The Green Fairy Gets a Green Card

Jacob Sullum | November 12, 2007

In his New York Times column, Edward Rothstein notes that two brands of absinthe based on 19th-century recipes, the French-made Lucid and the Swiss-made Kübler, are now being legally imported into the United States. They passed muster with federal regulators because, while they contain wormwood, they do not contain signficant levels of thujone, a psychoactive chemical in wormwood that has often been credited with (or blamed for) the special qualities that were said to distinguish absinthe intoxication from ordinary drunkenness. (In the FDA's view, significant thujone content renders a beverage "adulterated," so it cannot be legally imported or sold.) As I noted in reason a couple of years ago, it now seems likely that old-fashioned absinthe rarely, if ever, contained enough thujone to have a noticeable independent effect. Absinthe's allure as the inspirational drink of artists and poets appears to have been a sociocultural phenomenon rather than a pharmacological one.

You nevertheless still see ads in places such as High Times (and here on reason online) for absinthe brands that are promoted based on their high thujone content, the sort of come-on that absinthe connoisseurs tend to view with contempt. Lucid's website reports:

Lucid contains an amount of thujone that is within the legal limits set by the US regulatory authorities.  Any product that comes to the US containing Grande Wormwood must also meet those same requirements, which are similar to the requirements of many other countries. Lucid also meets the thujone requirements of the European Union.  According to extensive research conducted by T.A. Breaux, contrary to some common misconceptions, it was not unusual for genuine, high-quality absinthe from the Belle Epoqué period also to contain levels of thujone that would, today, be within US and EU regulatory limits. T.A. Breaux collected vintage absinthe bottles from estate sales and applied modern chemical analysis and determined the thujone content of vintage absinthe was much lower than was commonly believed.  His research has been well documented and his findings remain generally undisputed.

In another smack at cheap imitations, the site adds:

Lucid's color occurs naturally as a result of its ingredients. There are no artificial coloring agents added.  This also explains why Lucid's color may appear slightly different from one bottle to the next. Lucid may also change color in an open bottle over time. In fact, these subtle variations in color have always been considered the hallmark of high-quality, genuine Absinthe. In the Belle Époque period it actually distinguished a genuine Absinthe from an imitation or artificially colored product.

Then as now, some producers used artificial colors to make the drink's appearance meet people's emerald-green expectations. Without such fakery, buyers would have deemed those brands inauthentic. Yet Kübler absinthe, produced according to a 19th-century recipe in the land were absinthe originated, is clear, not green. (It does, like the green varieties, cloud when you add cold water, which indicates the release of essential oils from the herbs used to flavor it.) There was wide variation in the formulas used by absinthe producers in the drink's heydey, which is one reason it is hard to say for sure how much thujone its avant-garde fans were imbibing.

Yet absinthe's specialness is hard to separate from its reputation for producing a unique state of consciousness—"a kind of relaxed alertness accompanying the lulling impact of alcohol," as Rothstein describes it, right before conceding that he may have been "intoxicated by the drink's cultural heritage." Even as it emphasizes Lucid's negligible thujone content, the drink's manufacturer tries to capitalize on absinthe's reputation as a forbidden potion with the slogan, "Prohibition is finally over!" After a century as contraband, can absinthe be authentic when it's legal?

Comments

|11.12.07 @ 12:18PM|#

I've never had the stuff. When I went through Reason's link to check it out, the $200 price tag sobered me up right quick. Maybe someday though.

|11.12.07 @ 12:20PM|#

I wonder if there will be gutter brands of absinthe now? Think, "Aristocrat Absinthe".

|11.12.07 @ 12:28PM|#

I've had real and fake absinthe. The real stuff wasn't great, the fake stuff wasn't great. I would never drink it on my own tab. Meh.

sv|11.12.07 @ 12:36PM|#

some friends and i pooled our money to get an 'illegal' bottle from canada a few years back. i didn't notice any unusual effects, but we did all get really really fucked up and had a really great time. the idea of the stuff was exciting, but i think it was just really strong alcohol.

Pessimist|11.12.07 @ 12:36PM|#

I have a feeling we're all going to discover that absinthe is pretty ordinary. Like seeing a celebrity naked.

