We continue to study rare drinks and today another classic bitter is next in line. It is said that few residents of the Philippeville district in Belgium know that it was they who first began to produce the sensational bittersweet Amer Picon bittersweet in France. But first things first.
In 1837, during the French military campaign in Algeria, which ended with the capture of the Constantine, General Valais had 28-year-old Gaetan Picon among the soldiers who ended up in the infirmary.
Born in Genoa (which then belonged to France), Gaetan was inventive from childhood and showed an interest in the chemistry and medicinal properties of plants. In the service in North Africa, like many soldiers, he was struck by malaria. Gaetan tried to make a potion similar to the one that his grandmother used to prepare as a child, trying to bring down the heat. And at hand were only oranges, herbs and roots. After several experiments, making a number of changes to the recipe along the way, he developed a “decoction” that allowed him to recover and gain strength.
Pikon got his potion from the distillate of dry orange peel, gentian roots, cinchona bark, sugar syrup and caramel. I must say that in the 19th century in Europe they were already beginning to use “quinine powder” to fight malaria (I think I already wrote about the healing properties of Gin and tonic, which also contains quinine).
In 1820, French chemists Pierre Pelletier and Joseph Cavantoux learned how to isolate the active substance, quinine, from the bark of the cinchona tree. And only in 1880, in the same Algeria, the military doctor Charles Louis Laveran made the discovery that malaria is caused by “protozoa”. But long before this discovery (more precisely, 43 years), the rumor about a magical antimalarial mixture reached the French military leaders, who recommended Gaetan Picon to urgently start producing bitter for the needs of the army.
In 1840, Gaetan Picon begins to fulfill his obligation: he moves to Belgium and in the French community of Philippeville starts a bitter factory, which he initially calls “African bitterness”. A few years later, Picon leaves for Algeria to open several more factories.
The drink became so beloved by the French military that after the expiration of the military campaign, they demanded their favorite drink in their homeland. Three small factories in Algiers could not meet the demand, and Gaetan Picon in 1872 founded a new enterprise in Marseilles, and African Bitterness became known as Picon’s Bitterness.
Since then, over the years, branches have been opened in Rouen and Bordeaux, in Genoa and Barcelona, Brussels and Frankfurt. In the 1970s, the original strength of the drink (78 proof) was halved. Which, in the opinion of the bartenders, who found the former “strong” Picon, irreparably changed the taste of the cocktails they prepared based on it. Now the famous Algerian bitterness is produced only in France. Since 1995, two brands of bitter can be found on sale: “Picon bière” and “Picon club”. Picon is especially good as an aperitif, although French experimenters like to add it to white wine, mix with beer, tonic, and even with milk.
See you soon on the pages of the Rum Diary! *hi*