The Absinthiades will be held October 5th – October 7th at Pontarlier, France. The distilleries of Francois Guy and Pernod -Deniset will be open on Saturday and Sunday. Details about this renowned absinthe festival can be found at the following website: http://www.admdp.com.
The Absinthiades awards ceremony – taking place in the home town of the famous Pernod Fils factory built in 1805 – contains a category called “Categorie Maceree” or Macerates Category. This seems strangely at odds with what we are told by the maniacal writers of the Wikipedia page on absinthe that
maceration of wormwood in alcohol (as called for in absinthe kits) without distillation produces an extremely bitter drink because of the presence of the water-soluble absinthine, one of the most bitter substances known to man. Authentic recipes call for distillation
Seems the French don’t necessarily share the view of the “real absinthe” crew, or why would they have such a category? Macerates are produced and enjoyed in France and Spain and elsewhere throughout Europe. They are apparently not enjoyed in Seattle.
This years absinthe festival sounds like a lot of fun. An invitation has been posted on the Fee Verte message board to give a famous producer of absinthe in Pontarlier a “crotch punch” at the Absinthiades. I don’t know the recipe for this punch – although I suspect that it is rather bitter for some reason or other. If you don’t want any punch, then you can enjoy the absinthe and the other amusements on offer – abisnthe antiques, absinthe chocolate and lots more besides.
One interesting publication I spotted on the Absinthiades website:
We will no doubt never know who it was that invented absinthe liqueur and sold its recipe to Henri-Louis PERNOD in 1797. Was it Dr. Pierre ORDINAIRE, a French doctor-pharmacist living in Couvet (Switzerland) from 1771 to 1821, his gouvernante Miss GRANDPIERRE Marie-Louise FAVRE (Lisette) wife of Jonasss-Henry HENRIOD, mother HENRIOD or the mysterious HENRIOD ladies.
Who was ” mother HENRIOD ” ? Was she not, in fact Lisette FAVRE ? We’ve so often heard that the recipe for absinthe was sold to Henri-Louis PERNOD by the HENRIOT ladies. Were they not in fact too young to be doing business as the eldest was only 10 years old in 1797 ? Were there other HENRIOD ladies ? All of these hypothesis are open and history has’nt yet caught up to the legend.
Interesting.
Looking forward to seeing the results of the awards (Golden Spoon) and whether Mr Bugnon’s new verte called Angelique, which macerates grande wormwood in the secondary (post distillation) stage, wins the judge’s approval. We’ll have to wait and see…and if anyone has the recipe for this “crotch punch” then please share it.
L' Absinthe Rend Fou 