[ebag4]

I noticed that the local liquor store has started carrying 3 different brands of Absinthe.  I have been curious about Absinthe since I first heard of it a few years ago.  I am wonderng if the current incarnations available are the same as those that were available over the past centuries.  Anyone drink Asinthe?  did you like it?  Any special method of preparation?

Thanks,
Ed

[pbrstreetgang]

Yes we have a big community here drinking the old authentic recipes. The same guy and guru Ted Breaux is responsible for "Lucid" and is very similar to the old recipe except for a slight variant on the wormwood and it produces an isomer or something on the Thejune (the chemical the FDA is worried with). To me and honestly while the old recipes have a slightly better bouquet and sophistication the store boughts get me way more weird than the old stuff. Ted Breaux is an analytical chemist that found a bottle of old Absinthe in a Wall in NO and rendered the old formula for his well known and very good line available in Europe or roundabouts. He is responsible for the commercial resurgence but there are tons of master connoisseur's all over -wormwoodsociety.com

[ebag4]

Thanks for the reply PB.  "Lucid" is one of the brands available here, guess I will give it a try!

BTW, it looks like that link should b wormwoodsociety.org.

Ed

[ebag4]

Hi PB,
Looking at the reviews of some of the Absinthes that are available in the US, it appears that Kubler has received the highet mars, have you tried this one?

Thanks,
Ed

[pbrstreetgang]

 Nouvelle-Orléans  or Edouard. For the "roundabouts"

[pbrstreetgang]

You likely wont be crazy about any the first time- the brain interpertes the Anise as a Licorice flavor. Curiously it tastes quite different to experienced drinkers

[lonewolfny42]

Some past threads....here.......and....here......

[JerryM]

Mexico has a huge inventory of Absinthe - they always have. Walking it across the Border has been entirely dependent on the Screener you spoke with when re-entering the good ol' USA. Some would let you pass, some would 'confiscate' your bottle(s) in the interest of National Security. Never any threat of trouble, it just became their property. Hmmmmm...   

Now that it's is no longer banned here, I may be happy to mail an occasional bottle to a thirsty Amigo. Check the availability of different brands in Baja. It is a far better selection, and an easy, nice, and enjoyable drive to and from for me.

Have fun,

Jerry

[Imperial]

I've tried absint only one time. It sort of reminded me of Pernod actually.
Are there differences between absint types also, markedly?

Imperial

[pbrstreetgang]

Just like wine or micro brews. Some have stronger "effect" than others, some are nasty skunky, and some are basically vodka or everclear infused with herbs and spices and are not worth drinking. Lots of variety of tastes and effect. There is some Cinnamon absinthe that is great great stuff.

[Themistocles]

Yes we have a big community here drinking the old authentic recipes. The same guy and guru Ted Breaux is responsible for "Lucid" and is very similar to the old recipe except for a slight variant on the wormwood and it produces an isomer or something on the Thejune (the chemical the FDA is worried with). To me and honestly while the old recipes have a slightly better bouquet and sophistication the store boughts get me way more weird than the old stuff. Ted Breaux is an analytical chemist that found a bottle of old Absinthe in a Wall in NO and rendered the old formula for his well known and very good line available in Europe or roundabouts. He is responsible for the commercial resurgence but there are tons of master connoisseur's all over -wormwoodsociety.com

According to the FDA, alcoholic beverages must be thujone-free pursuant to 21 CFR 172.510. All USA absinthes must test <10ppm thujone and may not even label themselves as absinthe.

Thujone is a naturally occuring terpene in grande wormwood and is responsible for the fabled effect.  Alcohol is a GABA agonist. It stimulates the production of this neurotransmitter which causes drowsiness and sleep. Thujone is a GABA antagonist. It prohibits alcohol from performing that part of it's function. Absinthe is therefore a type of 'speedball', it's chemical constituents at once promote the production of GABA and opens its receptors, while also closing those receptors off. This explains the 'green fairy' effect that absinthe has, as oppossed to just normal drunkenness.

I find it fascinating what you write about the lack of effects in this so-called historical recreations. They use chemotypes of artemisia absinthium and carbon extraction to reduce the thujone content. There are some natural brands in Europe that have 100mg thujone: http://www.centuryabsinthe.com/

Another good brand is Roquette 1797. In any case, always add water at a ratio of 1:4 to liberate the herbals from the alcohol and create the clouding or louche.

[nathanm]

I haven't tried it myself, but it does interest me because, well, there's tools and a process involved so that makes it kind of like listening to vinyl.  And cool bottle labels.  But doesn't the high amount of alcohol in this stuff override any more 'fanciful' effects of the thujone?  I don't especially like being drunk; I can't get anything done, I don't feel any more creative, I just feel dizzy and mumble a lot.  Is absinthe truly any different than regular high octane booze or is it just a lot of myth and marketing hokum?  Does it really have a taste?

