Absinthe Obscura 

​"After the first glass [of absinthe] you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

So said Oscar Wilde of a drink that provokes as much controversy as it does enthusiasm. And it’s not just Wilde who had an opinion on it, a great deal has been written about Absinthe throughout its history and that history is, partly one imagines because of the passion it arouses, a chequered one. Banned in many countries until recently, it has experienced a resurgence of popularity and to honour this new enthusiasm we have created Absinthe Obscura, a delightful entertainment designed to intrigue, educate and stimulate curious souls in a responsible manner.

After the success of our first two tasting sessions at MOTAT’s Prohibition Parties (We know! The irony!) we recently hosted a special tasting experience in the middle of Napier's Winter Deco event. If you were there, you know how well it went and if you weren't, you'll have to take our word for it and wait impatiently until the next time we summon the Green Fairy to a venue near you. And while you're waiting for that summons, read on for a light history of the drink and then put your name on our mailing list to make sure you don't miss our next outing. 

The Beginning

Invented by a Dr. Pierre Ordinaire in 1792, Absinthe was originally offered as a medicine, containing wormwood, green anise, fennel and coriander. Meant to cure just about anything, it was recommended for the treatment of epilepsy, gout, kidney stones, colic, headaches and worms. Dr Ordinaire travelled the countryside selling his medicine as a cure-all until the recipe was somehow shared with the Henriod sisters of Couvet, who also sold absinthe as a medicinal elixir before passing it on to a Major Dubied in 1797.

​By this time the recipe had changed slightly and the previously medicinal concoction had become quite drinkable and locally popular. Chlorophyll was added to give a green hue which lead to the drink earning its romantic nickname "La Fee Verte" , or The Green Fairy. The Major could see the potential in the beverage and with his son Marcellin and son-in-law Henry-Louis Pernod, opened the first absinthe distillery, Dubied Père et Fils, in Couvet. In 1805, they built a second distillery in Pontarlier, France, under the new company name Maison Pernod Fils. Pernod Fils remained one of the most popular brands of absinthe up until the drink was banned in France in 1914.

The Success

Absinthe's popularity grew steadily and hit its peak between 1880 & 1910 becoming a quintessential part of Belle Epoque French society. The French consumed far more absinthe than any other country. Everyone drank it. In 1874 alone, France consumed 700,000 litres of absinthe, but by 1910, this figure had exploded to 36,000,000 litres per year. It became a symbol of inspiration and daring, widely associated with the bohemian artists and writers who were revolutionising art and literature. Toulouse-Lautrec famously carried a hollow walking stick which contained a draught of absinthe and many famous works of art were reportedly inspired by it, including some of Degas' and Van Gogh's greatest masterpieces, and the very first cubist paintings by Picasso and Braque.​

Wormwood

The Souring

But it wasn’t the amount being drunk or an alcohol content ranging from 69% to 89.9% that gave Absinthe its seedy reputation and eventually resulted in it being banned. The drink has been frequently and improperly described as being hallucinogenic despite no study demonstrating that it has such properties. This belief is at least partly rooted in the fact that following experiments with wormwood oil in the 1860s, the French psychiatrist Valentin Magnan claimed that those who drank absinthe were worse off than those drinking ordinary alcohol, often experiencing rapid-onset hallucinations. He blamed the presence of thujone, a neurotoxin present in the ingredient wormwood but it is widely accepted now that reports of hallucinogenic effects of absinthe were attributable to the poisonous adulterants being added to cheaper versions of the drink at the time such as oil of wormwood, impure alcohol, and poisonous colouring matter such as copper salts.

The belief in the other-worldly effects of the drink stuck though with many artists and writers valourising its powerful psychoactive properties, describing it as mind opening, detailing that they experienced a "clear-headed" feeling of inebriation and a "lucid drunkenness". Such feelings may have been caused by the fact that some of the herbal compounds in the drink act as stimulants, others as sedatives, creating the effect of having one’s senses sharpened and relaxed simultaneously.
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The End

But it wasn’t just the hallucinogenic horrors of absinthe that pushed it out favour, it was an unusual murder and the extreme reaction to it that really put it beyond the pale for most people. In 1905, Jean Lanfray, a Swiss farmer, murdered his family and attempted to take his own life. Lanfray was an alcoholic who, prior to the murder, had consumed huge quantities of wine and brandy, finishing that day’s binge with two glasses of absinthe. His attorneys argued that those two glasses of absinthe were to blame for his actions and Dr. Albert Mahaim, a leading Swiss psychologist, testified that Lanfray suffered from ‘a classic case of absinthe madness’.

​The public were seized by a moral panic and drafted a petition to ban absinthe in Switzerland which collected more than 82,000 signatures. A referendum was held, a ban was approved and the prohibition of absinthe was written into the Swiss constitution. In 1906, both Belgium and Brazil followed suit, the Netherlands in 1909, Switzerland in 1910, the United States in 1912, and finally, France in 1914. And there it sat, in a half-light, little understood and much maligned for nearly 80 years.

The Modern Renaissance

It was in Britain in the 1990s, where it had never been banned, that the stirrings of a revival occurred and once celebrities such as Marilyn Manson started distilling their own versions of the Green Curse, absinthe was back on the world’s palette. It’s still widely under-appreciated however and we at The Metropolitan Club have decided to put at least some of our effort into popularising the best of it in New Zealand.

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The Green Muse - Albert Maignan