| Oxygénée's Absinthe History & FAQ VI |
| Welcome to the most detailed, accurate and comprehensive Absinthe FAQ on the web. This information is constantly been updated and expanded. Please don't hesitate to contact Oxygénée with suggestions for improvements or additions. |
FAQ I
What is absinthe?
How is absinthe drunk?
FAQ II
What gives absinthe its “secondary effects”?
What is wormwood? What is thujone?
Which modern drinks are related to absinthe?
What does absinthe taste like? Is it very bitter?
Where does the word "absinthe" come from?
What is absinthe?
How is absinthe drunk?
FAQ II
What gives absinthe its “secondary effects”?
What is wormwood? What is thujone?
Which modern drinks are related to absinthe?
What does absinthe taste like? Is it very bitter?
Where does the word "absinthe" come from?
FAQ III
What is the history of absinthe?
Who invented it?
Which were the best quality absinthes?
What did they cost?
FAQ IV
How did absinthe influence artists like
Degas, Manet, van Gogh and Picasso,
and writers like Verlaine, Rimbaud,
Wilde and Hemingway?
What is the history of absinthe?
Who invented it?
Which were the best quality absinthes?
What did they cost?
FAQ IV
How did absinthe influence artists like
Degas, Manet, van Gogh and Picasso,
and writers like Verlaine, Rimbaud,
Wilde and Hemingway?
FAQ V
Why was absinthe banned?
What was absinthism? Who was
Dr Valentin Magnan?
FAQ VI
What were the Lanfray murders?
When was absinthe banned?
What happened after the ban?
The modern absinthe revival
Why was absinthe banned?
What was absinthism? Who was
Dr Valentin Magnan?
FAQ VI
What were the Lanfray murders?
When was absinthe banned?
What happened after the ban?
The modern absinthe revival
What were the Lanfray murders?
Like a vice slowly tightening, the pressure to ban absinthe inexorably increased. The last straw was a series of particularly brutal family
murders which were – largely unfairly – blamed on absinthe consumption. The most notorious of these was the celebrated Lanfray case,
which riveted the European press in 1905.
Jean Lanfray, a Swiss peasant of French stock, having drunk two glasses of absinthe, shot his pregnant wife and two daughters, before
attempting to kill himself. He failed, and was found the next morning collapsed across their dead bodies. Public reaction to the case was
extraordinary, and it focused on just one detail – the two glasses of absinthe he had drunk beforehand. Forgotten was the fact that Lanfray
was a thoroughgoing alcoholic who habitually drank up to 5 litres of wine a day. Forgotten also, was that on the day of the attack he had
consumed not only the two absinthes before going to work – hours before the tragedy – but also a crème de menthe, a cognac, six
glasses of wine to help his lunch down, another glass of wine before leaving work, a cup of coffee with brandy in it, an entire litre of wine
on getting home, and then another coffee with marc in it. People were in no doubt. It must have been the absinthe that did it. Within
weeks, a petition demanding that absinthe be banned in Switzerland was signed by over 82 000 local people.
The major absinthe producers, realising too late that their businesses and livelihoods were in jeopardy, fought a desperate rearguard
action, organising counter petitions, and promoting the health benefits of their absinthes. There was an increasing vogue for oxygen
enriched "absinthe oxygénée", and many brands were sold under the designation "absinthe hygenique".
Some producers - Bailly and Cousin Jeune amongst them - produced absinthes claimed to be thujone free - "absinthe sans-thuj" - but
these seem never to have caught on. Of course the science behind the claims of the manufacturers was as dubious and corrupt as that
of the temperance movement, and was often mocked in the satirical journals of the day.
Crucially, although in some cases financially powerful, the major absinthe producers lacked political influence in the Chamber of
Deputies (where large hereditary landowners - often grape-growers - were disproportionately well represented). The fact that the
management of the biggest producer, Pernod Fils, were of Jewish origin (Arthur and Edmond Vielle-Picard, who purchased a controlling
interest in the company in 1894, were half-Jewish) in a France still reeling from the anti-semitism exposed by the Dreyfus affair, further
aggravated the situation.
The popular press, led by the left-wing Parisian daily Le Matin was virulently pro-prohibition. The momentum to ban the drink was now
unstoppable.
Like a vice slowly tightening, the pressure to ban absinthe inexorably increased. The last straw was a series of particularly brutal family
murders which were – largely unfairly – blamed on absinthe consumption. The most notorious of these was the celebrated Lanfray case,
which riveted the European press in 1905.
Jean Lanfray, a Swiss peasant of French stock, having drunk two glasses of absinthe, shot his pregnant wife and two daughters, before
attempting to kill himself. He failed, and was found the next morning collapsed across their dead bodies. Public reaction to the case was
extraordinary, and it focused on just one detail – the two glasses of absinthe he had drunk beforehand. Forgotten was the fact that Lanfray
was a thoroughgoing alcoholic who habitually drank up to 5 litres of wine a day. Forgotten also, was that on the day of the attack he had
consumed not only the two absinthes before going to work – hours before the tragedy – but also a crème de menthe, a cognac, six
glasses of wine to help his lunch down, another glass of wine before leaving work, a cup of coffee with brandy in it, an entire litre of wine
on getting home, and then another coffee with marc in it. People were in no doubt. It must have been the absinthe that did it. Within
weeks, a petition demanding that absinthe be banned in Switzerland was signed by over 82 000 local people.
