In search of the Bloody Fairy

Virginia Davis, manager, Pirate’s Alley Café/Absinthe House, New Orleans

The ”Bloody Fairy?” Gimmick or classic? Let’s explore this..

By “Bloody Fairy,” of course, I mean an absinthe equivalent of the “Bloody Mary.” Sounds simple, or so I thought.

But it turns out that there are different directions this could go: it could be a standard spicy Bloody Mary with a few dashes of absinthe as seen here:

Or it could be a completely different (and not spicy) drink using absinthe, cranberry juice and tonic water as seen here:

Or it could be a drink in which absinthe completely replaces vodka as mentioned here:

I believe the last option included here fits far better with the "Bloody" proposition and is clearly more "Fairy" related.

I used this starting point on my 2018 visit to New Orleans and later at home. I now believe I am close to the perfect Bloody Fairy, loved by bars, using tweaks from famous cocktail experts, and indulging my own preferences too. It’s been a tough journey but someone had to do it!

Firstly I see little need to tamper with the "Bloody" element, For bars serving very spicy or alternatively more mellow Bloody Marys, you know what works for your customers, so don’t tamper with that element. That’s what your customers want, whether it be a brunch cocktail, aperitif or even digestif (a good Bloody Mary can indeed be all of these). So I will not detail or define here the spicy tomato element of this cocktail: what works for your customers in your bar or for you at home in a Bloody Mary will work for you in a Bloody Fairy.

Moving onto the absinthe element, it is clear that absinthe can be a polarising taste. While vodka can be somewhat blander. I believe less bitter absinthes work much better in this cocktail, complementing the tomato juice and the spicy elements, rather than fighting with them. For me, and the New Orleans bartenders we tried this with, Butterfly Classic Absinthe worked really well, with respectable strength (65%), little bitterness, and a flavour profile that complements tomato and spices. Butterfly has a traditional recipe base of herbs and spices which complement the spices used in Bloody Mary; it also has hints of citrus and mint that sit well alongside tomato juice.

Butterfly's US heritage makes it a perfect ingredient in this Bloody Mary twist, given that the Bloody Mary may have been born at the New York Bar in Paris in 1921 or in New York itself in the 1930's, and it is certainly a cocktail which is most popular in the USA.

So this was the start of the drink: a traditional tomato/spice mix and Butterfly Absinthe. A prototype Bloody Fairy that I drank in bars in New Orleans in September 2018. Firstly in The Old Absinthe House with Jackie and her team:

(yes, I know the Bloody Fairy glass is empty: a clear indication that this was the most popular of the three cocktails we shared)

at other bars around New Orleans:

and at Tony Seville's Pirate's Alley Café and Absinthe House (see photo with Virginia Davis at the top). We all loved it.

However I recognise that the slight element of bitterness in any good absinthe may not work for everyone, and after consideration I realised that an extra ingredient I had enjoyed in Bloody Marys a few years ago would really be the icing on the cake,

Sherry.

I researched further and I found that some of the world’s most celebrated cocktail experts have used sherry to complete their Bloody Marys. If this idea is good enough for Erik Lorincz (formerly of The Savoy)

and for Simon Ford of Ford's Gin

there must be a reason.

Manzanilla or Fino didn’t seem quite right, so I was interested to consider a cream sherry. I was not alone, judging by this article from a British newspaper:

So there we have it. The perfect Bloody Fairy recipe:-

1. Tomato juice and all the usual spices and garnishes: exactly how you would combine them in your Bloody Mary.

2. Spirit:

Either replace all the vodka with Butterfly Absinthe, an American-style absinthe. Noting that this comes in at 65% alcohol, then you could perhaps reduce the amount of absinthe to around two-thirds of the amount (of vodka) you would use in a Bloody Mary.

Or replace half of the vodka with  Butterfly Absinthe, so a smaller amount of Butterfly and half of the vodka.

3. The icing on the cake: float Cream Sherry on top.

We hope you love this Bloody Fairy as much as we do! It is much much more than a gimmick and deserves to become a new classic cocktail. And, as it's Oscar season, I'd like to thank Bernie for all her help in New Orleans and for sharing a few Bloody Fairies! Cheers!

