We at Absinthe.com.au are on a particular journey to uncover the hidden history of our Green Muse in early Australian history, and show that it was not just a Continental phenomenon, but that the importation and consumption of absinthe was an established part of society down under.

One part of the detective tale is establishing the trade routes, and given the predominant French presence in the South Pacific, it is not unreasonable to have assumed that the Franco-governed islands would be be a reasonable jumping off point.

These suspicions have recently been vindicated by the below cutting of ’shipping intelligence’ reported in the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, as reported on the 23 February 1848.

25 Cases of absinthe from Tahiti aboard the Sarah Ann imported into New South Wales on the 17th February 1848.

Needless to say, this opens a new chapter of absinthe history to be explored.  What were the main brands consumed in Australia?  Who were the purveyours? What establishments stocked absinthe? How was absinthe framed in context to the temperance movement in Australia?

Stay with us dear reader as we turn back the musty pages of history over the coming months, yea verily, maybe even years as we piece together what should be a veritable jigsaw puzzle of revelatory proportions.

With apologies to Noel Coward.

It must be the season for art-macabre with Robert’s recent note on the exhibition in Japan, and now this - Neo Goth: Back in Black, an exhibition at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Art Gallery.

While many think of dear old Queensland as the state of sunburn, surf and politicians with ‘interesting’ political views, I have always felt assured in that sunshine state in years past, by the sight of the young & beautiful darklings who assemble late afternoons in Queen Street Mall in Brisvegas.  I suppose it’s all Emo now….why, when I was a monochromatic lad, frock coats were all the rage, Big Electric Cat were the local heroes and…yawn….young whipper snappers……zzzzzzz.

Kirra Jamison May all your wishes come true 2007

Anyhoo.

Curator Alison Kubler (as in the Absinthe!) has assembled 170 works from 60 artists over two levels of the museum, covering the mediums of music, fashion, film and literature.

From the exhibition flyer:

“From its subcultural origins in eighteenth century literature, through to the movement’s dedicated tribes of black-clad youths in the 1980s, Goth culture is no longer underground or fringe, but mainstream. Is this ‘new’ interpretation of the Gothic aesthetic just that – an aesthetic – or is the neo-Goth impulse a considered response to a darker, more pessimistic world? The major exhibition neo goth dips beneath the surface and takes a peek at the noir underbelly of Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature.”

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For the confused, a number of tourist retailers in Austria carry T-shirts with the above slogan. It would be funnier if it wasn’t for the fact that many an importing absintheur in Australia has in fact had their packages turn up in Austria instead.

However, I digress from the intention of this post.

Recent browsing through the Australian Trademarks Registry has alerted us to the fact that those mighty fine Fischer folk at the Vienna Schnapps Museum are in the process of finalising the legal leg work to bring two absinthe products to our antipodean shores from Austria.

The first is Absinth Grüne Fee - I must admit initial nervousness that this might be a ‘Czech’ style ‘absinth’, however referral to the company website indicates that it does louche, so I will hold any judgement until a proper review can be conducted.

The second is Mata Hari - Mark 2. I for one am pleased to see this product now coloured naturally instead for the vibrant radioactive green of past formulations. It still retains its ‘niche’ of being low on the anise to make it an accessible entry point for those otherwise adverse to this particular flavour.

Details are indeed sketchy at this time. However dear reader, as soon as we know more we shall ensure you know as well. Formal trademark approval was only granted late July 2008, so I well expect that we may see these on our markets before the years end.

Skull by Spencer Higgins, 2007

For those of our readers who find themselves in Yokohama in the near future… this may rock your coffin.

“The phenomenon described as goth / gothic exists in various cultural fields including music, fashion, movies and literatures. It originally referred to a style of art in Europe in the Middle Ages, however, today it functions as a term indicative of a certain lifestyle. Body modifications, such as tattooing or piercing, and a focus upon death and illness are not merely a matter of taste, but instead are an expression of the self trying to stand up against a conservative world…”

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One begins to develop specific criteria around when you want to have an absinthe, and how you would like an absinthe to be prepared. I for one seem to prefer to partake in absinthe when the weather is warmer, as the chilled water is more refreshing, and yet the ambient temperature allows for the heady aromas to burst forth from the bottle and the glass to add to the olfactory enjoyment.

It is therefore with some trepidation that I review this absinthe, Duplais Verte, as it is below 15 Celsius, wet and miserable outside. I will however press on with this review, but perhaps reserve the right to revisit my thoughts when spring has sprung and conditions are more to my liking.

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Lost Metropolis Footage Recovered

(Story at News.com.au)

Film historians had doubted they would ever find the missing portions of Metropolis — until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away.
Two film fans in Argentina uncovered the fragile footage in a small museum earlier this year – over eight decades after Fritz Lang’s dystopian classic first began to shed scenes.

