Absinthe evolved from herbal folk remedies

Topic created by logan
on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 at 09:14

logan said on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 at 09:14...

I saw this in publicity from a film about absinthe. It goes on

"originating in the late 1700s in a beautiful Alpine region on the Swiss-French border called the Val-de-Travers"

It seems that history is being written over? I thought that Pierre Ordinaire (was he a doctor) *invented* absinthe.

THEABSINTHEPROFESSOR said on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 at 10:07...

I would suggest that someone invented Dr Ordinaire in order to claim absinthe (wormwood) for themselves. He was born of 19th century capitalism. To claim that this "herbal folk remedy" - whose progeny is La Fee Verte - suddenly rose up in mountain valley is perhaps the result of 21st century absinthe turf wars. The still room of history was where curative "waters" were made and there are numerous recipes for wormwood liquors that predate this Swiss.

ty9 said on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 at 08:10...

"21st century absinthe turf wars"

The irony is of course that the Val de Travers distillers do not make VERY GOOD absinthe, it is mostly mediocre stuff. The vertes are pretty bad actually. They certainly have brass necks though. This Swiss IGP lobby consists of some former bootleggers who got a pardon in 2005 and are now asking the Govt to give them a mafia style monopoly! The strange thing is they cannot sell their absinthe locally ---nobody wants it! The only brand you will find in the regional stores is Kubler. Their view is that it is their Fee Verte.....IT IS NOT. There is a lot of Goebbels style history emanating from those parts as well.

La Fee Vertigo said on Mon, 4 Apr 2011 at 11:33...

Yeah...who would have guessed: a bunch of liberal, open-minded, friendly, mountain dwelling, French speaking, Swiss nationals causing such a nasty brew. Anyone might think they were small minded, xenophobic, garlic heads with an eye on the cash till.