Absinthe Cocktails Competition in UK

For the last year or so, my bartender presentations on absinthe have included much more about the role of absinthe in cocktails. Absinthe was first distilled commercially in 1798 (in Couvet, Switzerland) and  1798 is also the year that the word "cocktail" first appeared in print meaning a drink. Absinthe and cocktails seem to have been "paired at birth."

Around the world, bartenders now seem to realize that a lot of the old stories and ways of drinking absinthe were myths and fabrications to prey on the ignorant. But some bartenders still don't seem to know what to do with absinthe (apart from rinses in Sazeracs and dashes in Corpse Revivers, that is).

So I was delighted when James Fowler contacted me about an opportunity to talk about absinthe in cocktails with the Bournemouth Bartenders League (BBL). James will be well-known to regular readers here as the owner of The Larder House (home of the first UK absinthe dinner) and more recently the UK winner of Diageo's World Class Bartender competition. I don't know whether there is "something in the water" around Bournemouth or whether it is the inspiration of people like James, but it is clear that there is a lot of bartending expertise there. James put me in touch with Salvatore Damiano of the BBL and a few weeks later, I drove to The Larder House and I gave a short presentation about absinthe in cocktails (with the behind-the-bar help of Franco) ...

I have no idea what I was doing with the iPad in that top right shot, but by the time of the bottom right shot, I had finished my talk and was enjoying watching the cream of local bartenders at work. Why? Well, I have spent far too much time in the last year or so analysing history, the ways in which absinthe was used in cocktails back in the days of Harry Craddock at The Savoy (1930), and how modern bartenders are now using absinthe. For example ...

The first column of numbers shows the % of absinthe cocktails which used specific other ingredients in The Savoy in 1930. Not surprisingly absinthe was used in a lot of cocktails with gin and/or vermouth. The second column of numbers is based on the best absinthe cocktails book, A Taste for Absinthe, published in 2010, with cocktails provided by many of the world's best bartenders. Gin and vermouth have slipped down the list, and lemon/lime along with sugar or simple syrup have become the most popular ingredients to be paired with absinthe in cocktails.

Interestingly both La Clandestine and Pernod are working extensively with cocktails made almost entirely with absinthe, limes and sugar. The Clandestino was first made in 2007 and The Green Beast was first made about three years later.

So why was I at the Larder House? Here there was a team of contestants who were not thinking of the 1930 or even of 2010. They were thinking of creating the next great absinthe cocktail. Their brief was to use a full measure of absinthe, either La Clandestine or Butterfly, in creating their own new cocktail, and here is what they created and what I had the pleasure of judging ..

1. David Hall, Urban Reef

The Boston Cocktail

25ml Butterfly Absinthe

25ml Green Apple syrup

75ml Water

4 dashes of Orange bitters

Shaken and pour in a tumbler

I loved the way that David took elements from Butterfly's past: especially the fact that the owner of Dempsey, Boston, was one of the major US players fighting the threat of prohibition.

2. Connor Sanderson, The Captain's Club Hotel

Alice's Fairy Elixir

25ml La Clandestine

15ml Koku Kanu

15ml Mozart white liqueur

1 egg white

A spoon of New Forest Strawberry Jam

Nutmeg

Shaken and pour over crushed ice in a jam jar

Beautifully made with some great ingredients; excellently presented.

3. Harry King, The Library at The Larder House

Parasite

20ml Butterfly absinthe

10ml Creme de Violette

10ml Kamm and Sons aperitif

5ml maraschino

20ml lime juice

Stirred over ice and topped with elderflower tonic water and finished with a lavender foam

The foam was an interesting challenge for a judge; of course one has to taste through it too, in order to understand how the taste of the cocktail will develop. The one small issue I had with this cocktail was the name which didn't quite communicate how wonderful this cocktail was.

4. Thomas Quy, The Captain's Club Hotel

Fancy a Cuppa

40ml Butterfly Absinthe

20ml lemon & ginger tea syrup with mint

15ml lemon juice

20ml Violet Liqueur

2 dashes of grapefruit bitters

Shaken and poured into a tea cup

A very full measure of Butterfly here: 40 ml. Great taste and presentation. This is getting difficult ...  

5. Joel Whitmore, The Larder House

Covert Beets in the Back Streets of Couvet

Per serving –

40ml Apple & Ginger Juice

20ml Beetroot Juice

0.1g malic acid
Pour all ingredients into iced filled absinthe fountain.