With its cold, monumental vision of mechanised society, Metropolis forged a template for generations of science fiction cinema, and its enduring influence has been cited on films from Blade Runner to Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars.

“We were overjoyed when we heard about the find,” said Helmut Possmann, head of the foundation which owns the rights to the film, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

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(photo: Daniel Hatadi)

Are you a bar/hotel/restaraunt venue looking for quality information and recommendations on absinthe and absinthe culture?

The Libertines behind Absinthe.com.au are now available for confidential and reliable absinthe consultancy, advice and private/corporate absinthe tasting events. We at Absinthe.com.au pride ourselves on providing Australia and New Zealand with only the best and most truthful reviews and information of the global absinthe scene, and as such form a valuable and unique source of advice for the bar, hotel or nightclub proprietor. We also provide up-to-date information on the legality of absinthe in Australia and the various, and oft-times confusing legislation surrounding our poison of choice. Currently, Absinthe.com.au advises several key Australian venues on their absinthe stock and successful marketing of absinthe culture, and are in high demand for absinthe tastings, lectures and other events.

If you are looking for the true, inimitable absinthe experience, we can take you there. Contact us at NewLibertines [Email address: NewLibertines #AT# absinthe.com.au - replace #AT# with @ ] and join the la Révolution Verte …

This has been a bit of a nostalgic journey for me.

About 9 months ago I left Sydney and moved to Adelaide, yet now here I am, tracing paths in the back streets of Newtown on a Sunday afternoon, much like I used to do on a regular basis. Strong emotion stirs from the familiarity of footsteps on these same roads, the same stray cats, the same eccentric individuals perched in coffee shops or begging in a doorway, passing by the old 19th century houses that I have often thought ‘I’d like to live in that’, thinking about a parallel life that maybe is happening in another time and space.

The popular inner Sydney suburbs of Newtown, Camperdown, Erskineville and surrounds are an appropriate place to reflect on history, particularly the era when absinthe was in its heyday.  In these gracefully decaying streets are the lingering ghosts of previous centuries… the ’Murdering Makins of MacDonaldtown’ who mercilessly did away with at least 13 babies while running a faux-child care operation out of labyrinthine lane ways; the blackened dusty workmen who laboured at the Eveleigh railyards or St Peters Brickworks; the juvenile delinquents of the  ’Glebe Push’ and ‘Forty Thieves’ street gangs, notorious for their trail of theft and assault…

I spy with my little eye….

It is fitting, then, that we invoke these phantoms, that we grasp at the sounds and sights of another time, for on this afternoon both Robert and I journey to the house of our good friend Daniel to partake in something almost 100 years old, our own little time-travel experience….

- a sample of pre-ban Pernod Fils Absinthe, circa 1910.

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 Daniel Hatadi - Still life with Pernod Fils 1910 and Sydney Morning Herald 2008 

After a time of quietude and reverential repose, we are back… and do we have news for you.

Reviews a-plenty are in the works, so make sure you check back for our thoughts on Duplais Verte and St George, amongst quite a few others. The St George review is well worth looking out for, as it is the first Australian tasting of this marque which caused a stir in its native US, as much for its significance (the first absinthe distilled in the US post-ban) as for its formulation (which includes Tarragon and Stinging Nettles, amongst other things). We will also be conducting  some reviews of Ordinaire brands like La Fee Parisienne, Doubs, and Pernod.

If either Carfax or I can stand it, we will also be forcing ourselves to do some tastings of some of the typical ‘absinth’ brands you’re likely to encounter, and what, if anything they are even remotely appropriate for (apart from getting a fire started when you’re wood is a bit damp. No shit, it actually works). So, in the name of scientific endeavour, connoisseurship and the edification of the great unwashed, we will voluntarily imbibe foul smelling liquids and comment upon them. With as little obscenity as possible.

Most importantly, we were recently lucky enough to sample a bottle of preban absinthe, Pernod Fils circa 1910, which was simply sublime. Expect an imminent review with many, many pictures, such as the one by the dedicated, debauched and most generous of Libertines Daniel Hatadi featured above.

On top of all this loveliness, we have interviews, history updates and a series of photographic works in the offing, so stay tuned.

Ok, we have been a little quiet lately - what, with one of us in a study frenzy while the other is still catching up on life’s demands after a trip to the US.

But here, this week, in Enmore, old Sydney town, its new, its blue….

its the Blue Moon Cabaret!

(And apologies to members who received multiple emails from us on this - we had some slight technical difficulties)

There will be burlesque, magicians, music, and our fine friends at Absinthe Salon will be lubricating the evening with the finest of the green muse.

And all you can eat. All for only $45 a ticket. This Thursday, 7th June.

Buy your tickets on line now at Under The Blue Moon.