Anybody who has hung around cocktails and spirits for very long has run into the topic of Absinthe, the Green Fairy. Absinthe was banned in Switzerland, the country of its origin, in 1907. It was banned in the US, a country where it was in fact rarely used, in 1912, and in France, where its popularity had skyrocketed, in 1915. The ban was based on herculean efforts by the temperance movement, which sought to ban all alcohols around the world, as well as by fairly dramatic propaganda which essentially attributed all of the world’s sins to this popular elixir. At the heart of the anti-absinthe propaganda was the claim that there was a substance in absinthe which caused hallucinations, delirium, and even death. The scapegoat of these effects was identified as thujone. Thujone is a compound that is found in various herbs such as tarragon, thyme, rosemary, sage, juniper, and wormwood.
The theory of the day, and a theory that has survived to modern day, was that if wormwood contained thujone, and if wormwood was an ingredient in absinthe, then absinthe contained thujone. Any scientific tests done to identify the effects of absinthe, did not actually use absinthe, but instead used pure thujone instead. Absinthe is made by macerating the various herbs in a base alcohol, and then distilling this into the final product. Distillation is essentially the process of heating the initial product high enough to cause the alcohol in it to turn into a vapor, which is captured and then condensed back into a liquid. Unbeknownst to the various scientists who were embroiled in the absinthe/thujone issue, thujone doesn’t easily cross over within the alcohol vapors during distillation. As distilled, absinthe is clear, but traditionally bottled absinthe is usually green in color. This coloring comes from a brief dipping of petite wormwood, hyssop, and some other herbs which give off a little bit of flavoring, as well as some of their chlorophyll, which produces the green coloration. A little bit of thujone is imparted during this process, but not significantly measureable amounts. Thus real absinthe has very little thujone.
The revival of absinthe started in the 1990s when it was discovered that the UK never really banned absinthe, and so some importers began selling absinthe which they brought in from the Czech Republic. Since then, various changes in the legal availability of absinthe have occurred; perhaps most notably is the formation of the European Union, which has brought about a homogenization of the various laws which were on the books of the various individual countries of this new-found union. The results of this were that absinthe, with a level of thujone below 10mg/liter was considered as safe for sale. While to the best of my knowledge, this has not yet become an officially sanctioned part of US law, it has apparently become a benchmark which is used to determine if a product is safe to bring to market. Part of this is passed off as seeing up to 10mg/liter as being an acceptable “margin of error” in the detection process.
Ted Breaux has been producing a line of absinthe for the last couple of years under the “Jade” brand. These are perhaps some of the best commercially available absinthes, made with classic methodology, and even made using the same stills which Pernod had once used to make their original absinthe in. He recently applied his knowledge and skill as a respected absinthe producer, and created a product to be sold by Viridian Spirits as the first “true absinthe” legally available in the US since the original ban. Part of the process was to carefully control the distillation process to make sure that the thujone level would stay below the 10mg/liter limit. He also modified the recipe slightly in an attempt to take the American palate into consideration. Anise is not quite as common of a flavoring here in the US as it is in Europe, and so he softened the flavors ever-so-slightly in order to produce a product which would be more approachable, and thus hopefully more commercially successful, here in America.
Some of the absinthe aficionados have voiced concern that Lucid will be a bastardized absinthe, and is simply playing off of the increasing hype and mythology that surrounds absinthe overall. Their choice of a slightly “sensationalist” bottle design with enigmatic green eyes peering out didn’t help matters any. I recently had a chance to sample Lucid, and can report that it is an excellent product for the most part. Its overall flavor profile is a little softer, and slightly less complex then I have come to expect in a true absinthe, but it is well within the scope of what should be expected of an absinthe overall.
A key aspect of Lucid, is that it has now paved the way for other manufacturers to produce absinthe which would be legal to sell in the US, and by focusing on the lower thujone levels, it will hopefully prevent many of the vile-tasting faux-sinthes which are being marketed on the internet as being part of this experience.
As was stated earlier, absinthe never was as popular in America as it was in Europe. Bars here would use it measured mostly in mere dashes to add a little extra flavor to various cocktails, as you might find in something like a Sazerac, perhaps one of the more popular American cocktails to use absinthe.
Another interesting pre-prohibition, pre-ban American cocktail which relied on absinthe was the Sherman. When I first tasted this cocktail, something in the back of my mind said “root beer”, and while I wouldn’t say it tasted exactly like root beer, I think you might agree with me that it does have a flavor profile which bears some resemblance.
Sherman
(Slightly modified from the recipe listed in The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book)
- 2 ounces sweet vermouth
- 1 ounce rye or bourbon whiskey
- 3 dashes absinthe
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.