Stir. 
Add 25ml La Clandestine Absinthe into Absinthe glass.

Turn taps and add desired amount of apple and beet mix to absinthe. 
Garnish with Swiss mountain flowers.

I had met Joel previously and, honestly, I didn't want him to win if he seemed to have any inside advantage! But I couldn't fault the concept or the final presentation and taste. Absinthe and beetroot do work together well, both visually and in a cocktail. It wasn't the punchiest of names for a cocktail but apart from that, it was faultless.

So I chose two winners: Joel (for the best cocktail with La Clandestine) and Thomas (for the best cocktail with Butterfly).

And I was delighted that Salvatore chose another winner, David, for the Bournemouth Bartenders League prize.

It was a great day for me, in which I learnt a lot about the process of creating cocktails: from naming, through to preparation and execution. Thank you to the Bournemouth Bartenders League, thank you to Matt Pollard for the photographs (hopefully my collages did not spoil them too much!),and above all thanks to Salvatore for organising it all. It is clear that great absinthe cocktails can be made with much more than a few drops or dashes as used by Craddock in 1930. If this happens elsewhere, absinthe distillers will be very busy keeping up with demand in the near future!

"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

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!

Absinthe Antiques

There is no hidden significance in my use of the above photo in an article called "Absinthe Antiques!" From left to right, it shows me, Kamal Mukherjee of DrinkUp NY, Scott MacDonald (more about him in a second), and Maxwell Britten of Maison Premiere. We're at Maison Premiere here. It's a rare photo showing four absinthe "movers and shakers," none of whom seem to be drinking absinthe. To be fair to us (and our livers), some of us had started drinking absinthe a little earlier (Maison Premiere's Happy Hour offer of $1 oysters is a must) and some of us would be seen drinking absinthe cocktails a few hours later in Battery Park!

This was the first time one of the most important US absinthe retailers (Kamal) had met with one of the most important US absinthe mixologists (Maxwell). It was also the first time I had met with fellow absinthe forum member, Scott, and it is always great to find fellow absinthe lovers several thousand miles from home. Scott makes and designs guitars for a living (what a nice job!) and indulges his love of hand-crafted absinthe and the paraphernalia surrounding absinthe in many of his spare time moments. And now he is becoming well-known in his own right as the author of Absinthe Antiques: A Collection from la Belle Époque.

Scott kindly arranged an advance digital copy of the revised edition of Absinthe Antiques for me a few weeks ago, and I have been enjoying it enormously. If some people can derive a lot pleasure drinking absinthe by feeling that they are enjoying history (and absinthe has more than its fair share of history), then what better way to enjoy that history by drinking absinthe in antique glasses, using antique spoons, antique pourers etc? Sadly, however, while most of my readers can access good absinthe at a variety of prices, it is not possible for all of us to enjoy drinking them using antiques. Which is where Scott's book comes in. In sumptuous details, he shares with us an "orgy" of antiques, from fountains

through spoons

 and glasses,

and many, many other types of advertising ephemera that you need to read about and to see to understand.

All with just the right amount of accompanied text to get the reader involved in the subject!

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that this is the revised edition. However, it's much more than just "the Director's Cut." At 221 pages with more than 300 photographs, it is more than twice as long as the first edition. This also has new chapters on postcards, art, antique bottles, the Pontarlier Museum's absinthe exhibit and the absinthe antiques market at the Absinthiades (sorry to say, Scott, that with the new Absinthe Museum opening in the Val-de-Travers in 2013, you may need to add a section on that too!).

I asked Scott what was his vision of the book, and his reply was illuminating. "What seems to happen for many reading it is this: they come away with a deeper understanding of what absinthe is and was, despite it being a book about the pieces used in its service. It's almost as if it is a round-about way of seeing absinthe through the eyes of its history. The spirit of the Belle Époque is clear in these antiques, as is the romantic way I feel about them."

And, to me, it's clear that Scott's vision has been achieved here.

To describe Absinthe Antiques as a coffee table book might be accurate, but it doesn't do the book justice. Yes, it's a great book to have at home to dip into from time to time. But it's also one of those rare books in which the passion of the author for his subject is clear on every page. You can see Scott's love for his antiques in the way he has organised his compositions ... the backgrounds, the lighting, the shots themselves and the whole layout of the book.