The major absinthe producers, realising too late that their businesses and livelihoods were in jeopardy, fought a desperate rearguard
action, organising counter petitions, and promoting the health benefits of their absinthes. There was an increasing vogue for oxygen
enriched "absinthe oxygénée", and many brands were sold under the designation "absinthe hygenique".
Some producers - Bailly and Cousin Jeune amongst them - produced absinthes claimed to be thujone free - "absinthe sans-thuj" - but
these seem never to have caught on. Of course the science behind the claims of the manufacturers was as dubious and corrupt as that
of the temperance movement, and was often mocked in the satirical journals of the day.
Crucially, although in some cases financially powerful, the major absinthe producers lacked political influence in the Chamber of
Deputies (where large hereditary landowners - often grape-growers - were disproportionately well represented). The fact that the
management of the biggest producer, Pernod Fils, were of Jewish origin (Arthur and Edmond Vielle-Picard, who purchased a controlling
interest in the company in 1894, were half-Jewish) in a France still reeling from the anti-semitism exposed by the Dreyfus affair, further
aggravated the situation.
The popular press, led by the left-wing Parisian daily Le Matin was virulently pro-prohibition. The momentum to ban the drink was now
unstoppable.
When was absinthe banned?
Absinthe was first banned in the Congo Free State in 1898, then in Brazil and in Belgium in 1906, in Holland in 1908, in Switzerland in
1910, in the USA in 1912 and finally in France – distracted and shell-shocked by the first defeats of World War I - in 1915. In the end this
magical and historic elixir that had once captivated, delighted and inspired a nation, went out not with a bang, but with the merest
whimper.
What happened after the ban?
Most of the great absinthe-producing firms went bankrupt, or amalgamated, or switched to producing pastis. Some firms transferred their
production to Spain, where absinthe was never banned, and where it continues to be made on a small scale. A remnant of the Pernod
company made absinthe in Tarragona from 1918 until the mid '60's, although by 1950 the product had already deviated quite
considerably from the pre-ban French original.
In the Val de Travers region of Switzerland, production of the local uncoloured "Le Bleue" went underground, and fairly large scale
bootlegging operations still exist today. In many countries though absinthe was never formally prohibited – it just faded from sight.
Absinthe has never been banned in the UK, nor in much of Southern and Eastern Europe,
The modern absinthe revival
Although absinthe continued to be made on a small scale in Spain, its modern revival really has its origins in the collapse of the Iron
Curtain, and Czechoslavakia’s 1987 “Velvet Revolution”.
A Czech entrepreneur, Radomil Hill, having inherited from his father a small distillery dating from the 1920’s, decided, with the return of a
free market economy, to start producing absinthe. Hill claims that he is using an old family recipe, that the distillery produced absinthe
prior to the Communist occupation and that he is reviving the "Bohemian absinthe tradition". Integral to this is the so called Bohemian
absinthe ritual, which involves soaking the sugar cube with absinthe, and then setting it alight, before plunging the caramelised sugar
into the glass - a necessity with Hills, which, since it apparently contains little if any anise, doesn't louche. Hills claims that this is an
alternative and historically authentic alternative to the traditional French ritual, but there's no evidence to support this assertion.
In the 1930's, it was common for jobbing distilleries to make a very wide range of house-brand liqueurs for use in cocktails. These were
often only crude approximations of the real thing, made from purchased essences. So a distillery might have made a curacao, a creme
de menthe, a kirschwasser, a "Chartreuse", an anisette, a "Grand Marnier" etc. It's theoretically possible that Hills did this, and that some
kind of absinthe substitute was included in their list. A price list from an Austrian distillery in the 1930's that includes "absynth" is known,
and absinthe substitutes were produced in the US, the UK and in Denmark in the 1950's.
But no evidence of a pre-1990 Czech absinthe has ever been produced - no pricelists, catalogues, labels, bottles, posters, invoices,
nothing whatsoever. It seems reasonable to assume that if anything like this existed, it would have turned up by now, and be prominently
featured in Hill's promotional material.
So one can say with certainty that there was no widespread Czech "absinthe tradition" prior to the new Hills product. As to whether an
ersatz absinthe product once briefly existed there in a minor and inconsequential way, it's hard to prove a negative, but no trace of it has
ever been produced. Notwithstanding all this, sales of the blue-green Hills "absinth" took off in the early 1990's , especially in the UK,
where an innovative publicity campaign soon made absinthe a must-have drink in trendy nightclubs and bars. Other manufacturers in
Czechoslovakia and elsewhere soon followed suite, and today this style of "absinth" is made by many eastern European and German
products. For another independent viewpoint, read The Wormwood Society's What's Wrong With Czech Absinthe?
