A look at Pernod Absinthe Superior.
A bottle of Pernod Absinthe Superior.
“In 1805, Henri-Louis Pernod partnered with Major Dubied to found Pernod Fils and the first commercial absinthe distillery.
After the reinstatement in 2008, Pernod Absinthe returns with handcrafted quality and tradition that transcends time.”
The above was written on a cardboard attachment that came on the bottle of Pernod aux Plantes d’Absinthe Supérieure that we looked at.
Not much to live up to is it? A recreation of one of the first absinthes available in the 1800’s based on the Pernod Fils original recipe.
So does it live up to the legend, or does embarrass itself and fall into that category of absinthe we’d recommend staying away from?
Well luckily Pernod did a nice job with its Absinthe Superior with one minor issue, using food coloring including FD&C Yellow #5. Though I do have to respect their choice to post it right above the front label and not attempt to hide it as some other brands have done. Putting that aside, flavor-wise it’s a good representation of an absinthe.
The nose hits you as soon as you open the bottle with heavy notes of anise, and it continues to impress as you begin to sip it.
After adding water, the scent of anise came out further, and showed how much the Absinthe Superior fits what absinthe should be.
We watched as the Absinthe Superior louched after water was added, so we discovered that the product does contain the correct herbs such as star anise, hyssop ,mint, fennel, and coriander.
The use of these herbs, allowed the Pernod Absinthe Superior to behave itself in front of an audience. After allowing it to louche and sampling it we were greeted with flavors of minor spice, anise, a slight bitterness and vegetal notes.
Adding the traditional sugar cube it became more balanced and the previously slightly bitter flavor was replaced with notes of sweet.
The Pernod Absinthe Superior does louche correctly, so while it does list artificial food coloring as an ingredient, it does use also make use of the correct herbal ingredients as well. If it did not, it would not louche(as demonstrated in earlier reviews of Czech varieties).
The Pernod Absinthe Superior louching.
At first we had our concerns about the Pernod Absinthe Superior, especially with the use of artificial coloring, however after tasting the product and seeing that they do also use a good portion of the correct herbs to allow it properly louche, we can say without a doubt it is what an absinthe should be.
Final Score: 8/10
Note:Recommended with the traditional sugar cube.
Ouch… Sadly, the modern Pernod 68 aux plantes absinthe is not very respected around the world for a _couple_ of reasons: It is *not* a distilled absinthe and is *not* traditionally coloured (and I don’t mean it’s additionally coloured artificially, but *completely* artificially!).
Your review doesn’t mention wormwood, mainly because there _is_ no distilled wormwood in it. It’s an oilmix. That’s where the bitterness stems from. Also, it’s a pure star anise bomb. No green anise to be found at all (it’d smell and taste a lot better otherwise).
” it does use also make use of the correct herbal ingredients as well. If it did not, it would not louche”
That’s not necessarily the case. In the case of Pernod, the use of anise (although Star as opposed to the preferred green) definitely helps create the louche.
However, keep in mind that the presence of a louche doesn’t necessarily mean that a brand uses the correct ingredients. It’s quite easy to include certain chemicals that will create the same effect. Not saying that Pernod does that though.
As a follow up, every time I hear something from Pernod, I get more and more confused. They seem to keep wanting to change history. First, on their site, they try so hard to promote the ‘hallucinogenic’ properties of absinthe. Properties that the original owners of Pernod fought so hard to prove false during the early 1900′s. It now seems the company has turned against itself in order to make it seem more taboo.
Further, it seems Pernod wants to take all the credit for the birth of absinthe:
“In 1805, Henri-Louis Pernod partnered with Major Dubied to found Pernod Fils and the first commercial absinthe distillery.”
A similar statement is also made on their label, again suggesting that the distillery in France was the first absinthe distillery.
Really? This doesn’t match the information on Pernod’s own website
http://www.pernod.net/histoire/index.htm
where it states:
“At the end of the 18th century, a man by the name of Major Dubied began distilling the elixir professionally. A few years later in 1805, his son-in-law, Henri-Louis Pernod, opened a distillery in France.”
Collectors have located and posted a 1896 Maison Pernod Fils promotional booklet
http://www.oxygenee.com/1896-Pernod-Fils-Translation.pdf which states:
“Little by little, however, thanks to its fragrance and pleasant taste, the elixir came to the attention of not only the sick, but to that of more and more fans, so that the recipe had already acquired monetary value when when Mr. Henri-Louis Pernod acquired it to exploit it commercially.
This happened in 1797. It was at that time the first absinthe factory was built. The establishment was created under extremely modest conditions, even for Couvet; the building where the industry was born still exists; it measures eight meters long by four meters broad by four meters high. Subsequently enlarged, the factory was not long in becoming too small and, in 1805, Mr. Pernod not being able to satisfy demand by the French customers which had taken to his product with a marked favor, fixed upon Pontarlier as the place to avoid the high taxes levied by the tax department upon Swiss
Absinthe.”
In short, literature produced by Pernod in 1896 and on their internet site today contradicts the 1805 claim at the top of the article: Switzerland, and in particular, Couvet remain the birthplace of absinthe, despite Pernod’s attempt to annex it!
Always here to promote truth in absinthe,
Brian Robinson
Review Editor
The Wormwood Society