The 2006 The International Wine and Spirit Competition was held recently and in the highly competitive Absinthe category, five coveted awards were handed out.  The only Gold Medal and the award for best in class went to the Swiss verte, Absinthe Duplais 72%. Four Silver Medals were handed out to:

• Doubs Premium Absinthe 55%
• Jade Edouard 72%
• Jade Nouvelle Orleans 68%
• Combier Blanchette 60%

We have tasted and enjoyed both Jade products and the Blanchette (actually, another Jade family member) here at InAbsinthia.  Look for tasting notes on the Eduard coming soon.  We are looking forward to trying out both the Duplais and the Doubs. Congratulations to all!

To see the awards on the IWSC web site, click the Awards link at the top, then click on the Spirits category. Here's what they have to say about the Duplais:

Unique, golden/green hue. Slow forming louche had sudden active spurt resulting in thick, almost solid, milk shake finish. Eventual colour was translucent , rich, golden green with amber highlights. The aromas after louche were slow to emerge but built with time into a complex herbal salad. Wormwood and fennel began to establish themselves on the nose with hints of spice lifting above the meld of herbs. Full textured, rich, creamy mouth with outstanding, refreshing taste with substantial fennel and wormwood flavours. Massive power, yet well controlled, long, everlasting finish. Magnificent product.

Also, see this page for more information on the award-winning absinthes:

Here's another misinformed news story from KFMB channel 8 in San Diego, California on the influx of this "banned liquor".  Be sure to check out the video clip showing the story from the "Consumer Alert" portion of the newscast.  The print story is amusing too:

• I can't even begin to imagine just how bad Mexican "absinth" is.  Notice in the video clip how every bottle shown is labeled "Absinth", a dead give away for a very poor absinthe imitator.
• The horrific "burning sugar" ritual is everywhere in this story, with nary a nod towards the real dripping water over a sugar cube method.
• We're told that absinthe tastes like "Yeagermeister" (sic) - jeez, I hope not!
• The sugar ritual makes the "bitter liquor smoother".  Again, I don't understand this insistence that absinthe is bitter.  None of the absinthes we've drank here at InAbsinthia has even the slightest hit of bitterness.
• Just who the heck is "Earnest" Hemmingway? The star in an Oscar Wilde play?
• They just had to get in the hysteria of thujone (and by implication absinthe) being "linked to stomach problems, convulsions and even death".
• And, again, to call it "banned" in the US is overstating the matter, although we should give them credit for at least mentioning its legality in Europe and Mexico.

In an amazing display of serendipity, we have just come across a recently published scientific study completely debunking the idea of "absinthism":

Absinthism was a major reason absinthe got banned at the turn of the 19th century. A specially identified variation on alcoholism, absinthism in particular was supposed to lead to such ailments as brain damage, psychosis and even suicide. Various "studies" were done, many of them with bad or even non-existent scientific rigor, and they supposedly were able to differentiate between a 140 proof liquor containing thujone (the active ingredient in wormwood) and one not containing thujone. Today, most of these studies have been called into question, and there is little support for a specific disease called absinthism.

And while we're at it, here's another wildly inaccurate and exaggerated paragraph from a reference book. This time, it is in the "Wormwood" entry from the Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine:

Wormwood has a historical dark side: absinthe. This clear green alcoholic beverage, which contains essential oil of wormwood and other plant extracts, is highly toxic and presently banned in many countries. A favorite liqueur in nineteenth-century France, absinthe was addictive and associated with a collection of serious side effects known as absinthism (irreversible damage to the central nervous system). The toxic component of wormwood that causes absinthism is thujone. Wormwood may contain as much as 0.6% thujone. On the other hand, wormwood soaked in white wine is used to produce the liqueur called vermouth (derived from the German word for wormwood, Wermuth), which contains very little thujone.

- Wormwood. Belinda Rowland and Rebecca Frey, PhD.
- Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Ed. Jacqueline Longe. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. p2164-2166. 4 vols.

Ooo, watch out for the "dark side"! This "toxic liqueur" is at it again, with "irreversible damage" to the nervous system, its "addictive" nature and the mythical disease of "absinthism". And vermouth doesn't contain wormwood or thujone, or it too would be a controlled substance like absinthe.

As we've mentioned before, bad information about absinthe abounds, both on the Web and in print. Even many of the web sites you find that sell absinthe and fake absinth (sic) products push inaccuracies as a way to sell bad stuff to unsuspecting buyers. Any site selling absinthe that makes a big point of thujone content is immediately suspect and shouldn't be used. All respectable absinthes have almost no thujone content, and not nearly enough for any effect. Even drinking those terrible Czech concoctions which push their "100mg" of thujone does not actually get you enough for hallucinations to set in before the high alcohol content takes over.

