Absinthe

La boisson du diable (the Devil's drink) or la Fée verte (the Green Fairy) or more simply la Bleue are a few of the many names given to this once very popular, but long-banned drink.
The origins of absinthe are not recorded and both France and Switzerland claim the credit for its invention. What is known for sure is that the liquor of absinthe was invented in the Swiss village of Couvet, near the French border in the region called Val de Travers, towards the end of the 18th century.

The French version of the story has it that a French doctor, Pierre Ordinaire, who lived in Switzerland, invented the absinth elixir, a bitter alcoholic potion made from wormwood, a plant typical of the region and that has precious medicinal virtues. After the doctor's death, the story goes, the secret recipe was sold to two old sisters who, unable to meet the growing local demand, sold it in their turn to a man called Major Dubied. In Pontarlier, just on the other side of the border, Dubied and his now famous son in law, Henry Louis Pernod, built the first distillery of absinthe, Pernod Fils. The Swiss equivalent of the story claims that Doctor Ordinaire stole the recipe from two Swiss sisters before selling it to the French distiller. No matter who invented it, it is clear that Doctor Ordinaire greatly contributed to the popularity of absinthe: thanks to its medicinal qualities it quickly became a household name.The small Pontarlier distillery had to fulfill local, national and before long, international demand. The curative qualities of the potion were very soon forgotten but the market nevertheless boomed. In just half a century, the number of distilleries in the region grew from two to more than fifty. The drink, more popular than champagne, was exported to all parts of the world. But this gold rush was not to last.

During its hey-day many crimes, including murder and suicide were alleged to have been committed under the influence of absinthe. Indeed, the plant is poisonous and excessive consumption causes delirium and affects the personality. Furthermore absinthe is not only intoxicating, it is also highly addictive. Many poets, painters and writers such as Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Wilde and perhaps most famously Van Gogh imbibed absinthe to enhance their creative powers. They nicknamed it la Fée verte due to the hallucinatory journeys on which the drink would take them.

In Switzerland absinthe prohibition stemmed from a public referendum in 1905, the trigger for which was a shocking crime in which an absinthe intoxicated man shot his wife and children. This and other crimes were blamed on the abuse of absinthe. Committees for morality and religious associations (no doubt made up of a significant number of disgruntled winegrowers) appealed to the government to ban la boisson du diable.
The ban, on health grounds, was enforced on a national level in 1910 in Switzerland, and France followed in 1915. The prohibition of absinthe was even added to the text of the Swiss constitution, but in spite of prohibition genuine absinthe never stopped being produced and sold on the black market which rapidly developed on the Swiss side of the border. Many farmers still illegally distill and sell absinthe in order to supplement their incomes.
Until very recently it remained illegal to produce or sell absinthe in France and Switzerland, but in October 2001, a Swiss distiller who managed to reduce the percentage of thujone (the toxic substance of the woodworm plant) in absinthe and was allowed to reintroduce absinthe by the Swiss government. The black market of absinthe, on which many farmers rely, is now seriously threatened.
Now ninety-one years after its initial prohibition the nostalgic are allowed to buy and drink a liquor very similar to the original Fée verte, but this time with a clear conscience and untroubled dreams.