Arbutus Baba Yaga Absinthe: Home In a Barrel
Photo by Arbutus Distillery
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877 just as France’s “green hour” rose to prominence. At 5PM, everyone from wealthy aristocrats to struggling artists would crowd into cafes and bars to drink absinthe. The spirit quickly became a scapegoat for every ill of society. It was absinthe that was to blame for the decline of civilization. The “green fairy” supposedly caused psychedelic episodes, murderous rampages and social disorders among its devotees. Its controversial reputation eventually led to nation-wide bans in countries worldwide, including Canada, in the early 20th Century.
Late in the 20th Century, it was Edison’s invention that was named the fall guy for society’s ills. Coincidentally, that’s about when bans on absinthe were lifted. Instead, claims were made that backward messages were masked into phonograph records that subliminally caused youth to lash out. Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” was suspected of hiding the message “Start to smoke marijuana.” Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” was “Here’s to my sweet Satan,” and Judas Priest’s “Better By You, Better Than Me” garbled “Let’s be dead.”
Absinthe’s green fairy and the ruination of church group’s record players both gained a reputation for rebellion. So, when Nanaimo, British Columbia’s Arbutus distillery, released their absinthe shortly after the distillery opened its doors in 2013, the spirit’s imagery and story got a tune-up. The green fairy was fired, returning the spirit's focus to the craft of making absinthe with green forest tones and a story to match. Arbutus Absinthe tells the badass tale of Baba Yaga and she eats green fairies for breakfast!
“A lot of our spirits are based on alchemy themes and old folklore,” says Arbutus owner and distiller Michael Pizzitellie. Baba Yaga is a figure from Slavic folklore. She’s like a witch that rides a mortar and pestle instead of a broom searching for spoiled children to eat and botanicals to grind into potions. Her home is fitted with chicken legs used to roam the forest when her mortar and pestle is in the shop.
The Arbutus distillery is not perched on chicken legs, but that hasn’t stopped Pizzitellie from finding the perfect absinthe botanicals. Arbutus distils their absinthe using traditional grand wormwood, anise, fennel, lemon balm, mint, star anise and others. “We do a distillation with the botanicals, then it rests and is macerated further to pick up the colour,” explains Pizzitellie. For the green-tinted, barrel-aged absinthe, the spirit ages in #4 charred new oak barrels for at least a year before proofing it down to 56%.
The nose is sweet with candy-coated licorice and a complex array of wood, spice and fennel notes out of the barrel. Honeyed anise and old-fashioned root beer are pronounced on the green palate, slowly shifting to tannic and herbal barrel notes, finally landing on fresh mint with a soft kiss of lumber. There is a reason why this Absinthe won best in class at the 2020 Canadian Artisanal Spirits Competition – it’s brilliant.
Just as playing records backwards will not actually summon the devil, the concentration of α-Thujoneα, the chemical found in wormwood, is too low to cause the mythical absinthe-induced hallucination. Instead, Canadian distilleries, like Arbutus, make beautiful absinthe that is rooted in flavour and conviction by combining French tradition with local colour. It rocks! And if you do something stupid and try to blame the absinthe for your actions? You’re wrong. It’s probably video games. They’re evil, you know.
Arbutus Baba Yaga Absinthe took home a silver medal at the 2021 Canadian Artisan Spirit Awards. Click here for the results.