ThE Green Fairy Tale

Most educated people have read about absinthe, but very few of them have ever tasted the real thing. That’s not surprising, since genuine absinthe has been illegal for a hundred years in the majority of nations where it was most popular. In fact, we have now passed the centennial anniversary of that official ban in Switzerland on October 7, 1910 that got the prohibition rolling.

I bring up the absinthe prohibition because it’s a perfect example of the type of beverage story I plan to chronicle via liquid history. There are several interesting cultural history angles on this ban that no one remembers today. It is an early example of using "fake news" to further economic ambitions and the ban was achieved through an unexpected alliance between contradictory allies – the temperance movement and the wine industry.

The history of la fée verte – the green fairy – as absinthe was called in its heyday, goes back much further. Purportedly a family recipe that dates to the 13th century, absinthe was first formulated in the area near Couvet, Switzerland, or perhaps nearby Pontarlier in the Doubs, nestled in the wooded foothills of the Jura Mountains of France. There are two households that lay claim to the original recipe.

If you know anything about absinthe, you likely think of it as a popular muse of the bohemian community during the Belle Époch. Scores of absinthe-inspired posters by Toulouse-Lautrec certainly reinforce that image. But the influence of absinthe on the artistic community has continued unbroken despite this ban. Van Gogh, Degas, Oscar Wilde, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson are just some of the notable artists with absinthe fixations.

Part of the attraction to absinthe is, of course, it’s own mystique. Like opium, cocaine and cannabis, absinthe has the three key elements that make it a compelling intoxicant. It has a ritual preparation that requires special tools, it has been touted by counter-culture fans for its medicinal value, and both its use and ban are shrouded in a lurid history.

Absinthe was originally one of many herb-infused distilled beverages with a dominant licorice flavor popular in France. The unique ingredient in absinthe, however, is wormwood bark. This imparts a narcotic substance called thujone, which is a member of the turpine family. This may account for why an absinthe "addict" like Van Gogh drank paint thinner when he could not afford his preferred beverage. However, the absinthe brands available in the U.S. today cannot contain any thujone and thus are not really absinthe at all in my opinion. But a little thujone goes a long way. There is strong evidence that the original form had very little compared to some of the new "black market" copies today.

Incidentally, wormwood flowers contain no thujone, it is only found in the tree's bark. So unlike marijuana where the concentration of THC is strongest in the flowers, wormwood flower can be used as a aromatic without fear of adding poison. In fact, they are used as a key botanical included in vermouth. The name vermouth comes from "Wermut" which means "wormwood" in German.

While popular in the Belle Époch, mass consumption of absinthe was launched by a botanical accident. In the late 19th century the phylloxera epidemic destroyed most of the vineyards in Europe, and virtually all those of France. Absinthe drinking rose to fill the void in wine production. All social classes then drank absinthe, not just bohemians. In fact, in the 1860′s the 5 o’clock cocktail hour was cristened l’heure verte (the green hour) in honor of the drink. By 1910, some 36 million liters of absinthe were consumed in France annually.

Once the wine industry recuperated somewhat from the years lost to phylloxera, they fought to regain market share. And they fought dirty – by inventing "fake news". The French winemaker’s associations created an unholy alliance – with the temperance movement and the religious right. Does that sound familiarly modern? They argued thus: “Wouldn’t wine – the beverage of Jesus – be a lesser evil than a distilled beverage like absinthe?” Together, this alliance mounted a marketing campaign that claimed absinthe had killed thousands of lives, had caused men to murder their families, and would be the ruin the next generation.

Sensationalism and fake-news-style yellow journalism also played a part. Much like the infamous Reefer Madness film that would taint the public view of marijuana, they concocted a story exaggerating the narcotic effect of thujone. A particularly graphic set of domestic murders, committed by a Swiss laborer named Jean Lanfray in 1905, became the sensation they needed.

The axe murder of his family was laid at the feet of the green fairy in spite of the fact that Lanfray clearly had mental health issues and was also know as a hopeless alcoholic who drank whatever he could get his hands on. But the was a cause célèbre in Swiss and French pulp newspapers.

All of Europe ultimately read about this crime, and absinthe's fate was sealed. One by one, all of the nations of Western Europe except for Spain banned the green fairy and clever promoters had won the biggest product marketing coup ever seen – well, until the Volstead Act led to the 18th amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the prohibition of all intoxicating beverages in the United States in 1919.

In the 1980's absinthe saw a bit of an underground comeback in the London club scene. This led to a blackmarket resurgence for the beverage with production occurring in places as culturally unlikely as the Czech Republic. Many of these new absinthe makers went out of their way to increase the thujone content to dangerously high levels. It has be shown in recent years that the original form of the beverage had far lower amount of thujone.