Absinthe article in Wired Magazine

[JeffRenner]

There is an article in the November, 2005 Wired Magazine entitled "The Mystery of the Green Menace."

I found it quite interesting. It's about a New Orleans analytic chemist who has reverse engineered historic samples of absinthe and has recreated it in a French distillery.

This production was possible because when the EU ergulations were recently recently written, they neglected to mention absinthe, which had previously been banned in all of Europe except Spain.

Among other things, he argues absinthe has only 1% of the level of thujone as has been previously suggested. Thujone is a substance found in the herb Artemisia absinthium, a major ingredient of the liqueur, and which has been blamed historically for the alleged terrible effects of drinking absinthe.

Jeff

[chasking]

I recall reading somewhere that many of the bad effects of absinthe were consistent with alcohol poisoning---old school absinthe was bottled at near-hazmat alcohol concentrations.

[Gillman]

Hey why don't those guys reverse-engineer some 1950's Very Old Fitzgerald, huh?

Gary

[JeffRenner]

You can buy absinthe from Absinthe Online in UK. The even ship to the US. I thought that it was illegal in the US, but they have feedback from satisfied customers in the US.

It isn't cheap. There are three different products from New Orlean T. A. Breaux, who was featured in the Wired article @ £55.00 plus shipping.

Even if you aren't really in the market, the web site makes interesting reading.

Jeff

[kbuzbee]

You can buy absinthe from Absinthe Online in UK. The even ship to the US. I thought that it was illegal in the US, but they have feedback from satisfied customers in the US.

It isn't cheap. There are three different products from New Orlean T. A. Breaux, who was featured in the Wired article @ £55.00 plus shipping.

Even if you aren't really in the market, the web site makes interesting reading.

Jeff

Yeah, I found a site that ships Cuban cigars to the US as well... They repackage them in non Cuban tubes.. Hmmm....

Ken

[NorCalBoozer]

it was mentioned on the show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, on the Travel Channel.

He went to paris and sampled absinthe. supposedly the new stuff is different than the old stuff. I think the new stuff is quite green in color. Then the bartender pulled out some old stock(the illegal stuff) and it was more of a brown/darker color I believe.

There is an article in the November, 2005 Wired Magazine entitled "The Mystery of the Green Menace."

I found it quite interesting. It's about a New Orleans analytic chemist who has reverse engineered historic samples of absinthe and has recreated it in a French distillery.

This production was possible because when the EU ergulations were recently recently written, they neglected to mention absinthe, which had previously been banned in all of Europe except Spain.

Among other things, he argues absinthe has only 1% of the level of thujone as has been previously suggested. Thujone is a substance found in the herb Artemisia absinthium, a major ingredient of the liqueur, and which has been blamed historically for the alleged terrible effects of drinking absinthe.

Jeff