Garth|11.12.07 @ 12:42PM|#

I used to travel to Prague for business quite regularly and would imbibe absinthe from time to time. There is a different effect from it compared to just booze, but nothing shockingly different. Personally I prefer Becherovka. In fact, I love the stuff.

thoreau|11.12.07 @ 12:45PM|#

Since Jacob mentioned a green card, I've gotta say that I'm sick of all these foreign green fairies coming in and stealing job from American green fairies.

|11.12.07 @ 1:17PM|#

I agree with MikeP.

|11.12.07 @ 1:18PM|#

Absinthe is just really, really strong herbal liquor. The quickest way to mark yourself as a dumbass american tourist in czechoslovakia is to go running around looking for a bottle--the locals will look at you the same way you would at someone who flew into St Louis and started geeking out over being able to buy budweiser

x,y|11.12.07 @ 1:33PM|#

The quickest way to mark yourself as a dumbass american tourist in czechoslovakia is to go running around looking for a bottle--the locals will look at you the same way you would at someone who flew into St Louis and started geeking out over being able to buy budweiser

And you know this to be the case because?

|11.12.07 @ 2:02PM|#

I have a feeling we're all going to discover that absinthe is pretty ordinary. Like seeing a celebrity naked.

Kinda like Cuban cigars. The only real difference between a Cuban and the others is that the tobacco leaves are aged for only 6 months rather than 1.5 years or more.

Now, I haven't had the luxury of seeing a celebrity nekkid, but as soon as I do I'll get back to you on that...

|11.12.07 @ 2:18PM|#

I've bought absinthe from the Reason ad before, with no problems. As far as I can tell it was legally imported. So how is this news item news? Is now legal to sell within the US? Can I know purchase real absinthe at BevMo? Inquiring minds want to know!

lunchstealer|11.12.07 @ 2:20PM|#

I'd think the first mark of being a dumbass American tourist would be still calling it Czechoslovakia. Then again, I'm not entirely sure some of the old timers in Hungary don't still think of themselves as the Austro-Hungarian empire, so you might just slide on that one.

Keith|11.12.07 @ 2:25PM|#

I wonder if there will be gutter brands of absinthe now? Think, "Aristocrat Absinthe".

Hill's. And about 99.9% of anything that comes from the Czech Republic. Actually, most of the brands that show up in the ad that pops up here are considered bottom of the toilet as well.

|11.12.07 @ 2:35PM|#

I wonder if there will be gutter brands of absinthe now? Think, "Aristocrat Absinthe".

Thunderbird Absinthe?

|11.12.07 @ 2:41PM|#

Since Jacob mentioned a green card, I've gotta say that I'm sick of all these foreign green fairies coming in and stealing job from American green fairies.

I suspect that a lot of American green fairies are just bigoted against foreign brown green fairies.

|11.12.07 @ 2:42PM|#

"Kinda like Cuban cigars. The only real difference between a Cuban and the others is that the tobacco leaves are aged for only 6 months rather than 1.5 years or more."

Smoked my first Cuban in the Bahamas some years back. It was one of those, "Fuck it, I gotta do this before I die" moments. The price range was from $10 to more than $100. As the resort was cornholing me for triple digits every day and my wallet was gettin' slim, I opted to burn a $15 model.

Reminded me of a 98-cent White Owl. But I was able to come home and say, "Dude, I smoked a Cuban cigar!" Earned me some major cred among my East Texas peers.

|11.12.07 @ 3:01PM|#

Way to go, Breaux!

|11.12.07 @ 3:08PM|#

Don't tase me Breaux!

DJ Voton|11.12.07 @ 3:16PM|#

Ted Breaux has been exporting his absinthe from France to the U.S. for a couple of years at least. I always liked the customs declaration on the box, which said, "Printed Matter"--referring to the label, I assume. It might be a "sociocultural phenomenon," but that shit does get you phenomenally drunk phenomenally fast. It's 55% alcohol.

|11.12.07 @ 3:36PM|#

I have consumed absinthe many times, and all that happened was that I got plastered off of something that tasted like black licorice with melted sugar in it. I fail to see the appeal of this particular liquor over others.

Same deal with drinking raki in Anatolia, except raki will put hair on your chest and clear it out of your nostrils.

|11.12.07 @ 3:38PM|#

But all varieties of it should be legal here in the states, I meant to say. From Wiki, that infinite warehous of reliable info:
For many years thujone was thought to act on the cannabinoid receptors similar to THC based on studies that only looked at the molecules' shapes.[1] This is known to be false today and studies show thujone does not activate these receptors[2]. Thujone is a GABAA receptor antagonist. By inhibiting GABA receptor activation neurons may fire more easily which can cause muscle spasms and convulsions.[3]

A toxicology study of alpha-thujone, the more active of the two isomers, in mice found the median lethal dose, or LD50, is around 45 mg/kg, with 0% mortality rate at 30 mg/kg and 100% at 60 mg/kg. Those exposed to the higher dose had convulsions that led to death in 1 minute. From 30 to 45 mg/kg the mice would experience muscle spasms in the legs which progressed to general convulsions until death or recovery. Pretreatment of diazepam, phenobarbital or 1 g/kg of ethanol protected against a lethal 100 mg/kg dose. These findings are inline with other GABA antagonists. This study also found alpha-thujone was quickly metabolized in the mouse's liver.[3]