And at a time when many things are becoming smaller (iPad minis etc), it's nice to find it's a big book too, as this photo makes clear (11" x 8.5," so 17" wide when opened).

Two final comments.

Since it's a book about antiques, it might have been interesting to have told the reader how much the items shown actually cost (or maybe a range of costs). That would have made it an even more useful reference work, although I know it is not always easy to put an accurate value on antiques. And maybe the prices would have scared people! I put this point to Scott, and his eloquent response was that he did not want to talk about something that has nothing to do with the spirit and original purpose of the antiques. He prefers to celebrate the antiques, rather than to demean them with a monetary value. In any case, "For the price of a couple of bottles of absinthe, one can easily find a full service for two of very nice spoons, saucers and glasses!"

A nice detail for the French (and those in the French-speaking part of Switzerland): the book includes a complete French translation (by Marc Thuillier) via an appendix.

And here's my favourite photo, which serves so well to illustrate the care Scott has taken with details: an Everett upright grand piano, born between 1900 and 1905 in Boston, birthplace of the vintage American absinthe Butterfly of the same era (that's NOT a pre-ban Butterfly here!).

Finally, reader, beware. Some of the more unscrupulous online absinthe "dealers" exaggerate the completely irrelevant "drug" side of absinthe. Absinthe Antiques, however, could well prove addictive, and you may find yourself scouring the markets for antiques every weekend ...

Availability details for the book are here.

Santé, Scott, for an excellent, enjoyable (but maybe addictive!) book.

Absinthe co-operation

I think that Blues Cat, whose label has just been approved for US launch, is the 78th absinthe to get that permission. Not that it is possible to find more than about 40 of those anywhere currently.

What I like about Blues Cat is that it represents a co-operation between 4 absinthe artists, who all appear on the back label.

I think co-operation like this is great: pooling strengths and working on a shared goal can often produce something that is more than the sum of its parts. Wine has seen great collaborations like this (notably Opus One), and absinthe has seen some transatlantic partnerships too. Notably the first Marteau was a collaboration between America's Gwydion Stone and Switzerland's Oliver Matter, and more recently Butterfly is a collaboration between America's Brian Fernald and Switzerland's Claude-Alain Bugnon. Even more recently, Stefano Rossoni and Martin Zufanek worked together on La Grenouille and L'Ancienne.

Cheers to the creators of Blues Cat: Cheryl, Eric, Kirk and Kenneth. I look forward to trying this soon!

Real Absinthe: 2010 Review & 2011 forecast

At the end of 2007 and 2008, I published posts reviewing what had happened in the world of absinthe in those years and then adding my forecasts for the year ahead. At the end of 2009, I published no less than 8 reports of absinthe around the world, and decided an additional year-end review was perhaps not necessary.

2010 has, however, proved to be another landmark year for absinthe, so I think a summary and some predictions are called for. Here goes ...

1. THE US ABSINTHE MARKET HAS STABILISED BUT ...

After the 2008 banking crisis and the election of a new administration, 2009 was never going to be easy. The emergence of some products that are euphemistically called "fauxsinthes" by members of the absinthe forums certainly slowed the growth of real absinthe in the USA in 2009. These products tend to have a lower product cost, contain added sugar and/or artificial colouring, and can then afford to spend big marketing dollars instead of putting money into the product itself. George W. Bush

apparently said, “You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” In 2009 some people were fooled, but by the end of the 2010 it seemed that at least one notorious "fauxsinthe" could no longer fool anyone and was on the way out. Some of the other low specification products that falsely claim to be absinthe are still around but most have made little impact.

Partly as a result of the failure of these products, they are no longer clogging the market as in 2009 and there are signs that some real absinthes are now able to expand availability as demand for real absinthe starts to pick up again.

The survey conducted by Absinthe Devil in Spring 2010 came just as the market started to recover, but showed that the favourite brands of absinthe lovers were not necessarily always those that were found in most shops or bars. La Clandestine, Nouvelle Orleans and Meadow of Love achieved the highest “have bought, will buy again” scores in that survey, but the last two of these, in particular, remain difficult to find. As Absinthe Devil reported: "retailers/bars are missing the opportunity to stock absinthe aficionados’ preferred brands."

