Vintage Pernod Fils Pastilles

This is a unique collector's item. One Pernod Fils Pastille Pack (not the whole box). We discovered them on an antique market in Switzerland. They are from the 1920-1930s, as only in this period of time Pernod produced a spirit with 40% alcohol, this bottle is shown on the case. The packaging shows the traditional Pernod Fils label, which was used for preban Absinthe. Don’t eat them, they are a collector's item!

Pernod Fils and the beginning of the Absinthe era

Pernod Fils was the most popular brand of Absinthe throughout the 19th century until the Green Fairy was banned in France in 1915. During the late 19th century, the Pernod Fils name became synonymous with Absinthe. The brand represented the standard of quality by which all other brands were judged. The beginning of this very special brand can be traced as far back as the 1790s. It was during this time in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, that Dr. Pierre Ordinaire created a distilled patent medicine that would represent the earliest origins of the Green Fairy. The recipe then came into the hands of Henri Louis Pernod through the means of a business deal, and in 1797, he and Daniel Henri Dubied opened the first Absinthe distillery in Couvet, Switzerland.

Now, they began to commercialize Dr. Ordinaires medicine to a world known spirit. Pernod later built a larger distillery in Pontarlier, France, in 1805. This set the stage that would cause the sleepy community of Pontarlier to eventually emerge as the home of twenty-eight commercial Absinthe distilleries, and the world's center of Absinthe production.