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In 2007, after being banned for almost a century, absinthe became legal in the United States. The re-evaluation came after European distillers pressured American officials to conduct real research on the supposed deleterious effects of the herbal liqueur. With scientific data debunking the common public misconception that traditional absinthe caused hallucinations or had toxic side effects, the U.S. government lifted the ban and brought glee to American absinthe connoisseurs and distillers. But among the general public many of the myths still prevail. To help set the record straight Laurence Liss, Web Editor for Outside's Go, went to Alameda, California to speak with Lance Winters, Distiller at St. George Spirits, the first American absinthe producer in nearly 100 years.
In 2007, after being banned for almost a century, absinthe became legal in the United States. The re-evaluation came after European distillers pressured American officials to conduct real research on the supposed deleterious effects of the herbal liqueur. With scientific data debunking the common public misconception that traditional absinthe caused hallucinations or had toxic side effects, the U.S. government lifted the ban and brought glee to American absinthe connoisseurs and distillers. But among the general public many of the myths still prevail. To help set the record straight Laurence Liss, Web Editor for Outside's Go, went to Alameda, California to speak with Lance Winters, Distiller at St. George Spirits, the first American absinthe producer in nearly 100 years.
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I don't know what kind of absinthe that guy in the video is selling..
Heck, call your local district attorney's office and ask. Your local police station may even be able to answer that question.
The reason it took so long to legalize? The US liquor manufacturers probably don't want any more competition from the foreign market than they already have. Drug companies do the same thing with their products. They charge us an arm and a leg for meds, when the same or similar stuff is much CHEAPER across the border.
Free market indeed.
Hey retard can you do some research about US Absinthe and real Absinthe and stop sounding like a moron?
US legalized Absinthe is not the same Absinthe you'd buy in Greece. It does not have the same i n g r e d i e n t s. I dunno how else to say that so you'll have to try and look it up yourself idiot.
i'm glad this video debunks the lighting sugar on fire myth. i believe that this was started by czech distillers to mask the bitterness of their wares.
With that being said, I can respond to an intelligent previous post. The required ppm which is mg/liter I believe is less than 10 in the US. In Europe I think it's somewhere like 35 and I think the average European absinthe contains around 28-30. So, like I said it's not hallucinagenic, but the affinity of thujone is on the level of LSD (as far as amount required to achieve some desired effect though their effects and effective targets differ greatly). So, imagine the difference between taking one hit of acid versus three hits of acid (assuming you're relatively new to it).
Absinthe has been investigated thoroughly and the conclusion is that its "unusual effects" are simply due to its extraordinarily high alcohol content. Hallucinations by regular absinthe drinkers were due to delirium tremens. That's why the stuff is legal now. It is just the subject of ridiculous mythology.
Make the stuff according to instinct and knowledge collected, add a cup of shut the fuckup and drink, and a pinch of pre-conceived notions of what it means to "trip", perhaps you'll see a horsefly, or a trouser-fly......go ride an elephant....
I'm beginning to wonder if iloseatlife is actually a sockpuppet created to mock loser-style posts. His user name is just too appropriate.
And btw, the reported "hallucinatory" effects of absinthe can also be attributed to various distilleries not preparing absinthe correctly, or replacing certain ingredients with other, more dangerous chemicals. A fairly common practice considering there was no governmental regulation and how many litres of the stuff was being consumed back in the day. Thujone itself is not a hallucinogen; if so, everybody would be trippin' balls every Thanksgiving as common cooking sage as an incredible amount of thujone in it; much more so than a foreign, "real" bottle of absinthe.
So, iloseatlife, lose the attitude. It's not welcome and not appreciated, as clearly evidenced by the number of downvotes its received.
I have had absinthe, before and it is very good, but I have never had any Euro absinthe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_proof#United_States_of_America
There are certian proofs that cannot be imported. However there are difference in many of these drinks, no single glass is the same.
Patron has different types, Just like Mezcal is not the same a Tequila.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal
So dont even think about telling that you had a worm in your Tequila.
I live in the US, but have had Czech, Spanish, and French Absinthe (quite a lot of the Spanish and French stuff). A friend brought the Czech bottle of Hills back from a trip, and I found a supplier that I could get bottles shipped from Europe for the Spanish and French brands (despite the illegality of it at the time, since the last time I imported any was over 5 years ago). I have also had friends try to brew homemade Absinthe with a ton of Wormwood.
The Czech Hills brand is FOUL. It is cheap, crappy absinthe. The French and Spanish brands were MUCH better. The home made stuff was worse than the Hills - MUCH worse. And there is a lot of variation of flavor between brands, so I highly recommend trying different labels.
Now, as far as effect? I got drunk. No hallucinations, no other effects, just DRUNK. Many of my friends would claim to feel a host of effects, often similar to a light pot buzz, but in my opinion they WANTED to feel something and so they did. But we certainly did get quite drunk quite often drinking this stuff. During this time of my life, I was putting down a fifth of vodka and plenty of beer EVERY weekend, so I had quite a tolerance for alcohol going, but I still gotta say this stuff has a kick, especially if you just start doing shots of it instead of doing the whole water and sugar routine.
But still, it was just getting drunk.
No idea what the state of American absinthe is, since I pretty much walked away from the hard drinking, pub crawling period of my life about 5 years ago.
Anyway, no concrete scientific data here, but at least some first hand accounts from someone who drank quite a bit of it from a number of different labels in a few different countries.