"A cocktail is much improved by the addition of two or three drops of Absinthe."

James Fowler, World Class UK Bartender of the Year 2014

C.F. Lawlor's "The Mixicologist" provides one of the first versions of the Absinthe Suissesse (an adapted version of which I enjoyed last year at New York's Dead Rabbit):

The Mixicologist also contains the famous quote about absinthe in the title of this post: "A cocktail is much improved by the addition of two or three drops of Absinthe." Of course Lawlor's Suissesse contains far more than two or three drops, so don't feel limited by the quote!

Fast forward 119 years, and Gaz Regan writes in the Regan Report 2014 (quoted here) that absinthe is a "very important ingredient” in the bartender’s tool chest. “Apart from the fact that it pairs so well to both Scotch and to mescal — both known for their smoky characters — absinthe, when used judiciously, can bring fabulous nuances to cocktails that can be gotten from no other source.”

From time to time, I come across bartenders who are not fully convinced about absinthe. In some cases, that seems to be down to bad experiences bartenders have had with absinthe in the past, and that seems to be especially true in markets where the Czech-style of "absinth" appeared before the real absinthe that is now more globally dominant. Or they see that absinthe is burnt and/or shot in other bars, and they don't want to encourage practices like that in their own bar. 

So how can I convince bartenders and those making cocktails at home that absinthe can add so much to a cocktail? By quoting Lawlor and Regan? Well, that's one way, but "theory" is not as effective as "practice." And over the last month I have seen two great examples of world class practice (literally "World Class"), using absinthe in cocktails that have helped their creators win two of the top prizes in the cocktail world globally. 

I have written previously about the Maid in Cuba cocktail created by Tom Walker at The Savoy for the Bacardi Legacy competition. As Tom said, the inclusion of absinthe makes this a more mature and more interesting alternative to the mojito and the daiquiri, the main drinks which helped inspire the Maid in Cuba, and the audience certainly enjoyed the cocktail at our "Savoy's Green Fairy Secrets" seminar at Tales of the Cocktail 2013. 

Nine months later, I was one of many following the global final of the Bacardi Legacy competition on Facebook and was thrilled to read of Tom's victory (here's an interview with Tom about the competition and the cocktail). As I read the news unfold on Facebook, I remember thinking that the Maid in Cuba was not just an exceptionally good Bacardi cocktail, but that it was also probably the finest new cocktail with absinthe to come from the Savoy since Harry Craddock's Corpse Reviver #2. Of course there are other new cocktails with absinthe available at the Savoy including Erik Lorincz's Monet's Moment, but I suspect the Maid in Cuba is already much more famous. So I was delighted to see that the Maid in Cuba will appear in new editions of the Savoy Hotel Cocktail Book. And here's the proof (in more ways than one!):

Tom is a highly motivated, detail-obsessed bartender and maybe his time at the Savoy has given him a special understanding of absinthe. However Tom is definitely not unique in appreciating what absinthe can do for cocktails.

Today after a week of competition in London and in Hong Kong, the UK winner of the Diageo World Class competition was announced. James Fowler of The Larder House, Southbourne (near Bournemouth) has been a long-term fan of good absinthes, and hosted our first Absinthe Dinner at The Larder House on Valentine's Day, 2012. Later that year, he and Joel Solomon came to Boveresse for the world's largest Absinthe Festival. James told me that he uses as much absinthe as vodka in his restaurant and bar, a fascinating statistic, especially given that it is not positioned as an absinthe outlet.

James progressed through the early stages of Diageo's World Class with his speciality cocktail, Copper Colours. Here's the recipe:-

Mixing Glass filled to the top with fresh cubed ice
Add the following to the mixing glass in the order below:-
1.25 ml Butterfly Absinthe
20 ml Pacharan
20 ml Lepanto Olorosso Spanish brandy
40 ml Ketel One
Stir with bar spoon to chill & dilute. 50 revolutions.
Strain into chilled glass
Serve with Iberico Jamon, borage and burnt tangerine segment salad

(photo of James and his prize-winning cocktail from the Bournemouth Echo)

Over the course of a whole week in London and Hong Kong, James and the other finalists had to do far more than just preparing one cocktail (e.g. food pairing), but this speciality cocktail was a key element in James progressing to the later stages. James shows a keen appreciation of what absinthe can bring to cocktails (as well as to food), even if only in dashes. Congratulations, James!

