Absinthe - CBS report on the Green Fairy

6 Comments

so the one's that are becoming legal in the U.S don't have the wormwood effect then?
i live in th U.K anyway.

hm, just looked it up, seems it's effects are exaggerated:
'Thujone (wormwood's active ingredient) is a naturally occurring
substance, also found in the bark of the thuja, or white cedar, tree, and in other
herbs besides wormwood - including tansy and the comon sage used in
cooking. Aside from absinthe, other popular liquors, including vermouth,
Chartreuse, and Benedictine, also contain small amounts of thujone.'
http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe-effects.html

it's always had such low amounts of thujone in it that it most likely has no effect. the ingredient that will really be affecting people is the higher than normal alcohol content.
saying that i've had some really mad nights on absinthe.

from Wiki:
'The deleterious effects of absinthe as well as its hallucinogenic properties are a persistent myth often repeated without support in modern books and scientific journals.'

'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.'

'A study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol[60] 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.'

videosiftbannedme

says...

Currently, the only 2 absinthe brands sold in the US are Kubler and Lucid. From what I understand, they must contain less that 10ppm thujone, which would make being able to hallucinate on it very difficult. As stated above, you'd get off on common sage faster than you would absinthe.

The whole myth of it being hallucinatory was created by the French Wine Industry after they recovered from the insect infestation that wiped out the wine crop. In lieu of drinking wine, the French turned to absinthe, heralding it as the new drink of France. In order to get their market share back, the wine makers began a smear campaign, demonizing absinthe; even going so far as to blame a murder spree on it.

With that said, I have a bottle of Kubler at home and my slotted spoons are in the mail as we speak. I've only tried 1 cup so far, which was not "properly" prepared. I probably used too much sugar and not enough water. Regardless, the stuff does have a bit of a kick and tastes very similar to Pernod. (black licorice) I find absinthe has almost a licorice/menthol/herby taste and completely agree that this would be the perfect aperitif while sitting outside at a table in a cafe with friends. I hear the Lucid isn't as complex as the Kubler, but is just as tasty. Am waiting for our local liquor chain to get in some Lucid.