[gtate]

One-Time Banned Absinthe Makes U.S. DebutLucid And Kubler Are First Major Brands

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 23, 2007 - Green fairy, opalescent muse, bottled madness, the essence of life: absinthe has answered to many names over the centuries, feeding inspiration and insanity in equal measures to artists from Baudelaire to Degas before facing a ban that lasted nearly a century.


Since its approval by the federal government in May, two brands of the high-proof liquor, Lucid and Kubler, have been introduced to the U.S. market. Both made according to original recipes, they are fueling a revival among the inquisitive and quenching the thirst of cultish devotees.

Drawn out by the dissolution of national barriers in the European Union, absinthe is also newly legal in its birthplace, Switzerland, and in France, whose fin-de-siecle painters and writers enshrined its allure in masterpieces that survived the drink's prohibition on the eve of the first World War, and ensured its reputation.

"I'd read about it in Henry Miller and Anais Nin, and I was curious," said Stephanie Palmer, who works in software sales, sipping Kubler absinthe on the night it was launched in San Francisco. "It has this mystique - all the stories about wormwood."

Wormwood, an herb that grows wild on the slopes of Val-de-Travers, in the Swiss Alps, is absinthe's key ingredient, and counterbalances the mouth-numbing sweetness of the dominant flavor, anise. A relative of tarragon and mugwort, it imbues the drink with bitter undertones and, reputedly, the drinker with a clarity of vision that made it both beloved and banned.

"After the first glass you see things as you wish they were," Oscar Wilde once said of absinthe. "After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

A chemical present in wormwood, thujone, was long been credited with keeping the drinker lucid even as he succumbs to the pleasant lull of alcohol. Recent studies have shown that wormwood excites the nervous system, said Barnaby Conrad III, author of "Absinthe: History in a Bottle."

"It's a little like stepping on the gas and the brakes at the same time," Conrad said.

As he spoke, he prepared a glass of absinthe in the traditional way: placing a flat, slotted spoon across a tulip-shaped glass, balancing a sugar cube on top, then opening a thin-spouted spigot on a tabletop fountain and allowing the trickle of water to melt the sugar into the clear absinthe below.

The mixture turned a milky, alabaster hue - a process known as the louche, a French word meaning "shady," which could be applied to the drink's opaque appearance or to the allegedly dubious virtues of those who consumed it.

Bohemian artists in Paris at the end of the 19th century lived a life beyond morality, spent in search of sensual experience, even at the expense of madness. Their drink of choice, absinthe, came to embody those qualities in the public's imagination.

The underground, even dangerous image of absinthe was displayed in Edouard Manet's life-sized portrait of a Parisian street bum dubbed "The Absinthe Drinker," in the prostitute Nana, from Emile Zola's novel by the same name, who drank absinthe to forget "the beastliness of men," in the portraits of dissolution and folly left by French 19th century poets Paul Marie Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire.

The reputation wasn't entirely undeserved, Conrad says in his book, reporting the findings of a 19th century doctor who studied absinthe drinkers at a French psychiatric hospital.

Describing its effects on a hardworking sculptor who was prompted to leave work and family and consume a dozen glasses of the stuff at a go, the doctor wrote in his 1859 thesis, "He drank (...) without the ability to get drunk: he was like a beast."

And an excess of wormwood can indeed be deadly, Conrad said. But the chemical reputed to carry the hallucinogenic qualities is present in such low quantities in both the current versions - as required under the federal approval - and the alcohol content so high at more than 100 proof, that the consumer would die of alcohol poisoning long before being seriously affected by thujone, Conrad said. That was also true of 19th-century absinthe, he said.

"The real high is the associations," he said. "Absinthe is pre-1915 Paris, when time unfolded differently."

That's precisely what is drawing new consumers to the old spirit, said Lyons Brown, importer of the Kubler brand.

"There's been this legend, this lure to absinthe that never went away" in spite of its ban in 1912 in the United States, said Brown. "American consumers aren't being introduced to absinthe - they've been waiting for it. The demand is already there."

Using an 1863 recipe passed down through four generations of the Kubler family, distiller Peter Karl macerates the herbs, steeping them for a day in wheat- and rye-based alcohol warmed just above body temperature. Then he distills the mixture slowly, ridding it of the chlorophyl present in French absinthe and which lends it stronger flavors and a green tint.

Indeed, shimmering in the dim recesses of a bar, its warmth making conversation flow above the din of music, Karl's mixture does seem to work the San Francisco crowd into an exalted state - "a different buzz," according to patron Tracey Grant, a San Francisco graphic designer.

