The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, NSW, 1 March 1892

How To Make Absinthe

Alcohol smuggling has always been a part of early Australian history, and a good deal of it centred the arrival of ships into major ports such as Sydney Harbour. Absinthe smuggling was no exception.

Sydney Morning Herald 7 July 1902

The following excerpts from Reinhardt & Steel (2006) A Brief History of Australia’s Tax System (22nd APEC Finance Ministers’ Technical Working Group), gives us the historical context that often promoted smuggling.

At the end of the eighteenth century, colonial administrators raised small amounts of revenue through wharfage fees and port entry and exit fees (effectively taxing imports), with additional duties on alcohol.

…..

The main appeal of customs duties was that they were readily collected at the limited number of wharves where goods entered the colonies. Levying customs duties and excises on necessities also ensured a relatively secure source of revenue. Revenues were generally hypothecated in an attempt to draw support from the public, for example funding an orphanage, gaol, hospital equipment and building works around Sydney.

…..

Early customs and excises duties on goods such as tobacco and alcohol were intended not only to raise revenue, but were also introduced as ‘sin taxes’, for example in response to concern over the level of alcohol consumption in the colonies.

…..

The states gave up customs and excise duties to secure interstate free trade and ensuring adequate protection for Australian industry. Uniform federal tariff and excise duties were introduced in 1901. They largely applied to the goods that had been taxed by the former colonies — tobacco products, beer and spirits and some basic food and clothing.

Sydney Morning Herald 17 March 1906

As promised last month, Absinthe.com.au have finally uncovered the evidence to demonstrate that Australia did implement a formal ban of absinthe.

A small, almost easily missed notice in the Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 6 November 1925

Importation of Absinthe - Melbourne, Thursday

It is notified in the Commonwealth “Gazette” this week that absinthe has been added to the list of goods of which the importation into Australia is prohibited under the provenance <?> of the Customs Act.

So there you have it - the pieces now fall into place. Although, as with the current Customs requirements for an import permit for absinthe due to the listing of Wormwood as a Restricted ingredient - this legislative move would not have prevented the manufacture of Absinthe within Australia, it only prevents the unrestricted importation.  Alas, by this time the wind had probably been taken out of the sails of domestic absinthe consumption in any case.

Speaking of Smoking Guns - crime writer, administrator of Crimespace and absinthe tragic, Daniel Hatadi is formally joining the Absinthe.com.au team.  Watch out for his reviews and views on anything that may take his fancy.

The Absinthe.com.au Team were recently contacted by a legend from the Australian wine industry, Peter Wall AM, a former Wine & Vineyard Director of the famed Yalumba winery.  Peter was able to provide some additional history into the machinations behind the legal status of Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) in the old versions Australian New Zealand Food Code.

In the versions of the Code from the mid 1980’s onwards, Wormwood was a controlled -  rather than a prohibited - herb and controlled by thujone content.  How it came to this status is a key part of Peters tale.

“You may be interested to know how the lifting of the Australian ban on the use of wormwood was initiated.

30 years ago I was deeply involved in the manufacture of Martini & Rossi (M&R) Vermouth here in Australia for the great vermouth maker in Turin. At this time there was a general ban on the use of wormwood in alcoholic beverages in the English speaking world, although its use in many European countries had gradually relaxed from the 1920’s.

I was also a member (later chair) of the wine industry’s Technical Committee.

With the help of the late, but legendary, Dr. Giorgio Rampone (the then M&R Technical director) we began a campaign here in Australia to rationalise the regulations for use in wine of GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe) botanicals, among them Artemisia absinthium. I was also involved in the technical negotiations for the EU Australian Bilateral Wine Agreement and served as an Australian delegate to the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin in Paris. These positions allowed me to pursue the opening-up of these ’strange’ bans on many fronts. Gradually the opposition relaxed and finally we came to the present more rational regulation of all the botanicals which contain alkaloids, not only in wine, but alcoholic beverages generally. I’m not claiming a unique place in the history of this rationalisation, however, I do recall I was a very lone voice when I first raised the issue in the late 1970’s. Whenever I now have a sip of absinthe in Australia, I recall my early efforts with added pleasure.“

Peter has kindly provided correspondence from the period to government, arguing how Italian wine law dictated that, by definition, Vermouth must contain wormwood, and argued for a position of international harmonisation on managing the risk rather than arbitrary prohibition.