The LD50 dose in humans is not known; however a study in the "Journal of Studies of alcohol" tested attention performance with low, and high doses of thujone in alcohol. The researchers administered 0.28 mg/kg thujone in alcohol, 0.028 mg/kg in alcohol and just alcohol to their subjects. The high dose had a short term negative effect on attention performance. The lower dose showed no noticeable effect.[4]

There is no evidence any size dose will cause hallucinations.

|11.12.07 @ 3:40PM|#

DJ Voton:

Depends on the brand of absinthe, really. Some can be as weak as 30% alcohol, while others can be an eye-popping 90%... they run the gamut. Think of it as a more cultured version of Bacardi 151, if you will.

thoreau|11.12.07 @ 3:43PM|#

Stevo-

Your accusations just AdvanceTheInterests of the BrownGreenFairyGovernment and spawn massive PixieCORRUPTion.

T|11.12.07 @ 5:08PM|#

I've always been curious about absinthe, but I hate licorice. So I have to live vicariously through the work of others.

|11.12.07 @ 5:08PM|#

I've heard that this stuff is anus flavored. I'm not gonna try it.

R C Dean|11.12.07 @ 5:17PM|#

Reminded me of a 98-cent White Owl.

Probably a knock-off. I've read (and believe) that there are more Cuban knock-off cigars sold each year than actual Cubans.

I've had a few Cubans (cigars, that is). Honestly, I didn't get it, although the best ones were quite good and had a mildly unique flavor, they weren't in a class by themselves by any means (the cigars, I mean).

|11.12.07 @ 6:06PM|#

Here's a good site about absinthe http://www.feeverte.net/index.html

DJ Voton|11.12.07 @ 7:14PM|#

Some can be as weak as 30% alcohol, while others can be an eye-popping 90%...
90%! Tastes great, and great for sterilizing any surgical instruments you have lying around the house!

|11.12.07 @ 8:09PM|#

I've had a few types of Absynthe. From the fake french "Absente" which is nothing more than fancy Anisette, to other sundry brands.

Finally I simply went online to the british wholesaler and exporter for Sebor Absynthe, and started buying from there. It was 80 buck a bottle about 6-7 years ago and I haven't bought any but repricing it it's over 212 since you have to pay in british pounds.

For what it's worth Sebor was pretty good quality, had the emerald green tint with the oilly shimmer to it that, according to my research, marked a good Absynthe.

It didn't have the heavy black licorice flavor that the knock-off's tend to have and when prepared "traditionally" was a very mellowing cocktail.

Oh and it definitely could fuck your shit up quick.

|11.13.07 @ 7:49AM|#

Couple of things:

1. Didn't many of the great Cuban cigar makers decamp for Central American when Castro took over? That supposedly led to the dramatic increase in quality of Honduran cigars and a drop in quality of the Cuban brands.

2. The History Channel had an interesting feature on absinthe awhile back. The ban on absinthe was largely concocted by the wine industry in France, which had suffered from a devastating crop blight in the 19th Century and lost most of its market to absinthe. The wine industry spread a bunch of stories about how absinthe was dangerous, and the rest is history. "Dangerous" absinthe was usually the very poor quality stuff that the po' folks drank. Which was true of most forms of alcohol in the 19th Century. Apparently the booze you'd get at a low-class tavern would contain many interesting chemicals...

|11.13.07 @ 10:03AM|#

Good article. There seems to be some confusion about thujone which is probably due to the mass hype organised around these newbie brands.

Thujone is a naturally occuring element in wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) According to Dr Niels Arnold of the University of Kansas the level in Belle Epoque absinthe was about 260mg/l. Getting this level is an art that was lost, as the skills were not passed down the distillers line (usually owned by one family in the mountains and forests of Europe)

These new generation of absinthe corporations do not know what they are doing, and used imported Turkish wormwood and even chemotypes to keep the thujone out of the pot or still :-)...that's cool as the FDA ban thujone and the TTB have a whacky test that doesn't work properly. Anyhoo..this modern absinthe "Lucid" from the "Mouth of the South" has dumbed down anise taste and heightened sugar.

It's a sugar coated version of absinthe for the modern mass market. The real skills lie in a mysterious world called HG (don't ask)...these guys and gals know how to handle wormwood - I'll explain if you want. They can deliver thujone in all it's natural glory and, yep, it does have an effect. This doesn't suit the lobbyists who want to disassociate from "absinthe effect" as it makes the FDA jumpy. That means they can't sell it to y'all

There are a couple of absinthes with 100mg thujone and even a private label with 300mg....called 330! There is a verte called Century absinthe and a couple of others. Not cheap mass market stuff and difficult to find but you'll "see" the Belle Epoque effect...if that is what you are after.

