A glass filled with a naturally colored verte absinthe next to an absinthe spoon. courtesy of Eric Litton via Wikimedia Commons.
About 15 distilleries in France currently sell a drink "flavored with the absinthe plant" and will now be able to use the traditional name. Officials said the change was made in response to recent Swiss efforts to obtain EU recognition of the drink as a regional product of Val-de-Travers. France claims the spiritual home of absinthe is instead the nearby French town of Pontarlier.