[Themistocles]

Fanciful?

Absinthe: attention performance and mood under the influence of thujone.
Dettling A, Grass H, Schuff A, Skopp G, Strohbeck-Kuehner P, Haffner HT.
Institute of Forensic and Traffic Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
CONCLUSIONS: As they are apparently opposed to the effect of alcohol, the reactions observed here can be explained by the antagonistic effect of thujone on the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor. Similar alterations were observed for the other mood state dimensions examined.

UC Berkeley researchers Karin Hold, Nilantha Sirisoma, Tomoko Ikeda, Toshio Narahashi and John Casida, also reported that alpha-thujone affects the brain receptor that regulates excitation. The real issue is the lack of thujone in modern day copies of absinthe. This was revealed by Prof. Arnold, Biochemist, University of Kansas in Time Magazine:

But the biggest controversy surrounding the liquor--once dubbed "one of the worst enemies of man"--is about not its resurgence but rather its authenticity. Enthusiasts claim the thujone-free brands, which contain less than 10 parts per million (p.p.m.) of the chemical, are made with the same relatively small amounts of thujone as the old brews. But scientists wrote in the British Medical Journal that absinthe bottled before 1900 packed up to 260 p.p.m. of thujone--which may not sound like much, but consider that only 15 parts per billion of lead in drinking water is enough to scare regulators. "They are playing pretend," study co-author Wilfred Arnold says of the liquor's new cheerleaders. "It is nothing like the old stuff.

Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007 Time Magazine

[nathanm]

By "fanciful" I don't mean imagined, I just mean all the lofty-sounding effects claimed which seem to separate it from the usual alcohol-related effects.  Does that actually shake out in the real world in your experience?  Does anyone personally experience a different drug effect than plain 'ol getting hammered is my question.

[woodsyi]

My wife and I each had a glass recently at a party.  It was Parisian green stuff that went louche and all with ice.  It tasted like ouzo and it didn't do anything for me.  My wife said she felt dizzy and sweaty and had weird and vivid dreams that night.  So I don't know. 

Now if you want a legal trip, apparently you have to try the magic mint,  Salvia Divinorum.  http://www.salviadragon.com/

[nathanm]

I've tried Salvia on a few occasions.  There's a really good video on it called Sacred Weeds.  A bunch of British academic types observe people taking it.  I personally had the lucid, in-body experience of being sorta disoriented and then going to sleep.  Good thing they didn't have me on the show.  That'd be some bad television.  Actually it made my upper body feel like it was being twisted, like I was turning around in a circle even though I was sitting down.  No New Age astral projection hooey for me.  Hmph.

[Themistocles]

By "fanciful" I don't mean imagined, I just mean all the lofty-sounding effects claimed which seem to separate it from the usual alcohol-related effects.  Does that actually shake out in the real world in your experience?  Does anyone personally experience a different drug effect than plain 'ol getting hammered is my question.

I see what you mean. It is certainly not hallicinogenic in my opinion in the way that we use that term. The absinthe effect, when higher levels of thujone are present, can be described as a heightened sense of colour, sound and movement. Some people describe it as being drunk and lucid and this is the opposing forces of alcohol and thujone at work. If you look at the art and paintings of the Belle Epoque you will see this in the metaphor of la fee verte (the green fairy). I know people that use absinthe as a means of solving problems! The gaba receptors are firing randomly and thought patterns are perhaps less constrained. It is an unusal and unique sensation and parallels with other pyschotropic substances are not really valid. It is a natural herbal buzz and is altogether rather pleasant. I would also say that if you drink a lot of high thujone absinthe you will not be in a happy state...a few glasses is quite sufficient..or the green fairy will turn into a green dragon 

[DaveC113]

I've tried Salvia on a few occasions.  There's a really good video on it called Sacred Weeds.  A bunch of British academic types observe people taking it.  I personally had the lucid, in-body experience of being sorta disoriented and then going to sleep.  Good thing they didn't have me on the show.  That'd be some bad television.  Actually it made my upper body feel like it was being twisted, like I was turning around in a circle even though I was sitting down.  No New Age astral projection hooey for me.  Hmph.

Yeah, Salvia has all sorts of different effects depending on doseage. I have never tried any hogher doseages because I didn't want to have to have someone looking after me when I took it. Sounds like you didn't have an excessive amount...

[Canyoneagle]

This has been an enlightening discussion.
Here in Utah, the only thing they sell is the "Absente" with the Van Gogh boxes and absinthe spoons, which I've discovered (through this thread) is NOT authentic absinthe.

Unfortunately, it is illegal in Utah to ship alcohol, so I'll have to do some looking around in Colorado (we own land there) and/or have it shipped to friends there.

Cheers,
Michael