Even a century later and a continent away, the poets' muse lives up to her reputation, leading drinkers into a seductive realm, though perhaps falling short of the transcendence alluded to by the 19th-century French poet Raoul Ponchon in his poem "L'Absinthe:"
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and if this sh&ts legal, why not pot?????????

i heard that some of the "special" brands of Absinthe have more
wormwood compared to other brands. true?

I've drank it. If you like drinking black jelly beans , jagermeister & rubbing alcohol it's the drink for you. Admittedly, I only had one brand that came from Germany & it wasn't rated the best. Here's a link for more info~
http://www.greenfairy.org/
I personally would black out from the alcohol before being able to consume enough to feel the wormwood.

Peace

[BLUNTMAN2000]

This stuff will kick your ass hard.
If you like the taste of licorise.
My wife and I drink it in TJ.
Really fancy drink ,If made right.
Nice to hear the Gov. is letting it in---It's a start.
I going to find some today---Gr8 X-mas gift.
Green Fairy---It glows Green.
Bad As- stuff.

Just be carefull--Don't Drink and Drive!!!!

[408_grow]

Originally Posted by BLUNTMAN2000

This stuff will kick your ass hard.
If you like the taste of licorise.
My wife and I drink it in TJ.
Really fancy drink ,If made right.
Nice to hear the Gov. is letting it in---It's a start.
I going to find some today---Gr8 X-mas gift.
Green Fairy---It glows Green.
Bad As- stuff.

Just be carefull--Don't Drink and Drive!!!!

where the hell can i get this?located in the bay area?

[1984]

I wouldnt. not anything from the US anyway( no thujone)

[masterwelder65]

Originally Posted by 1984

I wouldnt. not anything from the US anyway( no thujone)

What do u mean?

[rix]

absinthe makes the heart grow fonder....

[SativaMan]

Anyone know of any stores in LA selling Absinthe?

[tokermom]

If I were you, stick with mmj. If this drink was banned, dosen't sound like anything I want to drink. You already know what mmj will do for you, do you want to chance not remembering what this drink did for you? LOL

Originally Posted by gtate

i heard that some of the "special" brands of Absinthe have more wormwood compared to other brands. true?

Yes, some have varying levels in their brand.

Originally Posted by 408_grow

where the hell can i get this?located in the bay area?

Better to research this topic more. From past experience the quality from overseas is better. You can have it shipped, better from Czech or France. Get the sugar cube one.

Originally Posted by tokermom

If I were you, stick with mmj. If this drink was banned, dosen't sound like anything I want to drink. You already know what mmj will do for you, do you want to chance not remembering what this drink did for you? LOL

It was vilified in the 1900s, yet is somewhat relative to alcohol (depending on its strength). The history of this substance concerning that time period, especially in regards to art is interesting. It's definitely not for everyone, especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition but it's a noteworthy, psychedelic experience for some (again, dependent on the level of Artemisia absinthium).

Absinthe Basics

DESCRIPTION
Absinthe is a green liquor, made by soaking wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and other herbs in grain alcohol. Its psychoactive effects may be the result of both the alcohol and the presence of thujone, the primary active ingredient in wormwood. Whether or not thujone is psychoactive in the concentrations found in commercial absinthe (typically less than 10 mg/liter) is a matter of debate. The drink was popular in Europe and America in the 19th century before many countries outlawed it due to concerns about the health effects of thujone. In the late 1980s absinthe began to reappear in many European countries.

Because of the bitter taste of Absinthe, it is traditionally served poured over a perforated spoon full of sugar and then diluted with water. Another traditional method includes dipping the spoonful of sugar in the absinthe then lighting it on fire, the melting sugar drips into the Absinthe, lighting it on fire, only to be put out by adding water.

Price
Absinthe containing thujone is difficult to find for sale inside the United States, but is available from suppliers in other countries, many of whom are willing to ship into the U.S. Prices depend on the brand and the thujone content, and can range from $10 a bottle to over $200 per bottle.


Effects

Absinthe has long been believed to be hallucinogenic. Ten years after Dr. Magnan's experiments with wormwood oil, he studied 250 cases of alcoholism and claimed that those who drank absinthe were worse off than those drinking alcohol, and that they experienced, among other things, rapid-onset hallucinations. Few descriptions of these hallucinations exist from absinthe drinkers, beyond a few quotes from poets after a night of drinking. In one of the most famous, Oscar Wilde describes the feeling of tulips on his legs after leaving a bar. These beliefs got a boost in the 1970s when a scientific paper mistakenly reported thujone was related to THC and most likely had similar hallucinogenic properties based on its shape. With the advent of usenet and web recipes 'trip reports' have been circulating for many years. These home recipes sometimes call for known hallucinogenic herbs in a mistaken attempt to recreate Absinthe's supposed hallucinogenic effects.