Two great examples of prize-winning bartenders in the UK making good use of absinthe in amazing cocktails. But there are many more prize-winning bars around the world which feature absinthe as an important part of their mix. Here are just a few of the finalists from this year's Spirited Awards at the Tales of the Cocktail that make very good use of absinthe:

The Nightjar (London)
Big Easy, Covent Garden (London)
Dead Rabbit (New York)
The Anvil (Houston)
Cure and Hotel Bellocq (New Orleans)
Canon (Seattle)
Spare Room (Los Angeles)
Clive's Classic (Victoria)
Black Angel's (Prague)
Widder Bar and Old Crow (Zurich)

If you're a bartender and don't currently use good absinthe, maybe you could consider why do all these top bars (and many more) make such good use of absinthe. If you make cocktails at home and don't have absinthe, well, it's almost like being a cook without having salt and pepper.

Congratulations to Tom and James! Good luck to all the nominees at Tales of the Cocktail! And to all future potential prize-winners and those of you striving to make great cocktails at home!

Nin

Absinthe Days and Mardi Gras

I blogged about Absinthe Days in 2012, noting that March 5 had been designated National Absinthe Day in the USA at Lucid's instigation and that March 1 was being celebrated in Switzerland as their Absinthe Day.

March 5, 2007 was the day when Lucid got their final US approval, and coincidentally March 5, 2013 was the day when Pernod got their final label approval for their new "original recipe."

Neither of these dates were celebrated at the time for a variety of reasons, including the fact that products were not actually available in the US to celebrate with.

How very different from March 1, 2005: the day when absinthe was re-legalised in Switzerland after a 95 year absence. There was extensive press and TV coverage ...

The articles above feature both Claude-Alain Bugnon, the first illegal/"clandestine" distiller to go legal, and Yves Kubler.

Parties were held and many green fairies were observed that day in the Val-de-Travers (there may be some videos of the event on YouTube). All in all, it was a crazy day, and judging by videos of the Mardi Gras, it seems the Swiss and the citizens of New Orleans have a lot in common!

So it seems appropriate that in the space of 5 days this year, we can celebrate the Swiss Absinthe Day, Mardi Gras and then the US National Absinthe Day. With all those opportunities to drink, I probably don't need to suggest any more absinthe cocktails!

In fact on Mardi Gras I will be running a consumer event on absinthe in cocktails at London's famous Milk and Honey, and sadly I will not be able to go to London's Mardi Gras event at the NOLA Bar. NOLA, London is the first bar outside North America to win the coveted Seal of the Sazerac. Obviously a Sazerac - or an Absinthe Frappé - would be great way to celebrate any or all of these dates. In fact I will be drinking at least two different versions of the Death in the Afternoon that evening to see how different absinthes work in different ways in the same cocktail. That will be an interesting experiment - and one that I would urge any absinthe lover or bartender to consider.

My own distiller has progressed somewhat since 2005, and thankfully he now has some slightly larger alembics!

Happy Absinthe Days! Happy Mardi Gras!

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder .. or at least makes the cocktail taste better!

Valentine's Day is approaching. Restaurants and bars throughout the world are finalising menus and special drinks list, while consumers are planning (hopefully) a romantic evening with their current or prospective partner.

Enjoying a drink (or two) is usually part of a good Valentine's Day soirée, and absinthe has been an increasingly popular choice for the evening. According to Google, absinthe seems to be more part of Valentine's Day than champagne (Googling  "valentine's day" drink champagne gets 4.2 million results, Googling "valentine's day" drink absinthe gets 13.4 million results). So two questions and then the answers:-

1. What is it about absinthe that makes it so good for Valentine's?
2. How can absinthe be served on Valentine's Day, either in a restaurant/bar or at home?

