Jade Edouard Absinthe is a reproduction of the famous Edouard Pernod Absinthe from the Belle Époque. It is the most extraordinary Absinthe The Jade line. Edouard Absinthe has a spicy note and is not as smooth in taste as the other varieties. We recommend this absinthe to experienced absinthe connoisseurs who already have some experience with the different flavors of absinthe.
Absinthe Jade Edouard's story and recipe
Absinthe was banned in France in 1915. A well-known absinthe brand of the time was Edouard Pernod. Mr. Ted Breaux, the master distiller behind the Jade Absinthe line, chemically analyzed an old bottle of Edouard Pernod Absinthe, essentially re-engineering the recipe. Mr. Breaux's background as a chemist proved invaluable in his analysis. This contemporary Edouard Absinthe is as close as possible to the original. We ourselves have tasted pre-ban absinthe, meaning absinthe from the period before the ban, and can attest that Mr. Breaux is a master of his craft. The characteristic smoky flavor of a pre-ban, typically only achieved through long aging, is also present in the Jade Edouard Absinthe.
The complete history of Édouard Pernod Absinthe
Édouard had a father, also named Édouard, who lived from 1799 to 1886. His father was the eldest son from the first marriage of Henri-Louis Pernod (1776-1851), the founder of the still-famous Pernod brand, Maison Pernod Fils, in Pontarlier in 1805. Édouard assisted Henri-Louis from a very early age at his first distillery in Couvet in the Val-de-Travers region of Switzerland. In 1829, Henri-Louis handed the Couvet distillery over to Édouard, stipulating that he not open a branch in Pontarlier to avoid competition. However, the timing was favorable for his new venture, as the demand for absinthe was beginning to rise.
As the company grew, the distillery in Couvet became too small, and in 1850, honoring his father's word, Édouard Pernod established a branch in Lunel in the Hérault region. In 1880, he retired from the business and sold the Couvet distillery to his eldest son (1827-1901), also named Édouard. At a time when the demand for absinthe reached enormous proportions, the Édouard Pernod brand continued to gain prominence and enjoyed an excellent international reputation.
Édouard Pernod (1827-1901), grandson of Henri-Louis, maintained that his father's promise had now been nullified, since Louis-Alfred, Henri-Louis's grandson through his second marriage to Émélie Dubied, had himself sold the Pernod Fils brand, which he had owned until 1888, to the brothers of the Veil-Picard Bank in Besançon. Confident in his rights, he established a branch of Édouard Pernod in Pontarlier in 1897. In the same year, he merged his two operations in Couvet and Pontarlier and named the new company Société anonyme des Établissements Édouard Pernod.
After the death of Édouard Pernod Jr. in 1901, the company continued to operate with the help of its directors, but the prohibition of absinthe in Switzerland in 1910 made business difficult. The future looked no brighter in France, where discussions about the absinthe ban were widespread and there were fears that new laws would bring the era of the Green Fairy to a definitive end. Therefore, the sale of the brand was ordered while it still retained market value. Thus, the Édouard Pernod brand passed into the hands of distiller Hubert Bresson from Fougerolles, a small town in the Haute-Saône department, which was home to many absinthe distilleries.
Hubert Bresson, already heir to a large distillery in Fougerolles (Abel Bresson), had the financial resources to operate the Couvet and Pontarlier factories, as he also distilled fruit brandies and cherry brandy in addition to absinthe. What primarily interested him was ownership of the world-renowned Pernod brand and the location in Pontarlier, whose reputation for absinthe was well established. From then on, the company adopted the name Pernod SA Couvet and registered the trademark "Un-Pernod" in 1910/11, thus entering into direct competition with the "Pernod" brand we know today. A legal dispute over the trademark was to ensue…