Today it is known that absinthe does not cause hallucinations, especially those described in the old studies. Thujone, the supposed active chemical in absinthe, is a GABA antagonist and while it can produce muscle spasms in large doses, there is no evidence it causes hallucinations.

It has been speculated that absinthe's effects were due to poisonous chemicals being added to cheaper products in an effort by the makers to give their products a more vivid colour.

The effects of absinthe have been described by artists as mind opening and even hallucinogenic and by prohibitionists as turning "good people" "mad and desolate". Sometimes called 'secondary effects', the most commonly reported experience is a 'clear-headed' feeling of inebriation — a 'lucid drunkenness', said to be caused by the thujone and other compounds. Some, such as chemist and absinthe historian Ted Breaux, say that these effects may be caused by the fact that some of the compounds act as stimulants, others as sedatives, overall creating a neutral effect. Most others feel that the placebo effect and individual reaction to the herbs make these secondary effects subjective and minor compared to the psychoactive effects of alcohol.

A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol concluded that a high concentration of thujone in alcohol has negative effects on attention performance. It slowed down reaction time, and subjects concentrated their attention in the central field of vision. Medium doses did not produce an effect noticeably different from plain alcohol. The high dose of thujone in this study was larger than what one can get from current beyond-EU-regulation 'high thujone' absinthe before becoming too drunk to notice, and while the effects of even this high dose were statistically significant in a double blind test, the test subjects themselves could still not reliably identify which samples were the ones containing thujone. As most people describe the effects of absinthe as a more lucid and aware drunk, this suggests that thujone alone is not the cause of these effects.



Absinthe
Timeline
by Erowid

Middle Ages Wormwood drink used as a cure for flatulence.

1731 G. Smith publishes a recipe for proof-spirits infused with wormwood and sweetened with sugar in his Complete Body of Distilling. 2

1792 Dr. Pierre Ordinaire writes a recipe for absinthe, and becomes one of the first to promote the virtues of the wormwood drink.

1797 Henri-Louis Pernod opens his first absinthe distillery in Switzerland.

1805 Henri-Louis Pernod opens larger absinthe distillery in Pontarlier, France.

1840s French soldiers fighting in Algeria in the 1840s drank absinthe as a preventative against malaria and other diseases. This sparked the first big surge in absinthe's popularity in France. 1

1844 Paul Marie Verlaine is born. [More Info]

1850 Henri-Louis Pernod dies.

1859 Manet paints The Absinthe Drinker.

1859 Baudelaire meets Manet.

Nov 1871 Verlaine and Rimbaud form relationship. Become inseperable for many years.

1876 Degas paints L'Absinthe [More Info]

1878 8 million liters of Absinthe imported in the United States.

1887 Van Gogh paints "Still Life with Absinthe".
1891 Rimbaud dies in France.

1895 Maignan paints "The Green Muse".

1901 Picasso paints The Absinthe Drinker, oil on canvas, and Woman
Drinking Absinthe, oil on canvas.

Aug 11, 1901 Pernod plant in Pontarlier catches fire when struck by lightning. The fire burns for four days.

1905 Absinthe banned in Belgium.

Aug 28, 1905 Jean Lanfray murders his wife while supposedly drunk on many liquors, including and especially absinthe.

May 15, 1906 Vaud legislature in Switzerland votes to ban absinthe

Feb 2, 1907 Grand Conseil of Switzerland votes to ban the retail sale of absinthe and its imitations.

Jul 5, 1908 Absinthe oficially banned in Switzerland (Article 32 of federal constitution).

1910 French production of Absinthe reaches 36 million liters anually. (Pharmacotheon)

1911 Picasso paints Glass of Absinthe, an "analytic cubist" oil on canvas.

1912 Picasso paints Bottle of Pernod and Glass, a "synthetic cubist" oil on canvas.

Jul 25, 1912 US Department of Agriculture issues Food Inspection Decision 147, banning absinthe in the United States.

1913 Charles Foley's one-act play Absinthe performed for the first time at the Grand Guignol in Paris.

1914 Picasso creates Glass of Absinthe, a painted bronze sculpture.

1915 Absinthe banned in France by Chamber of Deputies.

Mar 16, 1915 Absinthe officially banned in France.