Wormwood Society Review Editor Brian Robinson (who has also contributed here in the past) has written extensively in recent years on what he and others consider to be a real issue in the promotion of absinthe in the USA: telling the truth and promoting the category responsibly.

At the end of 2009, he wrote about Pernod's claims to be the creator of absinthe; there continue to be rumours that Pernod may react positively to such criticism (and to the April Fool's Day posts!) by re-introducing an absinthe closer to their famous pre-ban product.

In 2010, he also targeted Crillon, the importers of Absente, Grande Absente and Ordinaire. He followed that post with an article in the Mutineer Blog. To date there has been no response to Brian's posts about Crillon (apart from banning him from their Facebook page). Media management is a tricky issue, but, in my opinion, ignoring media criticism is not the best option.

Issues like this are behind the "but" in the headline to this section; thankfully there are not too many other "buts." Le Tourment Vert launched pre-mixes, one or two popular absinthes have almost disappeared from the US (but should re-appear in 2011), and the flood of new absinthes gaining approval has slowed dramatically (maybe that's also good news if it keeps lower quality products out?). La Maison d'Absinthe, one of the top absinthe accessory shops in the US, seems to have closed down.

2. THE RENAISSANCE OF THE REAL ABSINTHE MARKET OUTSIDE THE US

This is not yet a universal trend, but the signs are highly positive, especially in the UK, Canada and Australia. Various factors have led to this, including the UK launches of well-reviewed absinthes, such as Butterfly

and Maison Fontaine


before they have been launched in the USA, the receptiveness of progressive bars such as Purl, London and Le Lab, Montreal to real absinthe, consumer pressure in Canada, and real innovation from Absinthe Salon in Sydney. Of course the fact that real absinthe seems to be an ongoing success in the USA has also helped with local bars and retailers (especially in other anglophone countries) now realising that real absinthe has much more to offer, both as a sophisticated drink on its own with water, and in both traditional and modern cocktails. This trend is spreading, albeit gradually, to countries like the Czech Republic and may even start to impact on France when the new regulations allowing absinthe to be called "absinthe" come into force in 2011.

The second half of 2010 saw the growth of real absinthe spread to Asia with at least two companies following the examples of European online shops: Absinthe Tokyo will soon be followed by Absinthe Asia.

3. REAL ABSINTHE: REVIEW OF MY PREVIOUS FORECASTS

Before coming to my forecasts for 2011, maybe I should review my last forecasts. To get some perspective on how accurate future forecasts might be. My last review examined my forecasts for 2008 (largely correct) and made new predictions for 2009:

1. More multi-nationals will enter the absinthe market in 2009, probably through acquisition. Apparently wrong (so far).
2. US absinthe prices? Impossible to forecast, with the forces of dollar depreciation and US recession/local production finely balanced. Correct!
3. Absinthe consumption in the USA? Highly dependent on prices and the general recession. Mmm ...
4. Absinthe outside the USA. With the resurgence of absinthe (especially real absinthe) in the USA, bartenders around the world are looking at the sector with new interest. Spot on!
5. Internet sales to change dramatically. Maybe not as dramatically as I expected, but some shops have closed (eabsinthe) and other local shops (e.g. in Asia) have started up. Amazon now sells absinthe in many countries (excluding the US and Canada).

4. REAL ABSINTHE: FORECASTS FOR 2011

I was reading the forecasts of a drinks colleague from Linked In: he highlighted the strong growth in artisan spirits companies, the continued global development of cocktails, quality as the new "bling," and the role of social media to support strong promotions. Hard to disagree with these forecasts, and it is interesting to see that, in many cases, absinthe is already benefiting from these. So let's use some of those as the basis for my forecasts and then add my own:

a) "SOME" CONTINUED GROWTH IN ARTISAN ABSINTHES

Globally hand-crafted absinthes will continue to grow, with existing brands launched in more countries, and new local absinthes produced in some surprising countries (one recently launched in South Africa). I doubt, however, that the USA market will be big enough for all the hand-crafted absinthes already available there, and some of those without a real point-of-difference or a very strong local following may fade away or disappear completely in 2011.

b) COCKTAILS WILL FUEL MUCH OF THE GLOBAL GROWTH IN REAL ABSINTHE

Some purists continue to prefer the classic absinthe serve to cocktails, but globally absinthe will continue to benefit from the support of local mixologists. The appearance of

three absinthe cocktail books in the USA in 2010 was very significant, even if at least one of the books only appeared with the benefit of corporate sponsorship. In my opinion, "A Taste for Absinthe" (shown here) is the best book to buy.

