The Wheat of Virgin Spaces

I’ve had a reply to my previous post below on this blog. Since this is an interesting debate, here’s my response in turn:

Fabulous Fox says:
“Why is this an Either/or situation? Absinthe’s has had a long history of being both gentleman and murderer–from utilizing the powers of Copper Sulfate to the taking advantage of the natural. Considering there were distillers (whether jobbing or not) producing absinthe outside of the “Franco-Suisse” region during the Belle Epoque disqualifies the “made by the Franco-Suisse producer” exclusion.”

I don’t think fine absinthe should only be, or can only be made in France or Switzerland. I think producers who expressly claim the Franco-Swiss heritage in their marketing (by references to age-old Swiss recipes, the glories of the Belle Epoque etc), should make their absinthe in a Franco-Swiss style.
I would have thought this would be hard to disagree with.

Fabulous Fox says:
“While I agree with you, it all depends on where you start absinthe’s pedigree. We could take the medicinal uses of distilled wormwood for the base and progress. Anise got integrated sometime later and (theoretical) a split happens. What we end up with is absinthe the drink and absinthe the (still) medicine. Absinthe the drink then gets softened down, sweetened, subtled, etc. while absinthe the herbal elixir maintains its crazy bitterness, etc.”

The plain meaning of the word “absinthe” as applied to an aperitif, is the drink formulated at the end of the 18th century, and commercialised in France and Switzerland during the 19th. This drink contained wormwood, green anise, fennel and all or most of the following: hyssop, melissa, petite absinthe. There was no parallel 19th century French tradition of drinking wormwood bitters. There were of course various wormwood elixirs - drunk as medicine, not for pleasure - since ancient times. If Czech-style producers are basing their products on these, quite simply they should say so. Again, I would have thought this is hard to disagree with.

Fabulous Fox says:
“Another read of KOSG’s selling line states “Absinthe King Gold is from an original Swiss absinthe recipe and is free of colourings and preservatives.” Is there such a recipe? Probably not but to give them the benefit of the doubt…what if? For the same reasons others will not disclose their propietary information, we can’t expect them to disclose their “secret Swiss recipe”–history be dammed at this point.”

There’s as much chance of finding an ancient Swiss recipe for KOSG, as there is for finding an ancient Swiss recipe for Red Bull. Their product bears no relation to any known vintage absinthe, or to any known vintage absinthe recipe. The onus is thus surely on them to provide some - even indirect - substantiation for their claims.

Fabulous Fox says:
“They needed a site designed. Perhaps the distiller used Roret? Who knows? But ultimately they used that as a visual to show history, lineage, and absinthe, in my opinion (and because I’ve been jaded by the biz) it’s neither here nor there–it’s an “emotional picture”.

I agree. It is likely, as you say, just an “emotional picture”. But it conveys a false history and false lineage then, doesn’t it?

Fabulous Fox says:
“Could it have used a natural dye? Sure, why not? The utilization of dye is still in keeping with the old stuff (just be glad it’s not copper sulfate, I suppose) and should still make the “authentic” list.”

The use of dye is in keeping with the manufacture of low quality 19th century absinthe, as expressly stated in Duplais and all other similar distilling guides. All high quality absinthes were coloured naturally, almost always with some combination of petite absinthe, hyssop and melissa. Century claims to be a high quality product, yet isn’t, it appears, coloured like this. The point of this natural colouring of course was to add flavour and aroma, not just chlorophyll. If you colour with dye, by definition you don’t get this flavour and aroma.

Fabulous Fox says:
“The mean thujone level of all historic absinthe (I say historic because vintage also denotes quality) is probably medium level but then there are also the extremes plus all of the bottles that haven’t gotten around to being tested because they no longer exist, hence a tad bit of uncertainty is introduced.”

Some of the bottles that don’t exist any longer and thus haven’t been tested may have kryptonite put there by alien spaceships, and others that don’t exist any longer and thus haven’t been tested may contain the perfectly preserved tiny foetuses of unborn babies. Anything is possible. But in the meantime, those of us in the reality-based community will continue to go on the GC/MS analyses of major brands like Pernod, Edouard Pernod and Berger, which collectively accounted for the vast bulk of the 19th century absinthe market, and which, as I said, don’t assay anywhere near 100mg/l of thujone.

Fabulous Fox says:
“I do like your ideas on classifying styles. This, however, does not keep them from producing a more “traditional” absinthe and saying “hey, this is the same type of stuff that the French drank during the Belle Epoque”. A recipe is a recipe regardless of where its cooked up, unfortunately, it’s already half judged and completely suspicious because it has the misfortune of being created in the Czech Republic.”

No disagreement from me. Of course a producer in the Czech Republic or anywhere else who wants to make a Franco-Swiss style absinthe should do so. It’s not about location, it’s about making a high quality product, and marketing it truthfully. The use of dye, and the addition of industrial oils like thuja or cedarwood oil are not compatible with the highest quality - surely this is unarguable? And if your product doesn’t look, taste or smell remotely like Franco-Swiss style absinthe, surely claiming that it’s the inheritor of the Belle Epoque tradition is dishonest?

As I said. the Czech producers have this wonderful bitters tradition right on their doorstep. I’ve had many superbly complex, naturally coloured Czech bitters. Why not develop the category of Bohemian Absinth as an extension of this tradition?