1990 Wormwood extracts found to be as effective in supressing malaria as chloroquine

References

1. Pendell D. Pharmako / Poeia. Mercury House, 1995.
2. Padosch SA, Lachenmeier DW, Kroener LU. "Absinthism: a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impact". Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2006;1(1):14.

link

"
"Alpha-thujone is the toxic agent in absinthe, a liqueur popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries that has adverse health effects. It is also the active ingredient of wormwood oil and some other herbal medicines and is reported to have antinociceptive, insecticidal, and anthelmintic activity. This study elucidates the mechanism of alpha-thujone neurotoxicity and identifies its major metabolites and their role in the poisoning process. Four observations establish that alpha-thujone is a modulator of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A receptor. First, the poisoning signs (and their alleviation by diazepam and phenobarbital) in mice are similar to those of the classical antagonist picrotoxinin. Second, a strain of Drosophila specifically resistant to chloride channel blockers is also tolerant to alpha-thujone. Third, alpha-thujone is a competitive inhibitor of [(3)H]ethynylbicycloorthobenzoate binding to mouse brain membranes. Most definitively, GABA-induced peak currents in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons are suppressed by alpha-thujone with complete reversal after washout. alpha-Thujone is quickly metabolized in vitro by mouse liver microsomes with NADPH (cytochrome P450) forming 7-hydroxy-alpha-thujone as the major product plus five minor ones (4-hydroxy-alpha-thujone, 4-hydroxy-beta-thujone, two other hydroxythujones, and 7,8-dehydro-alpha-thujone), several of which also are detected in the brain of mice treated i.p. with alpha-thujone. The major 7-hydroxy metabolite attains much higher brain levels than alpha-thujone but is less toxic to mice and Drosophila and less potent in the binding assay. The other metabolites assayed are also detoxification products. Thus, alpha-thujone in absinthe and herbal medicines is a rapid-acting and readily detoxified modulator of the GABA-gated chloride channel.""

-From PubMed

[MistaUNGA]

I have an Absinthe home distillation pictorial guide. PM if you'd like it.

[Medical661guy]

PURE WORMWOOD......UGGGGGGGGGG!


The smell of this stuff kills me ALONE!~


I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY TRIED IT....but back in 05 when i came back from my trip to Amsterdam i found AUTHENTIC ABSINTHE......very hard stuff to find being there are SOOOOOOOOOOO many knock offs of it.....HAD A COUPLE OF GET TOGETHERS OF WHICH I GAVE LUCKY PEOPLE TATSES OF THIS DRINK........WAS FUN JUST TO WATCH THERE REACTIONS.......SOME EXPRESSED FEELING OF BEING ON A LIGHT lsd TRIP......ANOTHER FELT LIKE HE WAS ON e.......WEIRD


You can find the generic ver of it at BEVMO in W.H or WEST HO

But....if you want the REAL DEAL(no mexican style or anything)

Ya gotta go to Germany/Europe and go on a Absinthe Hunt.......

During my 5 day trip on my 4day day i was directed to this lil acho spot in the red light district...two older men locally ran.

[Lou Weed]

There used to be a music rag in the UK called Select, if memory serves. In every issue, they'd get a band to participate in a column called "Our Absinthe Friends", wherein they'd sugar the drink, swig a bit and conclude that they needed to smoke a joint at session's end.

Which is pretty much the same conclusion I come to after I've imbibed alcohol or pharmaceuticals, so I'd stick with the cannabis.

Prohibition is a funny creature. Not everybody likes Thomas Sowell but I think his stance on bans is spot-on. Prohibition just might tell you what people like to do.

[ANTISHEEP]

Originally Posted by Medical661guy

PURE WORMWOOD......UGGGGGGGGGG!


The smell of this stuff kills me ALONE!~


I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY TRIED IT....but back in 05 when i came back from my trip to Amsterdam i found AUTHENTIC ABSINTHE......very hard stuff to find being there are SOOOOOOOOOOO many knock offs of it.....HAD A COUPLE OF GET TOGETHERS OF WHICH I GAVE LUCKY PEOPLE TATSES OF THIS DRINK........WAS FUN JUST TO WATCH THERE REACTIONS.......SOME EXPRESSED FEELING OF BEING ON A LIGHT lsd TRIP......ANOTHER FELT LIKE HE WAS ON e.......WEIRD


You can find the generic ver of it at BEVMO in W.H or WEST HO

But....if you want the REAL DEAL(no mexican style or anything)

Ya gotta go to Germany/Europe and go on a Absinthe Hunt.......

During my 5 day trip on my 4day day i was directed to this lil acho spot in the red light district...two older men locally ran.

That's right, the big "Absynthe Fad" right now is based on the fake stuff. It's real difficult for you to find the real deal here in the Land of the Free.