George Rowley (born 1964) is a British entrepreneur who is often credited with starting the

absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historical ...

revival in the popular market in Western Europe. Rowley was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, started his career within insurance and moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in the early 1990s to assist a local subsidiary. It was in Prague that he first experienced both

Czech beer Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech ...

and

absinth Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historical ...

, and he launched several

alcoholic drinks An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

ventures when he moved back to England. In 1996, he founded Bohemia Beer House Ltd. (later BBH Spirits). In 1998 he applied EU directive No. 88/388/EEC (which included the legal limits for thujone) to absinthe. The testing was approved by UK Trading Standards in June 1998. In 1998 he launched Czech

in the UK and his action became one of the catalysts for the resurgence of absinthe in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the world. He also launched eAbsinthe, then the world's first absinthe e-tailer. In 2000, with the assistance of Marie-Claude Delahaye, founder and curator of the Absinthe Museum, Auvers-sur-Oise, France, he launched his own brand,

La Fée Absinthe La Fée Absinthe is a brand of absinthe, a highly alcoholic, distilled spirit containing the herb wormwood (''Artemisia absinthium''). La Fée Absinthe was created by Green Utopia, which is owned and run by George Rowley. La Fée distil a r ...

, the first traditional distilled absinthe commercially produced in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

since the 1915 ban. In 2010, with Marie-Claude Delahaye, he presented evidence to the FFS in support of the repeal of the French Absinthe ban of 1915.

References

External links

LaFeeAbsinthe.com
— Official La Fée Absinthe website.
Daily Telegraph Article June 2001
- An article in one of the UK's top daily newspapers about the absinthe renaissance and the launch of the

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and cour ...

film.. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, George English businesspeople Absinthe 1964 births Living people