Let's explore the first question: What is it about absinthe that makes it so good for Valentine's?

Several sites proclaim absinthe's effectiveness as an aphrodisiac.

Some alcoholic beverages are believed to be especially potent. For example, absinthe was a widely used aphrodisiac by Europeans, especially French artists and intellectuals at the end of the 19th century.

Absinthe has often been considered to contain aphrodisiac properties, which heighten sexual desire. In Alfie, the aphrodisiac qualities of absinthe get the title character laid – by none other than Susan Sarandon.

As an absinthe sales/marketing man, I subscribe to the policies of the various regulatory bodies such as Discus USA whose Code of Practice states:-

Beverage alcohol advertising and marketing materials should not rely upon sexual prowess or sexual success as a selling point for the brand. 

So I would never claim that absinthe has any aphrodisiac qualities (sadly there is at least one absinthe brand on sale in the USA which hints that it does). Absinthe's effects, such as they are, come more from its high alcohol content and perhaps there's a placebo effect too ("I've read that it's an aphrodisiac, so it must be.").

Absinthe's best effects are how well it marries, beds down, gets it together with other ingredients in an amazing range of cocktails. Absinthe may not be an aphrodisiac but it is highly promiscuous! Or as C.F. Lawlor wrote in 1895 in The Mixicologist:  

"A cocktail is much improved by the addition of two or three drops of Absinthe."

One could say that absinthe gets to the heart of a cocktail, and makes the cocktail better (well, maybe not fonder). This is what makes absinthe such a good drink for Valentine's (or any other day, indeed).

So what absinthe cocktails will work best for Valentine's?

The classic choice could be absinthe with champagne or sparkling wine, but its name, Death in the Afternoon, isn't very romantic.

I like the idea of absinthe and fizz for Valentine's, and so I suggest a couple of long established fizzes. First, the Morning Glory Fizz which I first enjoyed at the Brompton Bar and Grill in London where this video was made:



The Juice of 1/2 Lemon or 1 Lime.
1/2 Tablespoonful Powdered Sugar.
The White of 1 Egg.
2 Dashes Absinthe
1 Glass Scotch Whisky
Shake well, strain into long tumbler and fill with syphon soda water.

This is in the Savoy but first appeared some 14 years earlier in 1916 in "Recipes for Mixed Drinks" written by Hugo R. Ensslin. Absinthe and smoky whisky work very well together, a point recently made by Gaz Regan in his Regan Report 2014. 

I first tasted the Sea Fizz cocktail at Death and Co., New York in 2010.

1 1/2 oz Absinthe
Juice 1/2 lemon
1 egg white
1 tsp caster sugar
Shake ingredients for 10 seconds in a cocktail shaker without ice. Add large ice and shake well. Strain into glass and top up with soda water.

According to Erik Ellestad's Savoy Stomp, this first appeared around 1935, created by Frank Meier, at the time of the Gambon Bar, and later of the Ritz in Paris. I cannot find verification of this, although there is a SeaPea Fizz in Meier's book "The Artistry of Mixed Drinks," which omits the egg white (and, given that absinthe was not generally available, specifies "Anis").

I opted for the version in the Savoy Stomp since I recalled how much I had enjoyed it at Death and Co. And I was not disappointed. The egg white helps produce a wonderful foam and it becomes a drink where texture and taste work together really well. I used a blanche (La Clandestine) and  think that works better both in taste and appearance. My wife who doesn't like absinthe generally seemed to enjoy it too.

Since I work in the absinthe sector (business is too grandiose a word for it), I shall not have the luxury of drinking with my wife on Valentine's. Two years ago we enjoyed a great absinthe dinner at The Larderhouse near Bournemouth (mentioned here). This year I will be on duty at a Valentine's event in London. If you're nearby, please come along ... with a partner of course.

It being Valentine's, I shall sign off this time ... Love and xxx ...

