to those seen in cases of severe alcoholism.
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While the plant does contain certain substances,
such as thuyone, which could be toxic at highly concentrated large
doses, at weaker concentrations and in small doses it acts only
as a stimulant similar to caffeine. And because absinthe is 75%
alcohol, the effects of the alcohol limit the amount of thuyone
it is possible to ingest a person can only drink a moderate
amount of absinthe before becoming very drunk from the alcohol.
So for the moderate drinker, the small
amount of the actual liqueur in a glass of absinthe, which is then
diluted in water, is not dangerous.
But the anti-absinthe movement led by the
newspaper Le Matin, could not be stopped. 400,000 people signed
a petition that declared "everywhere the green water appears,
crime and insanity soon follow."
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There are activists in France
who are trying to change absinthe's illegal status. They find
it absurd that absinthe remains illegal when the circumstances
surrounding production of alcohol have changed, removing the
dangers that were present in 1915.
Others, decrying the absinthes
of Spain and Andorra, would like to see the law changed so
they could recreate the true absinthe of Pontarlier. They
hope to see a renaissance of the French absinthe.
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Absinthe was also giving winemakers increased
competition. And there are reports that the prohibitionists began
their campaign against absinthe with the support of winemakers and
other distillers who saw their markets threatened by the growing
popularity of la fée verte.
The Chambre des Députés took
up the cause and fiery debates between detractors and partisans
of absinthe became commonplace.
Condemned by the Académie de Médecine,
and accused of causing illness, insanity and criminality by the
unlikely alliance of prohibitionists and absinthe's competitors,
supporters of the drink were poorly placed to defend it. Deputés
from the region of Franche-Comté fought tenaciously against
the prohibition of absinthe, because the whole region made its living
off of the liqueur. But despite the best efforts, it was banned
in 1915.
La Fée Verte: Absinthe Today
Absinthe was quickly
replaced in the popular café culture by the modern Pernod
and Ricard, but it continues to exist in the area of its origin.
There remain certain farms in Pontarlier where one can still taste
a clandestine product ironically called "Café de Pontarlier."
Here it's still poured delicately into a large glass in the ancient
way, over a lump of sugar placed carefully on a special absinthe
spoon inherited from someone's grandfather. The addition of a bit
of cold water to the sweetened liquor is the final step, making
it ready to sip.
One sip allows
a taste of the muse that inspired a generation of artists, but the
creative power of la fée verte must come from the imagination.
LINKS
http://www.chez.com/absint/
http://www.bahnhofplatz.com/absinthe/fabs_intro.shtml
http://hbd.org/brewery/library/absfaq.html
http://www.sepulchritude.com/chapelperilous/absinthe/absinthe.html
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