Outside the more "sophisticated" bars in each major city, absinthe cocktails don't need to be too complicated; indeed there IS an argument for keeping them simple.

c) QUALITY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN .... JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

Over the last few years, some "absinthes" have focused more on style than on substance, or have put more into marketing than into product quality, or have been hyped for their alleged thujone content. In most cases, such approaches have proved ultimately unsuccessful. The move to quality will continue, and it is possible that some of yesterday's worst offenders will join this trend by launching better products in future.

d) SOCIAL MEDIA WILL PLAY A KEY PART IN ABSINTHE COMMUNICATION AND DEVELOPMENT BUT ...

I was by no means the first to adopt the social media, but I strongly believe in the power of Facebook and Twitter, especially for the type of absinthes that I see succeeding in future.

BUT .... social media is not a cost-free, easy-to-run option. In 2010, I have observed two big absinthe brands stop all communication on Facebook (it may be better to close the page down, rather than to give an appearance of rigor mortis). I have seen others simply link their accounts on these two sites (lazy and completely counter-productive in my view). Using social media just to make announcements will not work either (God gave you two ears, and one mouth: use them in that ratio!).

AND NOW FOR MY OWN FORECASTS:

e) ABSINTHE WILL START TO BE REGARDED AS MORE MAINSTREAM, LESS NICHE

US performance and the renaissance of real absinthe now evident elsewhere will encourage more mainstream distributors to sell absinthe in other countries, and as a result more retailers and bars will stock more absinthes. This MAY lead to bigger marketing companies entering the sector through brand acquisition, but buyers' budgets and sellers' aspirations may not yet meet up!

f) LINE EXTENSIONS WILL APPEAR; SOME WILL WORK, SOME WILL NOT

Canned absinthe pre-mixes are being sold in the USA, in Russia, in Australia and even, apparently, in Lebanon. I am not convinced that these will work, unless they have a strong parent brand (in the way that Bacardi Breezers had Bacardi parentage). More interesting to note that Liqueurs de France were selling

a Chocolate Absinthe Liqueur online, and that Artemisia are selling an "Absinthe aux oeufs" (currently only in Switzerland).

Lower alcohol-content extensions have not worked well in the US market to date, but are more evident elsewhere. I see no reason why that trend should not continue.

g) ONLINE SALES WILL EVOLVE ...

For Americans, several absinthes continue to be much cheaper online from Europe than from shops in the USA. I cannot see that as being sustainable. I am aware of changes of ownership (partial or total) of three European shops in 2010, which must indicate something! The sellers evidently agree with me ... the buyers evidently don't! I think some online shops will go more "local" (e.g. Tokyo, Asia), while others try to expand their portfolio and/or launch new internet exclusives. The latter trend will continue to hurt operators who fully support their local importers and/or US-based artisanal producers who cannot compete with EU-based shops.

h) MORE NEW PRODUCTS WILL LAUNCH ... AND FAIL

The success ratio of new products is usually quoted as being less than 50%, sometimes even lower. I don't know the success ratio within absinthe but I do know that absinthes launched in the US without a really strong point-of-difference or story will not work. I have seen failures of new absinthes that make claims along the lines of "specially formulated to work in cocktails," or "with less anise," or "with maximum thujone content." And I am sure I will see many others making similar mistakes in 2011 and beyond.

..............................................................................

In previous years, I have awarded honorary prizes when making my reviews. Over the last 12 months or so, there have been many notable contenders such as:

Best book: A Taste for Absinthe

Best innovation: Absinthe Salon, Sydney

Longest time to re-launch: Butterfly, discontinued in 1920, re-launched in 2010!

Rumour/Hoax of the Year: The re-launch of the original Pernod Fils recipe.

etc etc.

As a somewhat biased insider, I don't believe I should make such awards in future, so I shall just raise a glass (or two) to salute all those who make, or sell, or drink real absinthe. Santé and happy 2011!