Prohibition, repeal, and absinthe

The drink above is currently my favourite cocktail and is one of two I will be drinking on Repeal Day soon. More details of this drink below but first a few words about prohibition and repeal. These are topics that have been very interesting for me since I was responsible for selling alcohol in some Middle East countries

where it was officially banned, and I was also able to observe the effects of prohibition in some States in India. I was living in Delhi at the time and was responsible for selling alcohol (but not absinthe) throughout India. The neighbouring State to Delhi was "dry," meaning alcohol was banned there. We sold a lot to the shops near the border (mm .. where did it all go?!) and had no sales or marketing costs in the dry State, making it very profitable for us. The ban on alcohol in the dry State merely served to whet the appetite of potential customers there.

The long prohibition of absinthe in the USA had a similar effect with many American consumers finding ways to order absinthe online before the ban was finally lifted. Prohibition didn't/doesn't work and merely served/serves to make the banned drinks more intriguing for some.

Indeed the prohibition of absinthe in Switzerland merely drove the whole category underground and is responsible for the birth of some once notorious but now famous absinthe brands such as La Clandestine.

The full story of the birth of La Clandestine in the dark days of the Swiss absinthe ban can be read here.

When it comes to prohibition and repeal, absinthe has the longest history of being banned and is the subject of the most recent repeals. Absinthe was effectively banned in the USA from 1912, 8 years before prohibition. Repeal, whose 80th anniversary is celebrated on December 5, 1933, did not extend to absinthe for another 73 years. Until March 5, 2007, or another 26,753 days to be precise!

So while the US celebrates the 80th anniversary of repeal, absinthe lovers must either mourn all those lost "green hours," or must make up for lost time. I prefer the latter!

So I want to celebrate two events: repeal in general and then the repeal of the absinthe ban. I'll do so with a classic cocktail from the 1920's and 1930's and then with a modern cocktail.

Firstly, what better way to make up for lost time than by trying one (or more) of the absinthe cocktails created to celebrate prohibition and enjoyed in bars like London's Savoy around 1930 while Americans, in theory, were not allowed to drink out in their own country.

The Savoy Cocktail Book mischievously lists a selection of "COCKTAILS SUITABLE FOR A PROHIBITION COUNTRY" which are "for those countries where they make the most of prohibition." This list includes 

Special (Rough) Cocktail
1 Dash Absinthe
1/2 Applejack
1/2 Brandy
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

This is not well reviewed in the Savoy Stomp ("The name is pretty accurate"), so I gave it a miss.

Prohibition started in 1920 so it seems fair to assume that these next two cocktails were expressly named to mark prohibition:

Nineteen-Twenty Cocktail
1 Teaspoonful Groseille Syrup
1/6 Pernod Kirsch
1/6 Crystal Gin
2/3 French Vermouth
1 Dash Absinthe
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

and

Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up Cocktail
2/3 Absinthe
1/3 Gin
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Orange Bitters
1 Dash Gomme Syrup
Shake well, strain into medium size wine-glass, and fill balance with soda water.

Given the number of gin, vermouth and absinthe cocktails in the Savoy and the fact that the first of the these two contains just a dash of absinthe, I have focused here on the second. It is also similar to the Absinthe Special Cocktail with the main difference being the soda. I thought it would be interesting to see what the soda brings to the drink.

I made the Nineteen-Twenty Pick-Me-Up using Gloag's Gin (no longer available) from the makers of The Famous Grouse and an absinthe that was directly hit by the US ban on absinthe: Butterfly Absinthe (more of this later). 

This 1920 Pick-Me-Up was strong and refreshing (maybe an unusual combination) and the citrus notes in Butterfly worked well with the gin. This style of cocktail maybe doesn't have the immediate appeal of some modern cocktails but when I close my eyes and sip it, it does indeed feel like the kind of cocktail one could easily have enjoyed at the Savoy in 1930.

The original makers of Butterfly, P. Dempsey of Merrimac Street, Boston, were of course directly affected by prohibition. Patrick Dempsey's son, George, was the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Wholesale Liquor Dealers Association of America (try putting that on a business card) and he presented this paper in 1908.