If you want a nice drink though, check out Kubler, a blanche or white absinthe, based upon the need to disguise Fee Verte follwing the ban in 1915. It isn't green and allowed the Swiss to carry on drinking it under the eyes of Dibble etc... It's vodka officer.. :-)

You can buy real absinthe in Europe and online and it is no hassle as the crazy laws do not forbid personal possession or drinking the real stuff. Up to you my friends...

Dreggas|11.13.07 @ 11:47AM|#

"2. The History Channel had an interesting feature on absinthe..."

I watched that as well, was a really interesting show.


"You can buy real absinthe in Europe and online and it is no hassle as the crazy laws do not forbid personal possession or drinking the real stuff. Up to you my friends..."

Yup, you can buy it for personal use, the laws against it merely govern distribution in bars and stores. My recommendation is do the research and buy from Europe. It's not cheap due to the exchange rate but if you want to experience Absynthe, that's where to get it.

Hiram|11.14.07 @ 1:34PM|#

"According to Dr Niels Arnold of the University of Kansas the level in Belle Epoque absinthe was about 260mg/l. Getting this level is an art that was lost, as the skills were not passed down the distillers line (usually owned by one family in the mountains and forests of Europe)"

Arnold's hypothesis is not supported by later science. He estimated based on the amount of thujone in the wormwood used and presumed 100% retrieval in distillation. In reality, thujone doesn't distill easily and is among the last things to come over.

"Getting this level" was never a concern,let alone a "lost art" and I'd be interested in seeing any historic evidence at all to the contrary.

There are 19th century distiller's manuals which clearly give the formulas and processes for a variety of absinthes. When these are followed to the letter, they produce authentic absinthes which will pass TTB regs.

|11.14.07 @ 3:22PM|#

Hi Hiram

Two points:

1. The cultivation of high thujone yielding Artemisia absinthium requires real skill actually. Where does the AA that you are using in your Marteau Verte absinthe come from? Who grew it? You need to take care of the climatic conditions, terroir, drying, and use the flowers. Using dried up wormwood from Turkey is no good, but I think you know that as you are a manufacturer ;-)

What you put in the still depends on what "comes over"

2. Thujone is active on GABA receptors according to Berkley University scientists. I don't think anyone denies that. It is just a question of the level.

Quite a few of your old HG friends from the past have managed to produce high thujone absinthe; so has Messieur Vallon in the Val de Travers for that matter. Perhaps you need more practice under the light of a real wormwood harvest moon?

What later science do you mean? The German study?

Hiram, do you know by any chance how these new US absinthes are extracting the thujone to comply with the TTB regime? Chemotypes or carbon dioxide extraction I heard. I guess that if you want to sell Marteau Verte in the States you will have to do that as well. Any clues?

Good luck and stay chilled.

Hiram|11.14.07 @ 4:08PM|#

You crack me up. That's a very interesting line of questioning. One would almost think you were a producer yourself; one who wants to find out my sources and techniques.

My sources are my own, and my techniques are 19th century and may be studied in the books I cited above.

Could you cite any reference for this alleged "high-thujone" gardening? I call BS.

|11.15.07 @ 2:37AM|#

I wouldn't call it "gardening", more an artisanal craft which is largely lost. I don't know of many gardens in mountain forest clearings, but that is where the best wormwood is grown. Harvesting time, moisture levels, and all kinds of factors are important. I don't disrespect those that have this folk knowledge and neither should you. These old timers in the countryside can teach you a lot about herbs and plants.

Wormwood needs to be treated right if you want the magic to "come over" from the still.

Back to the modern world world of big business this might help you in your quest for TTB approval:

"The consequence for the absinthe manufactures is that traditional recipes and methods have to be modified, in order to avoid thujone contents, which exceed the limit. The maceration should be done with low concentrations of alcohol and the wormwood herb should be separated before the distillation.

A possibility for the continuation of traditional recipes is to remove the thujone from the wormwood herb before the maceration. Stahl and Gerard (48) observed, that the extraction with liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide provides a fast, selective and quantitative method for the separation of thujone from the wormwood herb. Absinthin, which is responsible for the high bitter value of wormwood, remains in the herb. It is therefore possible to generate nearly thujone free wormwood herb and to use it for the manufacturing of absinthe"

Lachenmeier, D. W., S. G. Walch, S. A. Padosch, and L. U. Kroner. 2006. Absinthe-a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 46:365-77.

Va Bene..

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