A New Green Hour in San Francisco - Absinthe Fountains & Drinks
Absinthe has been legal in the States for almost a year -- and the trickle-down effect seems to be absinthe fountains on every bar -- and a slew of cover stories assuring new absinthe drinkers that thujone is not the reason history's absinthe drinkers went stark raving mad. Rimbaud was a little outside the box to begin with, and poor Vincent had a world of trouble to contend with beyond thujone.
If you've traveled in absinthe-legal countries, chances are you've been able to personally disprove thujone's bad rap. And although the American legalization bodes well for anyone who appreciates this spirit of anise and wormwood and high alcohol content, I've heard a few absinthe fans lament the loss of absinthe's cloistered appeal.
Well, it's better than the wicked side effects from a bad batch of homemade absinthe. And it might make some people happy to know that you'll still have to drink outside the country to enjoy higher thujone levels.
New or seasoned in the absinthe way, you can know a bit more about what you're drinking when you engage this centuries old spirit. I love Barnaby Conrad III's book Absinthe: History in a Bottle. I have no affiliation with the author except for the fact his book took a popular and social battering on my coffee table.
In and around a colorful history of absinthe and absinthe drinkers, Conrad's book is full of illustrations as well as reproductions of posters, absinthe art, and flyers denouncing absinthe for its ostensible evil.
More about enjoying absinthe inside or outside the San Francisco Bay Area:
- eAbsinthe - Absinthe and Absinthe Products
- La Fee Verte - Absinthe Resources & Information
- Virtual Absinthe Museum
- Alameda Distiller Helps Make Absinthe Legitimate Again
San Francisco Chronicle Article - Mystery of the Green Menace
Wired Magazine Piece from 2005
Photo © Ingrid Taylar
Comments
“If you’ve traveled in absinthe-legal countries, chances are you’ve been able to personally disprove thujone’s bad rap”
It certainly has an effect and the ones in the USA are all tested “thujone free” by the FDA
I actually tried one with 100mg thujone called Century Absinthe and found it more relaxing than anything else.
Thujone is a natural part of the wormwood plant so it’s a pure natural buzz. I guess these new absinthes in the USA have in fact had the thujone removed.
Anyway wormwood has been used for Centuries as a stimulant.
Thanks for the comment. The absinthe in the U.S. has to fall under the 10mg/l thujone requirement, and within the EU the limit is 35mg/l if a spirit is designted a “bitter.” If you look at the thujone levels of many absinthes you’d drink in Europe, they do fall below those numbers.
I know there is some question about how much thujone the high-thujone products actually contain. That is, are the levels as high as they claim? Not a question I can answer definitively, but I’m curious.
And yes, I agree. Wormwood has a lot of historical and current uses and benefits outside of its absinthe associations.
TogaGuy:
What do you mean “relaxed”. Is it good? I checked their site and they seem to be still selling their stock from September?
What site? It isn’t sold anymore is it? I bought it online at absinth24 (a web shop) a few years back.
The thujone thing is a hoax.
TogaGuy is just spamming for the imitation Czech crap like he always does on every news article about absinthe.
I fell for it. Czech absinth is a phony. I drank too much of that s*** and never got anything but sick. And century absinthe tastes nasty.