Sadly the efforts of George Dempsey and others were unsuccessful: his absinthe, Butterfly, the only American absinthe for which a bottle and recipe survive, disappeared after 1912 and his distillery closed in 1920 to become, eventually, a car park (a very profitable business in Boston!).

Butterfly Absinthe returned to the USA in autumn 2013 and is now made in Switzerland by a former moonshiner. UK mixologists have had a head start on Butterfly, with some great cocktails already created at the Worship Street Whistling Shop and at One Leicester Street. But the most interesting cocktail I have enjoyed with Butterfly takes me back to India (where this post started). London's Indian restaurant, Gymkhana, which opened in September 2013 to some stunning reviews, offers a Flutterby Lassi (created for them by Fluid Movement's Jon Lister who also created the absinthe cocktails enjoyed here in 2012). A lassi is an Indian drink (usually non-alcoholic) with a yoghurt base that is consumed at the end of a meal to ease digestion. 

The Flutterby Lassi is offered as a digestif and is made as follows:-

FLUTTERBY LASSI
3 dill sprigs
2cm piece cucumber, peeled
35 ml Butterfly absinthe
10ml lime juice
20ml gomme
50ml yoghurt

Muddle the dill and cucumber and pour all the other ingredients into shaker.

Shake and double strain.

Serve in a port wine glass and garnish with a scrolled skin of cucumber and a sprig of dill.

The Flutterby made it onto national British TV, into the Evening Standard's list of London's best cocktails and into several other national newspapers. City AM called the Flutterby a "cultural gem."

The combination of Butterfly (which I consider a digestif-style absinthe) with yoghurt works amazingly well, and the dill and cucumber topped it off perfectly. A great well-balanced taste, refreshing with a smooth creamy mouth-feel (but not at all like a cream liqueur). Despite having a large measure of absinthe in, this is the first absinthe cocktail that my wife has really liked, and even requested again and again (see below). 

Great to see a wonderful absinthe cocktail coming from an Indian restaurant of all places. India has some of the strictest alcohol laws in the world, including prohibition in many areas. Butterfly was created by an American company that fought prohibition and lost, and is now made by a Swiss company that was started as a direct result of and response to prohibition. So in every respect, the Flutterby Lassi is a very appropriate way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of repeal in the USA. Cheers! Santé! अच्छी सेहत!

Dr. Funk: the Absinthe Tiki cocktail

Another Monday, another great meeting with bar staff, this time at The Hide Bar in London. It's what I like most in this role that I have developed for myself. Well, that and de-flowering absinthe virgins, but that's another story!

I think a good time was had by all: we started with Clandestinos and I saw that Rufus, the founder of the company that owns The Hide Bar was making an interesting absinthe cocktail at home several hours later.

But I was also on a quest to try a tiki cocktail containing absinthe that I had first read about nearly three years ago, and that is the .... Dr. Funk.

I had heard about this from Robert Haynes-Peterson, who is the national Spirits Examiner for the Examiner, and Drinks Examiner for New York. This is the recipe he posted in 2010 in Drinkology for Fashion Forum Magazine:

apparently from Trader Vic's, circa 1947. Well, not the La Clandestine absinthe part of it, which was Robert's suggestion!

Nastassia of The Hide made a Dr. Funk as shown above (but without the chimney glass or garnishes) and we all agreed that it worked very well. The colour is not so "girly," as to put off men, and it's actually quite a sophisticated drink. The general view was that the absinthe worked well; indeed we felt we could have used more absinthe.

There are certain elements of this drink that are interesting. Of course in 1947 there was no absinthe - officially at least in the USA. In fact most most of the online versions of the Dr. Funk recipe from around this time do seem to specify either Pernod (pastis) or Herbsaint. More significantly they - and most subsequent recipes - contain a lot more rum than absinthe/pastis. Typically a 5:1 ratio, while we were drinking a 2:1 recipe. Here's the one from the 1947 Trader Vic's Bar Guide:

It seems that Robert had adapted this original recipe to produce his version of the Dr. Funk, reducing the rum content from 2.5 to 0.5 oz and switching to absinthe and Robert and I agree that his version works really well. (Edit: noting the first comment, the revised version may be a little smaller than some Tiki cocktails. I suggest using the ratios suggested by Robert, but scaled-up as required).

