Absinthe Is Back

Time ^ | Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007 | CAROLYN SAYRE

[uglybiker]

Want to party like it's 1899? Well, now you can--sort of. After nearly a century-long ban on absinthe in the U.S., a federal agency has begrudgingly allowed two European distillers to sell the mysterious liquor Stateside. Renowned for its supposedly hallucinogenic effects, the anise-flavored alcohol was rumored to have caused an epidemic of psychosis in France in the late 1800s--most infamously, leading Vincent van Gogh to cut off his ear.

.....snip.......

Regardless of exactly how potent absinthe is or isn't, Lehrman says one thing is certain: "If you drink three bottles, you are going to do something stupid."

[William Terrell]

If you drink thre bottles of Jim Beam you're going to do somehting stupid.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

ping!

[uglybiker]

Never made it that far, myself. :-P

[Lizavetta]

Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

Also known as "the next morning".

So I've been told.

[vetvetdoug]

If you have drank three bottles of Jim Beam you have done something stupid.

I once drank a bottle of White Horse Scotch and chased it with a fifth of Wild Turkey...and was sick a week.

[uglybiker]

Buy it and you'll only get burned. It is another "near beer".

Maybe, maybe not.

Analyses were performed on a sample of vintage Pernod fils circa 1900, a sample of absinthe produced by a home distiller and two modern commercial absinthes produced by traditional methods in Pontarlier, France by using 19th century protocols. The vintage Pernod absinthe is shown to have the lowest concentration of total thujone of any of the samples tested and the highest is found in the Swiss sample, but even this was lower than the EU limit of 35 mg/l for thujone in bitters.

Table 1 Analysis of absinthe by GLC

Sample...........................................................Thujone mg/l...............Anethole mg/l

Private distillation.....................................................25.............................956
Vintage Pernod fils circa. 1900..................................6............................1400
Emile Pernot 45%.....................................................8............................1053
Un Emile 68%.........................................................10.............................792

[martin_fierro]

Give me more Grappa!

I lived in a town where the same factory made Grappa and Portland cement. True story.

[04-Bravo]

Does it taste anything like Ouzo?

[monkapotamus]

[SevenofNine]

Looter guy going be so happy LOL!

[SunkenCiv]

What a relief. There’s only this one bottle left here, and on the label it sez, “best if used by September 1901.” ;’)

[Cogadh na Sith]

But despite years of research discrediting the transcendental effects, new bottles can be sold in the U.S. only if they are classified as thujone-free.

Not really worth drinking then....

[Free Vulcan]

That scene was hilarious.

I know a guy who drank some one time. He said after a couple of hours he was seeing little green men hiding behind things then jumping out and waving to him.

He was with a friend camping and when he got back to the tent his buddy had a can of bug spray and a lighter and was completely freaked out. My friend said ‘Dude what are you doing’ and his buddy said, ‘Dude, don’t you see the giant mosquitos?! I’m going to get those muthaf’ers this time!’

[PeteB570]

Some of my friends still hand it (White Lightning) to me in Mason Jars.

You must live too far North. :-)

[HAL9000]

Too far South, actually. The moonshiners are up in the hills. I’m down in the swamp.

[Army Air Corps]

That is a pretty funny story! I can see some dude sitting in his tent trying to kill the giant mosquitoes.

Maybe some maker of Absinthe will print the following on their labels: “This s**t will mess you up.” It would further boost sales.

I recall reading a story about Absinthe a year to two ago. The story stated that people in the states were going to Canada for the purpose of drinking Absinthe that was not Thujone-free.

[Paleo Conservative]

Tastes a bit like licorice (anise, really). I like licorice.

How does it compare to ouzo?

[weegee]

He gets around.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Whenever I hear “absinthe” I think about “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. What a great classic that is!

[Caramelgal]

It only takes half a bottle of jagermeister to arrive at the same result.

Jager - a Dave Attell fan perchance?