These were much the same arguments we made (or rather re-made taking into account Peter’s precedent) when FSANZ sought to later prohibit wormwood a second time in later amendments to the Code in 2000-2002.

You will notice dear Absintheur, I make reference to a potential second prohibition of absinthe in Australia - and Peter’s historical recollection confirming an existing prohibition during the 1970-1980’s (and prior) during his period of lobbying.  This is seemingly at odds with a belief we previously held, and have documented in Wikipedia, that absinthe as an alcoholic drink was never specifically prohibited in Australia, only the import of ‘absinthe essence’ based on the legislative orders of the early 20th century. We were wrong.

New documentary evidence has emerged that confirms Australia did indeed specifically prohibit Absinthe, that led to the necessity of Peter Walls’ original efforts to lift the ban on the use of wormwood and will be the subject of a follow up article.

The depiction of the absinthe imbiber as a figure of satire and ridicule is increasingly apparent in period newspapers and publication of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, riding shotgun to more formal prohibitionist sentimentality.

A curious piece reproduced in the New Zealand Taranaki Herald (Volume XLVIII, Issue 11755, 23 February 1900) effectively borrows a Boer War propaganda poem & song by Rudyard Kipling of 1899 ‘The Absent Minded Beggar’, making social commentary on the then state of Anglo-French relations by changing it to ‘The Absinthe Minded Beggar’.

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Another snippet of Australian absinthe history for you all, this time from the Adelaide Advertiser, published on the 11 November 1909. It also demonstrates that the phenomenon of drunken Irish backpackers exhibiting their ‘wee folk’ is a problem over 100 years old, to be sure.

The Advertiser (Adelaide) 11 November 1909

A SERIOUS OFFENCE. ABSINTHE DRINKER IN TROUBLE

A shocking case, which counsel described as the outcome of the demoralising effects of drinking absinthe, was heard at the Adelaide Police Court on Wednesday. Neal McNamara, an respectably-dressed youth, was placed in the dock to answer a charge of indecent exposure at North Adelaide. The offence was alleged to have been committed on October 22 near a public school, and at an hour when children were proceeding along the road towards that institution. Six little girls, ranging in age from 12 to 15 years, appeared in court to support the charge. Inspector Burchell, who prosecuted, said the gravity of the offense was increased by the fact that the practices complained of had been going on for some time. He could call four witnesses to substantiate the charge, while the statement of the arresting constable was equally conclusive. The accused, who pleaded guilty, was defended by Mr. F. V. Smith.

Constable Quirke, who made the arrest, stated that, when he accosted the accused and told him the charge he said, “For God’s sake, don’t arrest me. I am a respectable Irish lad. I have a couple of sovereigns in my pocket and you can have them if you let me go.” He took the accused to the police-station. On the way there McNamara made a determined attempt to escape, but his efforts were frustrated.

Mr. Smith said the accused’s lapse was due entirely to the effects of drinking absinthe, of which habit he had become an unfortunate victim. The defendant enjoyed the confidence of a reputable city firm, by whom he was employed, and they were willing to take him back if released. In view of this he asked the bench to extend to his client the benefit of the First Offenders Act.

The court declined to do this, Mr. J. Gordon, S.M. remarking that the offence was a disgusting one that had been wilfully persisted in. The accused would be sentenced to three months imprisonment. A second information against McNamara was withdrawn.

And now dear fellow Libertine, a tale of absinthe’s infamous past. First published in the “Boston Herald” in 1888, then reprinted in New Zealands “Bruce Herald” the same year, it reveals that a novel kind of ’speak easy’ bar for possibly illicit and unlicensed consumption of alcohol was a favourite of the socialite set and certain ladies of distinction (as was the local Chinese Opium den!).

Pour a glass, relax and read on….

