Thursday, June 19, 2008

1934: Herbsaint Given a Clean Bill Of Health

With the publishing of the first Legendre Herbsaint recipe booklet, Marion Legendre showed quite a bit of business savvy, with his inaugural Herbsaint booklet, more than just a listing of drink recipes, this was not only an introduction to Legendre Herbsaint, but a carefully crafted booklet to educate, and ease the fears of a public unfamiliar with absinthe styled drinks.

Legendre even took the unprecedented step of having Tulane University analyze Herbsaint and have the head of Tulane University’s Chemistry dept. issue a statement that there was no harmful or habit forming substances in Legendre Herbsaint, which was printed in the initial Herbsaint booklet.

Marion Legendre would also turn some of the controversy over the post prohibition absinthe confusion to his advantage, by using a recent New Orleans Item news story, written on May 6th, 1934, as a press release stating: Herbsaint Given Complete Bill of Health and go to state that Legendre Herbsaint is the only correctly labeled absinthe-styled drink made and sold in New Orleans. It complies with the law in every respect, and is sold nation wide.