Charles Maire - Pernod Fils

Absinthe, the anise infused liquor that became so popular in France, was invented by a French doctor named Pierre Ordinaire in 1792, who fled France's revolution to settle in Couvet, a small village in western Switzerland. On his occasional journeys via horseback, Dr. Ordinaire is said to have discovered the plant Artemisia absinthium growing wild in the hills of the Val-de-Travers region. Like most country doctors, he prepared his own remedies and being acquainted with absinthe's use in ancient times, he began experimenting with it. 

Dr. Ordinaire's recipe probably included the following herbs: wormwood, anise (Pimpinella anisum), hyssop (Hyssopus officnalis), dittany (Dictamnus albus), sweet flag (Acorus calamus), melissa (a type of mint) and varying amounts of coriander, veronica, camomile, parsley and possibly spinich. The 136 proof elixir produced in his sixteen liter still became popular as a cure-all in town and early on was nicknamed La Fee Verte (The Green Faery). Upon his death, he allegedly left his secret recipe to two Henriod sisters from Couvet, who then left it to a visiting Frenchman, Major Dubied, whose son-in-law was named Pernod. 

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