Bruce Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1925, 20 January 1888, Page 5

I used to discredit the sensational stories that the patrons of the fashionable modistes repaired to those places so frequently, under the pretence of trying on a dress, because of the attraction of the buffet offering the choicest liquors and wines, writes a New York correspondent, until one day a lady friend confirmed the reports by narrating her experience, frankly confessing that at several modistes she named it was customary to serve drinks to the regular or recognised patrons.  The dressmaking, like the fruit store in front of the sample room, was merely part of the business carried on, and there was a regular charge for the liquors, covered in the bill by ‘trimmings’ and “attentions.”

And I know from personal knowledge that some very well known ladies used to resort to the better class of uptown opium joints several years ago, when such were not subject to police raids for the purpose of ‘hitting the pipe’ in the most approved style, because I once assisted a husband in rescuing his wife from one of these places within an easy walk of Madison Square.  And the doctor will or can tell you that the morphine habit – by hypodermic injection, easily administered after practice –has ruined many a previously domestic circle by claiming the mistress as a victim and condemning her to a dream-life, all the more miserable because of the terrible awakening, resulting in insanity and death.

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As some of you are aware, when I am not waxing lyrically about the subtleties and intricacies of our most beloved beverage, I am usually up to my waist in a hole somewhere, looking through 200 year-old garbage; part and parcel of my day job as a historical archaeologist here in Sydney.

The vast majority of our work deals with the period 1788 - 1900, however I am part of a growing number of archaeologists, heritage specialists and historians who are now casting an eye to our most recent material legacies - those of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This has become known as contemporary archaeology, or the archaeologies of the contemporary past. Just as we may say one thing whilst doing something completely contradictory, the material record of the recent past offers us a separate and oft-times divergent account of human behaviour in the recent past. Moreover, the material remains of the recent past are subject to hyper-depletion; because it is ‘new’ or ‘mundane’ or ‘every-day’ we value it less than a piece of material culture of which we have fewer examples,  or are of greater antiquity. Academics are beginning to realise that the designation of ‘archaeology’ as a discipline which deals solely with the ‘old’ or ‘rare’ is problematic at best, and entirely fallacious at worst.

With this in mind - we are now asking an intriguing series of questions regarding our most recent tracks in the sand. What is it about the late-20th century that speaks to us? What is it about the modern period which we must conserve for future generations? The answers to these questions may be more surprising than you would expect (for instance, the case may be made that a 1970s car-park is more worthy of conservation than a church of the same period, as the former is a far more diagnostic entity, indicative of technological and social change in the late-20th century).

I am currently writing a thesis on the archaeological and heritage values of an architectural style which became known as The New Brutalism - a form which, whilst initially highly popular amongst architects and civic planners, would later be widely decried as ugly, obnoxious and a blight on the landscape. This, however, was also said of ‘Art Deco’ buildings during the 1980s, High Victorian buildings during the 1950s, and so on… judgments made almost solely on the basis of subjective aesthetics and perceived social ‘value’. Whilst some Brutalist buildings do look out-of-place and could be construed as unattractive - this cannot be said for every building, just as it cannot be said of all Postmodernist, Constructivist, Functionalist or Millennial Minimalist buildings. We require a more sophisticated approach to the archaeology and heritage of Modernism in Australia, and the Powerhouse Museum is currently hosting an exhibition which beautifully showcases the scope, scale and power of Modernist architecture and design in Australia.

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We would like to wish all of our subscribers and fellow absintheurs in Australia and around the globe a happy 2009. May the absinthe flow freely!

Absinthe Duplais Blanche 72°

Matter-Luginbühl Distillery

Reviewed 8 Dec 2008

sans sucre

Quite simply, Absinthe Duplais Blanche is beautiful. It is smooth, alpine, refreshing and altogether bloody good.

What, that’s not long enough? OK, it is also delicate and refined, and certainly not the sort of thing you’d splash about on newbies or reach for halfway through a well-lubricated party. This one of those absinthes you keep at the front of the cabinet, but only get out when you’re feeling reeeeally generous. Or want to show off. Or are flush this month. Or have a craving.

Actually, I’m having one now.

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