We here at InAbsinthia like to search out and destroy this bad information. Drop us a line if you come across any in your electronic or print journeys. Even respectable pages like The Columbia Encyclopedia are rife with misinformation. Check this out :

absinthe, an emerald-green, toxic liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics, including angelica root, sweet-flag root, star anise, and dittany, which have been macerated and steeped in alcohol. It was invented by a Dr. Ordinaire, a Frenchman who lived in Switzerland. Genuine absinthe is 70% to 80% alcohol. Because of the harmful effect it has on the nerves, it has been banned in most western countries.

How bad is this? Let us count the ways:

1. "toxic" - absinthe in not toxic, as your faithful writers here at InAbsinthia can attest. There has been no reputable study that would indicate otherwise.
2. "liqueur" - a common misconception, absinthe is not a "liqueur" (a sweetened, flavored, low alcohol digestif). It is a "liquor", as it is not sweetened, it has a very high alcohol content and is usually an aperitif.
3. "angelica root, sweet-flag root, star anise, and dittany" - While there are many different recipes for absinthe, I'm not sure where they got this list of ingredients. As discussed here, nearly all good absinthes use green anise, not star anise (anise gives it the licorice flavor, although more sophisticated palates than ours have said there is a difference between licorice and anise flavors). And the other main ingredients in absinthe are fennel and hyssop. So the list of ingredients found in the definition are unusual, to say the least.
4. "macerated and steeped in alcohol" - while this is one method for producing absinthe, it is not considered a "good" one. Most respectable absinthes are distilled like normal liquors, and the herbs are used in the flavoring process.
5. "invented by a Dr. Ordinaire" - this story is pretty much discounted by every absinthe historian. It was used as a nice myth to give absinthe some respectability. Jad Adams, in his book "Hideous Absinthe" explains why a myth surrounding a French doctor living in Switzerland was used over the more probable creation by the Swiss medicine woman Henriette Henriod:

   Several cultural functions were served when Ordinaire and not Henriod was seen as the originator of modern absinthe: it meant the drink was a product of science rather than folk medicine; it became the creation of a man, not a woman; and if it had been made by a Frenchman only staying in Switzerland then it could be claimed as French, not Swiss. This creation of a culturally acceptable myth was characteristic of the whole long history of absinthe, in which the green fluid accepted whatever desires were projected onto it and combined with them in an opaque, cloudy mix.

6. "70% to 80% alcohol" - while some may reach these dizzying heights, most are more like 60% to 70%.
7. "harmful effect it has on the nerves" - again, this isn't true in the slightest, despite repeated claims. Absinthe was a victim of the nascent Prohibition movement and became an easy target for bad science and while thujone in very high amounts is bad for you (as are many things), it can't happen via absinthe.
8. "banned in most western countries" - it is neither banned nor in most western countries. These days, it is actually legal in many western countries (including all of the European Union), and even where it is controlled, like in the United States, calling it "banned" is an exaggeration. It can't be sold, but it can be possessed, unlike say marijuana or machine guns.

Phew! Wow, makes you wonder exactly how many other bad entries are in this encyclopedia, doesn't it?

As it looks like absinthe is legal in Australia, they are having a Viva la France party in Adelaide that features:

Top French foods, wines and spirits will be offered including absinthe, and Moet and Chandon - real French Champagnes.

It's a party to be held at The Boho Bar this Friday and Saturday. Sounds like fun!

Adelaide was one of our favorite Australian cities. Be sure to check out the pie floaters, a pretty grisly-sounding but actually pretty tasty concoction featuring meat pie covered tomato sauce floating in a bowl of pea soup wonder if it goes with absinthe?

Absinthe, as you may imagine, has a very checkered history when it comes to the law.  And it is currently even more confusing, given its long dormant history and vast supplies of misinformation.  For instance, here in the US it is illegal to sell or import any drink that contains thujone, a key ingredient in absinthe that comes from the wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium) plant. Thujone is called a "known harmful" ingredient, so the FDA bans its use in food for human consumption, so you can't sell it, but you're allowed to buy, possess it and, yes, even drink it, because the FDA only goes after sellers, not buyers. 

But here's a good link with thumbnail sketches of absinthe's legality in many countries and areas around the world.  I have been reading some debate about its Canada entry, as even the officials there seem to be confused as to its real status, as opposed to its "I think..." status.