One of the many chapters in the shared history of New
Orleans, and Absinthe was an old New Orleans distiller L. E. Jung. (Later
to be known as L. E. Jung & Wulff)
L. E Jung distilled absinthe, among their many types of
bitters, liquers, and liquors during their roughly sixty year history. From the
surviving information, it appears that L.E. Jung produced a copy of C.F.
Berger's absinthe , both as a verte, and a blanche.
When the USA banned absinthe in 1912, L.E Jung would
reformulate their Absinthe in 1913 and produce what may well have been the
first American Absinthe substitute, called GREENOPAL.
This extremely rare surviving example of GREENOPAL, now resides in our collection
During the long dry spell of prohibition, L.E. Jung would
produce a non-alcoholic absinthe cordial, until repeal, then L.E. Jung &
Wulff (renamed following the death of Louis Jung in 1926, when business
partner Fred Wulff became head of the company) would resume production of
absinthe in December 1933, until ordered to cease absinthe production by the
FACA in early 1934
During this period Jung & Wulff would use a rotating
group of names for their absinthe substitute, trying to gain market traction
for their product. Greenopal would resurface under the house brand of Solari’s
market in the mid-1930s.
