Five Steps to Producing Absinthe in South Africa

On 28 Nov I’ll be heading to the Food Wine Design Fair in Hyde Park to witness the launch of Field of Dreams – South Africa’s very first authentic high-proof 72% Absinthe from Jorgensen’s Distillery.

I’ve been chatting to Roger & Dawn Jorgensen, the producers of Field of Dreams, and they kindly agreed to share the secret of how to make absinthe with you and I. Of course it’s high-level and I wouldn’t try this at home…

Versailles Farm in the Cape Winelands - where all the Absinthe action happens!

Before I begin, it’s important to recognise the difference between French/Swiss absinthe and Czech absinthe. The former is the darling of the Belle Époque and the latter is a more modern knock off. Real Absinthe is a redistillation of fine alcohol in the presence of specific aromatic herbs, most notably Artemisia Absinthium (wormwood) from which Absinthe gets its name. This is followed by a laborious natural colouring process. Fake absinthe uses essences and colourants and rarely contains real wormwood.

One

Roger with a handful of Hyssop

The real challenge with Absinthe is acquiring enough of the right plant material. It takes years. Whilst the complete list and proportion of aromatics is known only to The Still Man, Field of Dreams contains the holy trinity of wormwood, green anise and fennel with earth notes provided by angelica root, calamus root, liquorice root and orris root. The colouring herbs are Melissa, hyssop, wild dagga, wild mint, roman wormwood and angelica leaves, with floral notes provided by Cape buchu and wild rose geranium. So get planting.

Two

Roger carefully double distils dry white wine to make a lightly aromatic spirit at 85% alcohol. This will be used as a base for the Absinthe. Too much flavour will spoil the nuances of the herbs, too little will make the Absinthe flat and uninspiring.

All the herbs organised and standing by

Three

Spirit flowing from the potstill

The 1871 recipe used by Jorgensen’s as inspiration requires them to soak the primary aromatic herbs in the 85% wine spirits for 12 or more hours, add water and then gently distil off the alcohol and all the flavour from the plants. At this stage the young Absinthe is highly fragrant and completely clear and colourless.

Four

Next is the colouring process which also finely tunes and completes the flavour profile. Arrays of fragrant chlorophyll-rich herbs with delicate floral qualities are steeped in the young Absinthe giving it a vibrant natural green hue.

Star Anise is used to flavour other drinks like Jägermeister & Sambuca too

Five

And there you have it!

The final step is enjoyment. Real Absinthe is bottled with very high alcohol content (72%) for technical reasons. It must therefore be adequately diluted before enjoyment: a measure of Absinthe is even called a dose! A ritual has evolved where iced water is dripped into a special glass containing the dose of Absinthe. The addition of water causes a reaction with the abundant oils extracted from the herbs causing it to “louche”, or cloud, with a mesmerising swirl which in turn releases the complex aromas and flavours. Dilute at least 3:1 and sip slowly. Some prefer to sweeten their Absinthe with sugar, but this should not be necessary with a really good example. Three glasses of Absinthe will inspire you and is more than enough to enter your Field of Dreams.

Indeed! The key to good Absinthe is balance of flavours: bitter wormwood vs sweet anise/fennel underpinned by good earth grounding from the roots and with light floral top notes says Roger

That being said all wormwood and many of the other ingredients do contain thujone which is said to be mildly psychoactive and gives Absinthe its different feel and loosens inhibitions (oh yeah!). In the US and EU the thujone levels are monitored and controlled. There is no regulation here in SA but as Roger & Dawn intend to send Field of Dreams far and wide they are complying with foreign best practice. Aaaah!

Visit the Jorgensen’s Distillery web site and even follow them on twitter.

Don’t forget to see them in person at the Food Wine Design Fair!