The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History by Phil Baker was a captivating read about this notoriously potent green drink. I had already read one book on the subject, Absinthe: History in a Bottle, ten years ago, and was pleased to find this one in a little free library. Baker concentrated his history on fin de siècle France and the lives of writers and artists such as Verlaine, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Van Gogh but did not limit himself to that country, as he also wrote about how the lives of Wilde and Hemingway were affected by la fée verte.
The book was rich with quotations of prose and poetry and their references to absinthe, and a few black-and-white illustrations accompanied the text. I only wish that Baker had included a colour insert to show the paintings he described. I had to take notes and check the titles on-line later, however in many cases I recognized the works he was referring to and enjoyed looking at them again after reacquainting myself with their backgrounds.
Baker injected some wickedly funny passages–Edward Gorey would have been proud–and some of his citations incited spontaneous fits of laughter even upon subsequent rereads. For example, in describing a modern concoction of Czech absinthe, The Times wrote that it tasted of “aquavit on steroids with a hint of singed hair, leaving a strong anaesthetic aftertaste like eating a million of those round pink Liquorice Allsorts everyone avoids.” A Daily Telegraph journalist wrote “I have never drunk Vosene shampoo before, but it must be pretty close to this.” I will use these reviews to avoid Hill’s absinthe so as not to sully my first tipple of the green fairy.
L’Absinthe (above) was painted by Edgar Degas in 1876. The artist painted actress and model Ellen Andrée with artist Marcellin Desboutin, who was a friend of Degas. Baker included a quotation from Andrée about sitting for the painting:
“My glass was filled with absinthe. Desboutin has something quite innocuous in his…and we look like two idiots. I didn’t look bad at the time, I can say that today; I had an air about me that your Impressionists thought ‘quite modern’, I had chic and I could hold the pose as they wanted me to…But Degas–didn’t he slaughter me!”
Absinthe was more potent than any other spirit, and in addition to its elevated alcohol content, the wormwood from which it was derived created addicts who were prone to hallucinations. Baker wrote numerous examples where absinthe drunks went on rampages screaming bloody murder. I fear what they might have done if they had access to a gun. The dangers associated with the drink, however unfairly, led to its ban in France. Could it have been a bad omen that the Ukrainian word for wormwood is in fact, chornobyl (чорнобиль), what we know as Chernobyl, home of the world’s worst nuclear disaster?
The end of the book was supplemented by poems and novel excerpts where absinthe was a major theme. I enjoyed reading the more contemporary literary references, especially the exchange between Cronshaw and Philip in Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. Baker also rated some of the available brands of absinthe, and the reviews of the foulest-tasting ones elicited the most laughter, such as this one for the French brand Trenet:
“If anything, it tasted slightly staler and more medicinal, like a long forgotten cough syrup. But that makes it sound more pleasant than it is.
“Again, it only promises to ‘remind you of the notorious banned drink’. The best thing about this, compared to Kermann’s, is that it has the good manners to come in small bottles, so it only costs three pounds to find out that you don’t like it.”
His top recommendations are Mari Mayans from Spain and La Fée from France. The most potent brands, at least at the time of publication in 2001, are La Bleue from Switzerland and Logan 100 from Czechia. Baker hinted at the plans of chemist Ted Breaux of New Orleans, who was working on recreating genuine Belle Epoque Pernod from surviving bottles of the real thing. A quick Internet search shows that his efforts were successful and Jade Liqueurs is now in production.