However ... going back into the history of the drink, the first documented recipe reference is from the book "Mystic Isles of the South Seas" (1921) where you can read the following:-

"I had been introduced to a Doctor Funk by Count Polonsky, who told me it was made of a portion of absinthe, a dash of grenadine,—a syrup of the pomegranate fruit,—the juice of two limes, and half a pint of siphon water. Dr. Funk of Samoa, who had been a physician to Robert Louis Stevenson, had left the receipt (sic) for the concoction when he was a guest of the club. One paid half a franc for it, and it would restore self-respect and interest in one's surroundings when even Tahiti rum failed."

In other words, with a full portion of absinthe and with no rum at all, meaning that Robert's version, whether developed consciously or sub-consciously, is a good compromise between the original (1921) and the Trader Vic's (1947) versions!

There's more - much more - on the history of this fascinating and very enjoyable cocktail on the Pegu Blog and at Tiki Central. This time around, I'm going to sit out the talking and get on with making another one for myself. Manuia!

Absinthe: "Mother's Ruin" for Mother's Day

Apologies, first of all, to those of you who have already celebrated Mothers' Day this year. Mother's Day is a very complicated event, celebrated on more than 30 different dates throughout the year (mothers in Indonesia have to wait until December 22). For those of my readers in the USA, Switzerland, Australia, most of Europe, the Caribbean, Asia and South America, who are all celebrating Mother's Day on May 12 in 2013, I want to explore the connection between absinthe and mothers to celebrate this particular Mother's Day.

Absinthe was first made by women in Switzerland, including the most famous absinthe mother of all, Mère Henriod (Suzanne-Marguerite), with her two daughters.

Given absinthe's early use as a medicinal cure-all, it is not surprising that mothers looking after their families were so influential at making absinthe.

It is perhaps more surprising that when absinthe was banned in Switzerland (and almost globally), it was again Swiss mothers who were responsible for keeping absinthe alive. The excellent Duvallon blog writes about some of them, including

Malotte, Calotte (otherwise known as Charlotte Vaucher, the creator of La Clandestine absinthe), and

Marta. In these cases, it seems that while their husbands were working, it was one more task for the wives (and mothers) to keep the family stocked with absinthe!

So with all these mothers involved in the history of absinthe, it is interesting that the phrase "Mother's Ruin" has historically been used for gin. In October 2012 I had the pleasure to visit Mother's Ruin in Manhattan, and it seems that this bar is very popular with many New York bartenders. Great ambience and great bartending.

And it was this Mother's Ruin that led Jay Newell, Bars Manager at London's Soho House, to create his own version of a Mother's Ruin cocktail. Given the name's gin roots, it is appropriate that the main spirit base is Bombay Sapphire, complemented by Apricot Liqueur and La Clandestine Absinthe. Perceptively, Jay comments that the use of absinthe in this cocktail "hits on a huge trend that is influencing the cocktail scene in London at the moment." Interesting that this trend comes 13 or so years after absinthe first returned to London, since it is only now that there are several companies in the UK who are promoting a higher standard of absinthe (distilled, not cold mix, and with no artificial colours or sweeteners). A trend that seems likely to lead to be repeated elsewhere with brands like Pernod Absinthe now moving to a more natural recipe.

Jay's cocktail marrying gin and absinthe is in fact reminiscent of many of the cocktails in the 1930 Savoy Hotel Cocktail Book. Of the 105 Savoy cocktails that contain absinthe, around 50% of them also contain gin. Jay's cocktail is part of a new trend, but also echoes a 1930 trend. But more of that later.

In the meantime, I'll be celebrating Mother's Day with a Mother's Ruin. Santé, Jay!