The Absinthe United States Predicament
In the early 1900s many countries in europe suspended the strong alcoholic drink Absinthe, United States banned Absinthe in 1912.
Absinthe was not ever as popular in the United States as it was in European countries just like France and Switzerland, but there were regions of the US, like the French portion of New Orleans, where Absinthe was served in Absinthe bars.
Absinthe is a liquor created from herbs like wormwood, aniseed and fennel www.absinthliquor.com. It is usually green, hence its nickname the Green Fairy, and it has an anise taste.
Absinthe is an intriguing concoction or recipe of herbs that behave as a stimulant and alcohol and other herbs that behave as a sedative. It is the essential oils in the herbs that can cause Absinthe to louche, go cloudy, when water is added in.
Wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium, contains a chemical called thujone which is said to be just like THC in the drug cannabis, to be psychoactive also to cause psychedelic effects.
Absinthe United States as well as the prohibition
At the outset of the 1900s there was clearly a powerful prohibition movement in France and this movement used the truth that Absinthe was connected to the Bohemian culture of Montmartre – with its writers, artists and the courtesans and loose morals of establishments such as the Moulin Rouge, and also the allegation that an Absinthe drinker murdered his family, to argue for a prohibition on Absinthe go here. They said that Absinthe could well be France’s ruin, that Absinthe was a drug and intoxicant that will drive everyone to insanity!
The United States followed France’s example and prohibited Absinthe and drinks containing thujone in 1912. It became illegal, a crime, to purchase or sell Absinthe in the USA. Americans either were forced to concoct their own homemade recipes or journey to countries like the Czech Republic, where Absinthe was still legal, to savor the Green Fairy.
Many US legal experts argue that Absinthe was not ever banned in the US and that should you look carefully to the law and ordinance you will see that only drinks that contains over 10mg of thujone were prohibited. However, US Customs and police would not allow any Absinthe shipped from abroad to go into the US, simply thujone free Absinthe substitutes were granted.
Absinthe United States 2007
Ted Breaux, a local of New Orleans, operates a distillery in Saumur France. He has utilized vintage bottles of pre-ban Absinthe to analyze Absinthe recipes also to create his own classic pre-ban style Absinthe – the Jade collection.
Breaux was amazed to find that the vintage Absinthe, as opposed to belief, actually only covered very small quantities of thujone – inadequate to harm anyone. He became serious to present an Absinthe drink that he could ship to his birthplace, the US. His dream would be to once more see Absinthe being consumed in bars in New Orleans.
Breaux and lawyer Gared Gurfein, had numerous meetings with the Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau about the thujone content of Breaux’s Absinthe recipe. They found that actually no law should be changed!
Breaux’s dream grew to become reality in 2007 when his brand Lucid was able to be shipped from his distillery in France towards the US. Lucid is based on vintage recipes and contains real wormwood, unlike artificial Absinthes. Now, in 2008, a brand called Green Moon and two Absinthes from Kubler are all capable of being traded in within the US.
Absinthe United States – Many Americans now are enjoying their first taste of authentic legal Absinthe, perhaps there’ll be an Absinthe revival.