Absinthe

The core of this range is Distillerie Les Fils d'Emile Pernot, which distils in Pontarlier, the French town that was the centre of world absinthe production before the 1915 ban. Five expressions are stocked: Authentique at 65%, the Grande Absinthe de Pontarlier; Berthe de Joux at 56%; Cousin Jeune at 65%, built on Artemisia absinthium and green anise; Deniset Jeune at 56%; and Bourgeois at 55%, where anise leads.

La Fee covers the modern revival with Blanche, Parisienne and Bohemian. Lemercier brings a Green at 45% and higher strength Blue and Amer Pink at 72%. Distilleries et Domaines de Provence contribute La Grande Absente at 69% and Absente at 55%, both from Forcalquier.

The serving kit matters as much as the bottle here. The range includes Emile Pernot absinthe glasses and Distilleries et Domaines de Provence absinthe fountains in two and four pourer versions, which is what makes the louche ritual possible at home rather than just theoretical.

The range covers approachable anise-led styles through to full strength Pontarlier bottlings at 65% and above.

History

Absinthe began as a medicinal tonic in the Val-de-Travers on the Swiss side of the Jura in the late eighteenth century, built around grande wormwood, green anise and fennel. Production moved across the border to Pontarlier in France, which by the late nineteenth century was making millions of litres a year.

It became the drink of the Parisian belle epoque, and then the scapegoat for it. A combination of a temperance movement, a wine industry lobbying hard after phylloxera, and one widely publicised murder case in Switzerland led to bans across Europe and the United States between 1906 and 1915. The claim was that thujone, a compound in wormwood, caused madness. Modern analysis of pre-ban bottles has found thujone at levels far too low to have any such effect. Absinthe was simply very strong alcohol, often consumed in quantity.

The bans were lifted progressively from the 1990s, and Pontarlier distilling resumed. What is bottled today, from producers working with pre-ban recipes and traditional stills, is much closer to the original than the neon green product of the 1990s revival.

How to drink it

The ritual is not decoration, it changes the drink. Pour roughly 30ml of absinthe into a glass. Rest a slotted spoon across the rim with a sugar cube on it, then drip iced water slowly over the sugar from a fountain or a carafe. Aim for three to five parts water to one part absinthe.

As the water goes in, the essential oils that are soluble in alcohol but not in water come out of solution and the drink turns cloudy. That is the louche, and it is what releases the aroma. Rushing the water ruins it, which is why fountains exist.

Sugar is optional and depends on the bottle. A Pontarlier absinthe built around wormwood can take it. A sweeter anise-forward style generally does not need it.

Never set it on fire. That is a 1990s invention with no basis in tradition and it burns off the aromatics you paid for.

For cocktails, a rinse of absinthe in the glass makes a Sazerac. A bar spoon in a Corpse Reviver No.2 or a Death in the Afternoon is enough.

Fountains, spoons, glasses and what the Australian rules actually allow in the bottle are all covered in our full guide to drinking absinthe.