The commercial success of Hills and its followers had though an unexpected positive side-effect: the tentative rebirth of the French and
Swiss absinthe industry. Following relaxation of the restrictive legislation in both France and Switzerland, there are now a number of
French and Swiss producers. Unfortunately many of these modern absinthes are of dubious quality. Some are a travesty of what true
absinthe should be, with almost no traditional herbal and floral character.
Recognizably authentic absinthe is however made by a few small French and Swiss firms - Francois Guy, Lemercier, Kubler and the old
firm of Emile Pernot in Pontarlier. Some of the best modern absinthes may be obtained online from our own Absinthe Classics site - we
sell both the highly rated Doubs Premium Absinthe, and the superb Jade Absinthes, made at Combier using Pernod Fils' original
alambics, by New Orleans scientist and absinthe historian Ted Breaux, one of the pioneers of the absinthe renaissance.
Absinthe was first banned in the Congo Free State in 1898, then in Brazil and in Belgium in 1906, in Holland in 1908, in Switzerland in
1910, in the USA in 1912 and finally in France – distracted and shell-shocked by the first defeats of World War I - in 1915. In the end this
magical and historic elixir that had once captivated, delighted and inspired a nation, went out not with a bang, but with the merest
whimper.
What happened after the ban?
Most of the great absinthe-producing firms went bankrupt, or amalgamated, or switched to producing pastis. Some firms transferred their
production to Spain, where absinthe was never banned, and where it continues to be made on a small scale. A remnant of the Pernod
company made absinthe in Tarragona from 1918 until the mid '60's, although by 1950 the product had already deviated quite
considerably from the pre-ban French original.
In the Val de Travers region of Switzerland, production of the local uncoloured "Le Bleue" went underground, and fairly large scale
bootlegging operations still exist today. In many countries though absinthe was never formally prohibited – it just faded from sight.
Absinthe has never been banned in the UK, nor in much of Southern and Eastern Europe,
The modern absinthe revival
Although absinthe continued to be made on a small scale in Spain, its modern revival really has its origins in the collapse of the Iron
Curtain, and Czechoslavakia’s 1987 “Velvet Revolution”.
A Czech entrepreneur, Radomil Hill, having inherited from his father a small distillery dating from the 1920’s, decided, with the return of a
free market economy, to start producing absinthe. Hill claims that he is using an old family recipe, that the distillery produced absinthe
prior to the Communist occupation and that he is reviving the "Bohemian absinthe tradition". Integral to this is the so called Bohemian
absinthe ritual, which involves soaking the sugar cube with absinthe, and then setting it alight, before plunging the caramelised sugar
into the glass - a necessity with Hills, which, since it apparently contains little if any anise, doesn't louche. Hills claims that this is an
alternative and historically authentic alternative to the traditional French ritual, but there's no evidence to support this assertion.
In the 1930's, it was common for jobbing distilleries to make a very wide range of house-brand liqueurs for use in cocktails. These were
often only crude approximations of the real thing, made from purchased essences. So a distillery might have made a curacao, a creme
de menthe, a kirschwasser, a "Chartreuse", an anisette, a "Grand Marnier" etc. It's theoretically possible that Hills did this, and that some
kind of absinthe substitute was included in their list. A price list from an Austrian distillery in the 1930's that includes "absynth" is known,
and absinthe substitutes were produced in the US, the UK and in Denmark in the 1950's.
But no evidence of a pre-1990 Czech absinthe has ever been produced - no pricelists, catalogues, labels, bottles, posters, invoices,
nothing whatsoever. It seems reasonable to assume that if anything like this existed, it would have turned up by now, and be prominently
featured in Hill's promotional material.
So one can say with certainty that there was no widespread Czech "absinthe tradition" prior to the new Hills product. As to whether an
ersatz absinthe product once briefly existed there in a minor and inconsequential way, it's hard to prove a negative, but no trace of it has
ever been produced. Notwithstanding all this, sales of the blue-green Hills "absinth" took off in the early 1990's , especially in the UK,
where an innovative publicity campaign soon made absinthe a must-have drink in trendy nightclubs and bars. Other manufacturers in
Czechoslovakia and elsewhere soon followed suite, and today this style of "absinth" is made by many eastern European and German
products. For another independent viewpoint, read The Wormwood Society's What's Wrong With Czech Absinthe?
The commercial success of Hills and its followers had though an unexpected positive side-effect: the tentative rebirth of the French and
Swiss absinthe industry. Following relaxation of the restrictive legislation in both France and Switzerland, there are now a number of
French and Swiss producers. Unfortunately many of these modern absinthes are of dubious quality. Some are a travesty of what true
absinthe should be, with almost no traditional herbal and floral character.
Recognizably authentic absinthe is however made by a few small French and Swiss firms - Francois Guy, Lemercier, Kubler and the old
firm of Emile Pernot in Pontarlier. Some of the best modern absinthes may be obtained online from our own Absinthe Classics site - we
sell both the highly rated Doubs Premium Absinthe, and the superb Jade Absinthes, made at Combier using Pernod Fils' original
alambics, by New Orleans scientist and absinthe historian Ted Breaux, one of the pioneers of the absinthe renaissance.
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