• Absinthe (and other herbals)

  Absinthe in the 19th Century: French Botanical Mixtures and Proportions

  Posted by PLAYMP on June 12, 2023 at 5:09 pm

  I’m planning out my next absinthe project and doing a lot of research into botanical bills and the like. I’m pursuing something that can pass for being authentic and true to history but also with my own little flare. With Gin I always found this particular thread incredibly helpful:viewtopic.php?t=73049For designing botanical bills it’s a great opportunity to zero in on tried and true botanicals and ratios and I’ve been sort of looking for something like that to go off of for absinthe. Like most of us I’m happy to experiment but it’s nice to have some grounding in a framework that I can work around so I’m not heading wildly off base.My research has so far led me to the 1855 Duplais distilation manual which contains a few different absinthe recipes from around France at the time. They are published online here:https://wormwoodsociety.com/duplais-dis … -absinthe/I’ve taken the recipes and created a spreadsheet for comparison, outlining the g/l of each botanical as well as the % of the total botanical bill for both maceration and coloration. Not sure if others would find it useful as I am so I thought I’d share it here:If anybody has any observations that stand out, or other recipes to add, or bits of history that might be of note I’d be grateful and interested to hear all I can.

  kiwi Bruce replied 1 year, 6 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
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  kiwi Bruce

  Member

  July 15, 2024 at 6:47 pm

  From the Gin post you like…BotanicalsThese are the principal botanicals used in production of gin (alphabetical):* Common name – Botanical name* Angelica root – Archangelica officinalis* Aniseed – Pimpinella anisum* Bitter almond – Prunus dulcis, amara* Bitter orange peel – Citrus aurantium* Calamus root – Acorus calamus* Caraway seed – Corum carvi* Cardamom seeds – Elettaria cardamomum* Cassia bark – Cinnamomum cassia* Cinnamon bark – Cinnamonum zeylanicum* Coriander seed* – Coriandrum sativum* Cubeb berries – Piper cubeb* Fennel seed – Foeniculum vulgare* Grains of paradise – Afromomum melegueta* Juniper berries* – Juniperis communis* Lemon peel – Citrus limon* Licorice root – Glycyrrhiza spp.* Nutmeg – Myristica fragrans* Orris root – Iris pallida* Sweet orange peel – Citrus sinensis* *primary flavoringsAll of these were and are being used in Absinthe…start with the Trinity and pick five or six herbs from this group. You really can’t “F” this up. In the 1890’s there were over a hundred Absinthe distilleries in Pontarlier alone. So in order to set themselves apart from their competition, they would have had to use a verity of herbs in different proportions to everyone else. No exact recipes survive from any of the true old Abs distilleries. Modern Abs makers are trying to reconstruct their recipes by taste from the few bottles of Antique Absinthe that have survived. I have been fortunate enough to taste three of these Absinthes. The one I truly wanted to reproduce was from a bottle of “C.F.Berger” it has proven to be EXTREMELY difficult. There is a very subtle “Butter Scotch” flavor that, so far, has proven impossible to hit. But I keep trying!(It breaks my heart, but) I’ve finally decided my future liesBeyond the yellow brick road…from Elton John

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