Diablerets Aperitif Genereux Poster – Vintage Alcohol Poster – Food & Drink wall art – Martin Peikert 1944
Les Diablerets are a huge ice-covered mountain range in the Vaud Alps between Lake Geneva and Gstaad. The Diablerets mountain massif straddles the border between the Swiss cantons of Valais and Vaux and also stretches into the canton of Bern. Many communities all across the Alpes Vaudoises are full of myths, folk stories and legends. However, with its village name meaning “Abode of Devils” Les Diablerets, brings an undeniably exciting mystery to the region. The Diablerets Devil had been the inspiration for a fabulous series of vintage alcohol posters since the talented Swiss painter Frederic Rouge introduced him to the world in 1928. This version created in 1944 was produced by another renowned Swiss poster artist Martin Peikert.
Peikert’s fabulous image certainly picks up where Rouge left off. His image brings us even closer to the mischievous red devil as he descends from the blue-green mists swirling around the snow-covered mountaintops. Beelzebub is taking far more care with this bottle of Diablerets. Instead of pouring over the Swiss countryside this bottle appears to be being coveted and protected. As though the red imp doesn’t want to share, instead keeping it for himself!
The Legend of the Devils of Diablerets
The Bernese mountain villages of Diablerets and its neighbouring village Tsanfleuron are the picturesque setting for the local legend. The story tells of a time when Tsanfleuron, the Field of Flowers, was still just a beautiful meadow, surrounded by glacier-fed lakes, verdant valleys and the towering mountains of Les Diablerets. It was a beautiful Garden of Eden until the devils and demons found it and used it as their playground. Legend states that the creatures from the underworld practised and played their game of skill… aiming large rocks at the Quille du Diable… The Devil’s Skittle.
Troubled by the dangerous and treacherous rocks bouncing down the mountainside, and fearing for the safety of their flocks and themselves, the local shepherds and herdsmen moved away from the area, regarding Diablerets as a dangerous and cursed place where the devil did his worst. From here, there appears to be two variations of the legend. The first explains that the local shepherds and herdsmen, troubled by the dangerous and treacherous rocks bouncing down the mountainside, and fearing for the safety of their flocks and themselves, moved away from the area. Regarding it as a dangerous and cursed place where the devil did his worst, Diablerets and Tsanfleuron lost their beauty and vitality and turned into the icy glacial wasteland it remains today. According to the second tale, whilst practising one day, the Beelzebub dropped a huge boulder that fell on one of the mountain slopes causing a rock fall. The avalanche destroyed the Vaud village of Derborence below. Although many perished it is believed that some of the villagers managed to survive under the rubble by drinking the juice from the roots of the growing herbs. The juice is supposed to have saved the villagers’ lives. The “water of life| was replicated as the local beverage Bitter des Diablerets.
The Les Diablerets Poster
Over the years several vintage alcohol posters have been produced to promote the brand and grow the business. In 1928, Henri Leyvraz, the son of the company’s founder commissioned his friend and local Aigle-born artist Frédéric Rouge to create a poster. Basing his image on the region’s folk story Rouge created this wonderful Diablerets Aperitif Sain Poster. It features a winged red devil flying through the sky above the Les Diablerets mountain massive. The mischievous-looking horned devil seems to be taking great delight in pouring the unique flavoured demon drink out into the Vaux countryside. The name of the drink is written in perspective as though it is disappearing into the distance and the snow-capped gold-painted letters read Diablerets Aperitif Sain.
Diablerets Aperitif Genereux
The alcoholic herbal beverage dates back to 1876 and as the poster displays the drink was originally offered as an “aperitif sain” which means a healthy aperitif. The company claimed the drink could help soothe upset stomachs and relieve headaches, insomnia, asthma and even heartaches!
According to the Diablerets website, the real inspiration behind the drink’s recipe was not the devil. Instead, the devil’s brew was developed by François Leyraz who is said to have been inspired by an obscure formula obtained from a Dutch traveller. Maybe it was the devil after all! For a century, the product remained exclusively in the hands of the Leyvraz family and their descendants, in Aigle.
To this day, the ingredients and process for making the medicinal potion remain a mystery… a secret supposedly guarded closely by the devil himself. The bottle label still only lists four basic ingredients; alcohol, sugar, plant extracts and natural aromas. Although according to the Patrimoine Culinaire Suisse reports that Diableret’s unique flavour comes from gentian, orange peel, mountain herbs and 15 different types of roots. Among the Vaux community, the aperitif is most commonly drunk on its own, with ice or mixed with mineral water.
Originally, Diablerets Aperitif Genereux had an alcohol content of 22 per cent. As well as featuring on the company’s advertising posters, the horned creature featured on the bottle label as well. At the time the use of the devil in the company’s marketing was considered quite scandalous. According to the current (2022) owners, Diablerets was the first house in Switzerland that dared to use the devil as an advertising emblem”.
The Bitter Diablerets liqueur was popular and widely consumed in the Alps and the Chablais Vaudois region. In his book Portrait of the Vaudois published in 1990, the Swiss painter and author describes the drink poetically, writing “Diablerets! An acrid, bitter, sweet sip. A celestial handful of herbs from the pastures under the waterfall and the Alps, with their heads, shaved like bronzes. The savagery of the eagle scrutinizing the valley where the river bubbles between the green slopes and the rocks of the desert!” However, despite the brilliantly devilish poster designs by Frederic Rouge the beverage never caught on in other regions.
Other Devil Posters
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