How to follow the Absinthe Trail in Switzerland's Jura Mountains

Steady as you go on the Absinthe Trail in the Jura Mountains — this stuff is not to be taken lightly, says Mike MacEacheran
Wild woods: the forests near Môtiers, where the Alpine herbs are used to make absinthe grow
Alamy Stock Photo
Mike Maceacheran24 May 2019

When Claude-Alain Bugnon is not in his workshop sniffing and studying absinthe at La Clandestine distillery in Couvet in Val-de-Travers, he can be found sampling it. The bearded distiller admits drinking more than his fair share of the production. Effectively, up to 20 glasses when a group tour pops in. Is he crazy?

“Some people are mad without drinking absinthe,” says Bugnon, pouring out two measures of the wormwood-based spirit and topping them up with water from a dispenser. “Look at Donald Trump! For me, absinthe does the opposite — it feeds the brain. They say you shouldn’t drink more than 28 glasses a week. If that’s the case, my week is finished by Wednesday.”

What makes Switzerland’s Absinthe Trail, tucked in the Jura Mountains and accessible by train from Neuchâtel, is more than just the milk-white spirit. From Couvet, the birthplace of the drink, to Pontarlier, just over the border in France, runs a 35km self-guided cycling route that meanders along the Areuse River from maisons and distilleries to absinthe-inspired restaurants, a museum and boutiques selling cheese, saucisson, cream, fudge and honey all imbued with the alcohol. If absinthe’s not to your liking, it doesn’t matter. Each town has equally satisfying moments to savour, and my plan is to tackle it slowly, over a long weekend.

It’s tempting to think of Bugnon as a sort of Twenties-era flâneur but in reality his role as a distiller involves a tremendous amount of hard work. As he passes around bags of lemon balm and mint, wild fragrances fill the room and he describes why the spirit is so often reviled. Words such as balance, flavour and sensation are never far away.

“Many people are afraid because they don’t know how to drink it properly,” he says, matter-of-factly. “When you drink strong alcohol you can have a problem and hallucinate. But if you add the correct amount of water, it reduces it to the strength of a glass of wine.”

When it comes to the aniseed-flavoured liquor the Swiss know their stuff. For more than 200 years they have redefined how absinthe should be made, using a sweet-meets-sour balance of Alpine herbs that flourish in the surrounding forests. At the height of production, before the First World War, there were 1,000 people in the industry and, despite a 95-year period of prohibition from 1910 to 2005, they continued to produce it illegally. Bootlegging thrived, and despite propaganda pronouncing “every glass as a step towards madness”, locals continued to make it in their bathtubs.

That rebellious spirit is what makes it so interesting for visitors. Absinthe may be more associated with the artistic liberties of belle époque Paris and the likes of Jacques Brel, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, but it has never been out of fashion in Val-de-Travers. Here it’s a form of resistance.

Drinkwise: Absinthe being poured on the trail
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Following this quick history lesson at the Maison de l’Absinthe museum in nearby Môtiers — a medieval crossroads of timber-framed houses intercut with absinthe adverts — it is on to the Bovet distillery for a second meet-and-greet. By now I’m ready for another drink, and manager Françoise Gomes-Bovet obliges with a shot of almost fruity absinthe in a tasting room brimming with cock-eyed Germans. “My father started making it in the Seventies and was the first to reopen after prohibition,” she says, “but it was just as exciting before that. The fines were high but he still supplied the police.”

A tad under the influence now, my plan for the late afternoon escapes me and I detour following a tip-off from Gomes-Bovet. She says the forest near Môtiers is the home of La Fée Verte, or the Green Fairy, and where the true spirit of absinthe lives. This is of course nonsense, but bungling deep into Grimm Brothers’ territory I stumble upon an absinthe fountain, a help-yourself stash secreted in a wooden box nailed to a tree. This improbable cache, I learn, is one of many reserves used to power up hikers and bikers through the valley. There is, it seems, a bit of magic in Val-de-Travers after all.

Couvet distiller Claude-Alain Bugnon at his Artemisia Distillerie, Jura Region
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At Les Six-Communes restaurant back in Môtiers that evening, the menu has already been decided for me: trout in absinthe sauce and absinthe soufflé. The aniseed rush leaves me more than a little blurry-eyed and after another nightcap — courtesy of a glass at La Fine distillery from Christophe Racine, who I encounter at his boutique across the road — what happens next is something I really can’t remember. There may have been more absinthe.

The following morning arrives in a surreal haze. But thankfully, the local speciality — a café briquette, an absinthe-doused coffee — does wonders for unfuzzing my brain. Once back in the saddle, I’m freewheeling on the road to Fleurier, past its fairytale château and misty sugar-loaf hills, and then onwards to historic Pontarlier, with its two distilleries, museum and trove of antiques stores. The Swiss may have the bragging rights to the most authentic absinthe recipes but the French have the numbers: Pernod, the area’s biggest distiller, once pumped out 20,000 litres a day of the stuff.

The town of Pontarlier
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Absinthe has always been out of step with what passes for drinking style. The spirit suffers from being misunderstood and too opaque to generate the mass appeal of other drinks. But in the Val-de-Travers it exists in an unlikely alliance with everyday life.

There is mythology here and visitors will be astonished by its story. For better or worse, I’ve had my imagination fired — and my Val-de-Travers weekend will stay with me long after I leave.

Details: Switzerland

Val-de-Travers’ annual La Fête de l’Absinthe takes place on June 15 (fetedelabsinthe.ch). Doubles at Hôtel de l’Aigle (hotel-aigle.ch) from £105. Jet2 and easyJet fly to Geneva from UK airports. Val-de-Travers is 90 minutes by train from Geneva (j3l.ch)

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